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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781628953022 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Michigan State University Press |
| Publication date: | 07/01/2017 |
| Series: | Latinos in the United States |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 342 |
| Sales rank: | 719,056 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Albert A. Peña Jr.
Dean Of Chicano Politics
By José Angel Gutiérrez
Michigan State University Press
Copyright © 2017 José Angel GutiérrezAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-62895-302-2
CHAPTER 1
The Family and Young Albert Jr.
Dolores La Chapelle, the daughter of an adventurous Frenchman, was born and raised in the El Paso area in the late 1880s. She never lived with her biological father and only met him on occasion. She learned from him during one of those rare visits that she had a brother and sister in Mexico City. Her mother finally moved the family to San Antonio, and Lolita, as she was affectionately called, soon met and married Antonio López, a very tall, handsome man. The Lópezes on the paternal side were originally from the Canary Islands, according to some family members, while others place the family in South Texas. The origin of the maternal side is also still debated by family members.
As early as March 29, 1896, Antonio López was a resident of Laredo, Texas. He was the son of Lorenzo Peña and Marcella Almendárez, according to Antonio Peña, the youngest brother to Albert A. Peña Jr. These branches of the Peña family tree were fourth-generation residents of a rancho near present-day Beeville, Texas.
Young López had few domestic skills, and fewer social skills when it came to dealing with his young wife. He was very demanding and adamant about his food. If he didn't like what was served, with a swipe of his long arm he would clear the table onto the floor. Next he would take a swipe at Dolores and often manage to hit her if she did not move away in time. A neighbor learned of this abuse and advised her to grab a log from the wood stove and hit him next time he pulled that stunt. She took the advice and hit him back with the log and broke his arm. He never hit her again or cleared the table onto the floor.
The Lópezes started a family, and the first born was named Rosa; then the second was named Dolores, like her mother. Several other siblings were added to the family: Maria, Dora, Arthur, and "Rudy" or Rodolfo, the youngest. While in her late teens, daughter Dolores López met a dashing young man, Alberto Antonio Peña, who also was a newcomer to San Antonio.
The Peña family had relocated from Laredo when Alberto was five. His mother had gone blind when he was a young adult, and most of his earnings went to the family household because his father, Lorenzo, was not always around. Mama Peña used to tell her son, and later the grandchildren, many stories. One such story was that she would swim across the Rio Grande at the Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras crossing to visit her mother from time to time. Another was that she was a full-blooded Apache, related to the great war chief Victorio of the Eastern Chiricahua Apaches, also known as the Mimbreño Apaches, a subtribe of the Chiricahua Apaches. According to her oral tales, Victorio raided ranchos and townships in Mexico, West Texas, and New Mexico until he met his fate at the ambush in the mountains of Chihuahua laid by Lt. Colonel Joaquin Terrazas.
After one such raid, he was pursued by the Mexican military to his campsite. He was surrounded by Colonel Terrazas, leader of the Chihuahua state militia, in the Tres Castillas mountain range, some sixty miles inside Mexico from Fort Davis in West Texas. The Mexican soldiers massacred Victorio and his warriors on October 15, 1880, sparing only the women and children. The soldiers made them march south toward Coahuila, away from Chihuahua. It is very possible that Mama Peña and her mother were among these survivors and fled along the border down to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Mama Peña made mention to grandson Albert Jr. that only she and another of her group and kin, Telesfora Mendoza, lived in San Antonio. Telesfora lived over in the barrio de la Tripa (stockyards) on Alta Vista and Trinity Streets. Younger brother Antonio Peña, however, claims that Mama Peña "was in fact decended [sic] from the Kickapoo Tribe."
Alberto Peña attended the San Antonio Vocational and Technical High School but did not graduate. He married young, but that first marriage did not go well and no children were born of that relationship. When Alberto first eyed Dolores López, as the family story goes, he knew this was his next wife-to-be. After a short courtship, Dolores accepted the marriage proposal and the Peñas settled down on California Street, off North Flores and Rowana. Mother-in-law Dolores La Chapelle had to teach young Dolores how to make better tortillas de harina because Alberto insisted on fresh, handmade flour tortillas with every meal. Alberto Peña was a hardworking and hard-playing man. During the day he sold furniture at the Western Furniture store on Dolorosa and Flores streets and also worked as an "elevator boy."
On weekends he promoted dances at two clubs he rented for the occasion, La Gloria and El Hidalgo in San Antonio's West Side. Often, to make ends meet, Alberto would barter dance tickets for chickens or car maintenance or yard work. When Dolores and he began to have children and the family grew, Alberto would use the same ploy and barter dance tickets for household help for Dolores. And the Peña family grew methodically like clockwork. It seemed that Dolores was pregnant every two years. The Peñas were very good Catholics. Alberto would attend early Mass at the San Fernando Cathedral daily, usually at 7 a.m., before reporting for work at the downtown furniture store.
