Dr. Hector P. Garcia
Founder of the American GI Forum
January 17, 1914 – July 26, 1996
A native of Mercedes, Texas, where Dr. Hector and his family came to live in 1917, where prejudice and discrimination were an everyday experience for Mexican Americans. His father, an educator, was determined that his children would overcome the impacts of prejudice through education and vowed his children would become doctors. Six of his ten children did.
After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, he was admitted to medical school at the University of Texas at (UTMB) Galveston, where only one Mexican American was allowed admission in the state of Texas each year. Dr. Garcia graduated from the University of Texas School of Medicine-Galveston with a Doctor of Medicine in 1940 and creates his favorite quote, “Education is our freedom, and freedom should be everybody's business.”
Dr. Garcia to travel out of state to complete his surgical residency, since he would not be accepted by any Texas hospital because of being Mexican-American. He then joined the U.S. Army and completed his residency in 1942. The Army considered him a 'Mexican' doctor, and he was given command of an infantry company in N. Africa and later gained entrance to the Medical Corps. He eventually rose to command a surgical unit in Italy and separated from the United States Army with the rank of major and earned the Bronze Star Medal, the European African-Middle Eastern Medal with six Bronze Stars, and the World War II Victory Medal.
After his military service, he began medical practice with his brother in Corpus Christi, serving the poorest minorities in the community. García became known as the 'doctor to the barrios,' offering low and no-cost treatment to impoverished patients. In 1948, García founded the American GI Forum, organizing veterans to fight for educational and medical benefits, and later, against poll taxes and school segregation. He was elected as the President of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in 1947 and founded the American GI Forum in 1948, one of the nation’s most influential Mexican American civil rights organizations to assist veterans and their families with education, health, employment, and civil rights issues.
Garcia and his newly formed American GI Forum were placed into the national spotlight in 1949 advocating for the family of a Hispanic soldier, Felix Longoria Jr., killed in combat during World War II and was denied use of the funeral home chapel by a funeral director in Three Rivers, Texas. Dr. Hector went on to become a trusted adviser and appointee of every president from Kennedy through Clinton. He was appointed to the United Nations as Alternate Representative with the rank of Ambassador, and was the first American to address that body in a language other than English. Dr. Garcia was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1984 as the first Mexican-American by President Ronald Reagan for his service to his people and the United States.
Dr. Hector P. Garcia’s daughter, Cecilia Garcia Akers, continues to honor her father’s legacy through the Hector P. Garcia Foundation by supporting people, projects, and actions that will protect the rights of all through the funding of scholarships, educational grants, and community-building efforts.
Scan the QR Code Our Founder's, Dr. Hector P. Garcia, video:
