| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.4

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Mexican American Odyssey: Felix Tijerina, Entrepreneur & Civic Leader, 1905-1965. By Thomas H. Kreneck. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2001. xviii, 402 pp. $39.95, ISBN 0-89096-936-1.)

Biography has not been a well-developed genre in the writing of Chicano history. This gap stems from the greater focus on collective movements and community studies. Yet social movements and communities are also affected and influenced by key leadership. It is important to know about such people and the roles they played.

This biography of Felix Tijerina, a successful-Mexican American entrepreneur and civic leader in Houston, is a welcome departure from the majority of writings on Chicano history. A self-made millionaire restaurant chain owner, Tijerina was also a significant leader of the Mexican American community in Houston from the 1930s until his death in 1965. He was at the same time a major figure within the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the oldest and largest Mexican American civil rights organization in the United States. From 1956 to 1960, Tijerina was elected national president of LULAC four times. Such tenure was unprecedented. His most significant accomplishment as LULAC president was the development and success of the Little School of 400 program aimed at teaching four hundred basic English words to preschool Spanish-speaking children. This later became the basis for a larger state-sponsored program in Texas and for President Lyndon B. Johnson's Head Start project. Tijerina also expanded LULAC beyond Texas and the Southwest and made it a more national organization.

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