Young Alberto Antonio Peña Jr. was the firstborn on December 15, 1917. Elder Alberto was delighted and announced to his wife that she could now have a daughter, but for every girl born there had to be a boy. He wanted matched pairs of boys and girls. Fortunately, the next child born was a girl, Madeline, on June 6, 1919. Unfortunately for Dolores, her third child was another girl, Belinda, born March 24, 1921. Alberto wanted another boy, but the fourth child was yet another girl, Irene, born on January 26, 1923. Alberto insisted on another son, and Richard was born two years later, January 11, 1925. The family now consisted of three girls and only two boys; there had to be another boy brought into the Peña family if matching was to occur. Dolores was harried and worn by having given birth to five children in eight years. The housework alone was overwhelming: making mountains of tortillas daily, washing cloth diapers by hand, cooking and feeding a family of seven.
Dolores was soon with child again, but this time the prognosis was twins. She dreaded another pregnancy and prayed for a pair of boys. Tragedy struck the Peña family when Dolores was eight months pregnant. While walking outside the home in the uneven, rutted, unpaved streets one early morning, she tripped, fell face forward hard on her stomach, and miscarried due to hemorrhaging. By the time she was taken for emergency care, the doctors could not save the babies. They opted for saving her life. The stillborn twins were a boy and a girl. The only respite Dolores got from this ordeal was two less children to feed and care for, for a few months. The other five children were increasingly more work than a mother could handle. Dolores was always exhausted and fatigued. It was not long before Dolores was pregnant again with Antonio. He was born on July 20, 1926. While this birth was a happy occasion, tragedy struck the family that same day. Grandmother Peña died the day little Antonio was born.
Young Albert Jr. was school-age by the time Richard was born, seven years and a month later, and so was Madeline by the time the twins were lost. Alberto made enough money somehow to enroll his children at St. Mary's Catholic School downtown. The tuition was nominal, but nevertheless with a family of eight there never was any extra money. Young Alberto Jr. first attended the Catholic school while in kindergarten, but the costs of more school-age children prompted Albert Sr. to enroll him at Stephen F. Austin Elementary and later in Hawthorne Junior High School. Alberto Jr. got his first suit from his dad for the eighth-grade graduation ceremony, and by this grade level his name had been changed to Albert by English-speaking teachers and peers.
Each morning, Alberto Sr. would motor down to the San Fernando Cathedral with kids in tow for Mass before school. Young Albert Jr. continued this religious practice long into his adult and senior life. After school, the school kids would be dropped off at home for early dinner, chores, homework, and play before nightfall. The household rule was to be in bed by 8 p.m. every night. Young Albert Jr. had two major chores: help take out the garbage and help the younger siblings with their schoolwork. Since Albert Jr. was an avid reader and very bright, he had no problem doing his homework and tutoring his younger brothers and sisters. As the oldest male in the family, he had unearned privileges that irked his sisters Madeline and Belinda. They had to sweep, mop, wash diapers, hang clothes, iron, wash dishes, cook, clean, pick up, and clean the only bathroom in their modest three-bedroom home. The bathroom was the war zone, especially early in the mornings when all six children competed with the parents for access. The daily mess was for Madeline and Belinda to clean up, never Albert Jr. He was a boy.
In fact, Albert Jr. was all boy. He could not play with Richard (he was too little), with the little baby "Tony" (as he was called), or with the girls. He was outside most of the time while the girls were inside doing housework. Mama Dolores always needed help. When Grandma López would come over, she would help out as best she could, but usually just took the children to her home. Grandma Dolores López loved young Albert Jr. For some reason, Albert Jr. could never pronounce "Lolita" or "Mamacita" and instead said, "Chita," so the family members changed her nickname to Chita. When Grandma Peña came to visit, she had to be tended to, due to her blindness. She could not help Dolores. To the utter amazement of all her grandchildren, Grandma Peña knew each child by touching their faces and hearing their voices.
Richard was seven years Albert's junior, so Albert Jr. played outside alone or with the neighborhood kids. He had a bicycle and roamed the neighborhood and area. When the girls were allowed outside, Albert Jr. would teach them to ride the bicycle and play with pets he had. Albert Jr. always liked dogs and rabbits. He brought home a rabbit he found near the creek and it soon had four babies. He also brought home a bantam rooster with a broken leg. He and Madeline made a splint from Popsicle sticks for the rooster they nicknamed "Pajarito." On another occasion, Albert Jr. found a young man beaten to a pulp down by the drainage ditch and brought him home. Oscar, the young man, was frequently beaten by his father and swore he would not return to the family home. Albert Jr. convinced his parents to let Oscar Flores live with them. And he did for the next two years. Early in life Peña demonstrated a deep compassion for other living creatures and their welfare. In adult life, that compassion grew into a moral code and philosophy of life grounded on justice, fairness, and equality for humankind. Each of his siblings developed the same fondness and care for little animals.
