As a third grader, I did not know what the statistics were on Latinos in history books or about our drop-out rate. What I did know that as a little girl I did hang on to the first book I ever read about one Latino family. The book was fiction but there was a little Mexican girl and I read it several times. Even though I did not understand why I read it I now understand it was about people that are like me.
In college I used index cards to write facts that I was learning about Latinos. I would write about Dr. Julian Nava, Hector Garcia, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and my personal favorite, San Diegan Dr. Armando Rodriquez. Even then I did not know what I was going to do with those facts, I just wrote them, to remember the facts. Finally, as an adult I understand the value of knowing our contribution to our country and our City.
When I wrote my book, “We Made San Diego,” I wrote not just about history, but about our contributions that made the City of San Diego. I wrote about activism and those that were active between 1960-1980. These folks faced tremendous hurdles and kept working to better themselves and our city. They choose a variety of careers to achieve the success they did. They were pushed down but they did not give up.
Our community has veterans not only from recent times but from WWI and to every war since then. We needed to learn about a young woman, whom at the young age of 21, started the largest newspaper written in Spanish in the United States, and the three men who started a brewery. Maybe one of the most shocking facts is that San Diego did not have a Latino police chief until 1999. Can you believe that Mary Salas- a Latina- became the first Latina Mayor in San Diego County. I can proudly say we have a Latina on the San Diego Board of Supervisors, various City Councils and school boards.
I am very proud of how my book has been received. Our community welcomed my book with open arms. So many of those people have shared the stories, bought the book, encouraged and supported me. Now, I am ready to take it to another step and make a documentary about the stories found in the book, and I need your financial support to make this happen. You have supported me so much and, if we are going to keep our history alive, I need your help. If we are going to teach and learn about our contributions, let’s take this huge step.
Please join us on our journey to promote Latino History by making a tax-deductible contribution by clicking the link below. You can make a one-time donation or a recurring one. Whatever works for your budget, anything large or small counts!
Thank you in advance, I hope to see you at one of our upcoming events and please keep sharing and celebrating the groundwork that has been laid by some amazing and dedicated people.
Abrazos,
Maria E. Garcia