Aldrete, Cristóbal

Cristóbal P. Aldrete was born in Del Rio, Texas, on January 16, 1924 to Felipe and Dolores (Pool) Aldrete. After he graduated from Del Rio High School in 1942, he attended the University of Denver where he studied Japanese. During World War II, he served in both the Army and the Air Force as a specialist in radio intelligence. After the war he continued his studies at the University of Texas at Austin where he majored in local government. While at the University of Texas, Aldrete was a founding member of the Alba Club, a club that confronted discrimination and promoted the interests of Spanish-speaking people in Texas. In 1949 on behalf of the Alba Club, he lodged a complaint with the Texas Department of Education against the segregated Del Rio School system that resulted in the accreditation of the schools being withdrawn. Even though this ruling was overturned, by September of 1949, public schools were required by the state to end segregation on the basis of national origin. He received a law degree from South Texas College of Law in Houston in 1951, and returned to Del Rio to practice law. Aldrete married Oralia (Yaya) Vera of Brownsville, Texas, in 1954, and they had five children.

Aldrete was an active member and leader in the American GI Forum (AGIF). He served as State Chairman and acted as a National Legal Advisor for the organization. In his capacity as a legal advisor for the AGIF, Aldrete was one of the five attorneys representing Pete Hernandez in the landmark case of Hernandez v. State of Texas.

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