Albert Jr. grew socially and physically when he transferred from Catholic school to the public schools. He spent less time with the family and more time with his friends. Albert Jr. was not a large young man; on the contrary, he was small but fit. In high school he was nicknamed "Peanuts." His physical size did not deter him from sports or fights. He joined a "gang" of neighborhood young men that called themselves the River Side Cats, which was also the name of their city league football team. At other times the River Side Cats would also call themselves the "Moon Glows." The biggest challengers to the neighborhood turf were the "newsies," newspaper boys who delivered the papers in "their" streets. Albert Jr. trained in boxing and competed in the city-sponsored boxing matches. He made the varsity football squad in high school. And he played city league football until he was twenty years of age. He played with the Triple Diamond Hill team for a year in 1937, then moved over to another team. Antonio Esparza, the quarterback for the Triple Diamond Hill team, recalls that Peña Jr. was not an outstanding player, but was very determined and unafraid of being hit and hitting larger players. For his size, Esparza said, "Peña was a toughie." Mama Dolores would pack up all the kids to go watch Peanuts play Friday-night football at the high school or the city parks. This was the only night the eight o'clock curfew imposed by the dad was suspended.
When Albert Jr. was in high school, his teenage sisters were right behind him in grade level. They wanted to go to dances and record hops where music was played by a disk jockey and the dancers shed shoes to twirl in socks. Albert Jr. didn't like dances because he did not know how to dance or want to learn. Madeline and Belinda, on the other hand, were dying to go to dances and meet boys. They practiced dance steps at home and were eager to go show off their stuff. Weekly they asked Albert Sr. for permission to go to a dance. And weekly Papa Albert would say no. Finally, in desperation, the sisters begged older brother Jr. to ask permission for all of them to go dancing. Reluctantly, Albert, the caring older brother, agreed to ask their father. Papa Albert acquiesced only because Jr. would chaperone his sisters. The dance was a turning point in Albert Jr.'s life. He discovered girls. While at the dance, he met a young woman, Mabel Murray, who also did not know how to dance. Albert Jr. and she talked all evening and for many more evenings after that, but never danced. She became Albert Jr.'s first girlfriend. Over time, Madeline and Belinda taught Albert Jr., Richard, and little Tony how to dance, but Jr. remained the clumsiest and most awkward of them all. Richard became a terrific dancer, much sought out by the girls.
As a teenager Albert, and his gang, would risk harm by going downtown late at night when he knew his father would not come home to impose the early night curfew. The River Side Cats would go to the Plaza del Zacate, which other people called "La Plaza del Menudo" because folks would eat menudo, chicharrones, enchiladas, tamales, caldos, chili con carne, and other Mexican foods at the tables set up for that purpose. If the boys ran into trouble they could count on Manuel Davila, who later married Albert's sister Madeline, to help them out. Manuel was tough and an accomplished street fighter. Augustine Garza was Albert's age and he too could be counted on to even the score with rivals. Later, Garza would be recruited to serve on the Mexican American Unity Council (MAUC) board of directors by Albert.
In the 1930s, family members would play and accompany Lydia Mendoza in her singing of "La Golondrina." Lydia became a singing sensation and caused crowds to gather at the Plaza del Zacate. Albert and his boys would hang out in the shadows of the Mercado to watch and listen. Most of the time they had no money to buy food. They also did not want to be seen by anyone who could recognize them and tell their parents should they sit at the tables to eat.
One particular night when someone had money, Albert and his friends ate at the Plaza del Zacate, and Albert got a stomachache before he reached home. As he walked home, the pain grew stronger and was becoming intolerable. He thought he was about to get a run of diarrhea. Keeping his pain from his mother and siblings, Albert retired to bed. He waited for the necessary dash to the bathroom next door, but it never came. Instead, he started running a temperature and sweating intermittently. The pain got worse until it was unbearable. Richard heard the moans and inquired, but Albert would not say anything except for more moans and doubling over with pain. He now was burning hot from the fever. Richard called his mother over to see what was wrong with Albert. Fortunately, Albert Sr. was home early that night, and the parents rushed him to the Santa Rosa Hospital emergency room. Younger sister Belinda had had her appendix removed when she was six, and the parents recognized the symptoms of acute appendicitis. Albert Jr. was taken in for immediate surgery. Since his appendix had already ruptured, the doctors — rather than make a wide incision — simply made another navel-like hole near his side to remove the body part and extract the toxic matter from the intestinal cavity. Albert Jr. quickly recovered and was back to all his activities within a couple of weeks. He proudly showed off his other navel to his friends.
Albert Jr. had started to help out his dad with the dance promotions for money. He would take and pick up the printed flyers announcing the dance and musical groups, first on his bicycle and later in the family car. His dad taught him how to drive at an early age. Albert would also distribute the flyers to local businesses and bars. At the dances, Albert would help ice down the drinks, check the coats and hats in the wintertime, and clean up the place after the dance. His dad would give him money for his help. As Albert took an interest in girls, he needed more money and his own car. Albert Sr. was burning the candle at both ends, working by day and on weekends and attending law school every night. He came home exhausted day after day for what seemed forever to Albert Jr. and the girls. Dolores didn't mind; if he wasn't home, she was just as happy.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Albert A. Peña Jr. by José Angel Gutiérrez. Copyright © 2017 José Angel Gutiérrez. Excerpted by permission of Michigan State University Press.
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