Hernandez, Alfred J., 1917-

Alfred J. Hernandez was born in Mexico City August of 1917. At age four, his parents immigrated to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas as farm workers. He graduated from high school, and during WWII, enlisted in the U.S. Army; serving in the African and European war operations as a technical sergeant. Hernandez received his American citizenship while he was serving in Europe. On his return to the United States, he enrolled in the University of Houston where he did his pre-law work and obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from South Texas College of law in 1953. Alfred J. Hernandez married the former Minnie Casas and they had two sons; Alfred, Jr., John Joseph and a daughter Anna Marie.

Hernandez was president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) from 1965 to 1967 and became a civil rights leader, working for the improvement of the social and economic conditions of all American citizens of Spanish speaking descent in the United States.

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