Sedillo, Antonio A.

Signature of Antonio A. Sedillo from a speech written regarding the University of New Mexico Page-Sanchez Questionare Controversy

Antonio A. Sedillo was born in Socorro, New Mexico on 15 April 1876, and began his education through public and private institutions. He was a probate clerk in Lincoln County, school teacher, and member of the boards of education in Socorro and Albuquerque. In 1901 he married Tula Vigil and they had five children together. Always wanting to practice law, Sedillo was admitted to the bar in El Paso, opened a practice in Socorro, and in 1907 moved his firm to Albuquerque. Sedillo was a dedicated public servant and served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of New Mexico in 1910 and was elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives in 1924.

The Republican Party in the early 1930s was facing an internal crisis throughout the country. Progressive Republicans were increasingly frustrated with the Hoover administration and sought to take control of the Party. The result was the creation of the Progressive Party. New Mexico Senator Bronson M. Cutting split from the Republicans at the 1932 New Mexico convention and led the movement for the creation of the Progressive Party. Antonio A. Sedillo was an attorney in Albuquerque and a member of the Republican Party in 1932. Sedillo followed Cutting and joined the New Mexico Progressive Party ticket as the long term supreme court nominee.

The racism survey was ostensibly designed to determine the level of racist feelings among high school students, both English and Spanish speaking. Professor of Psychology Richard M. Page, University of New Mexico, helped develop the survey in conjunction with George I. Sanchez of the New Mexico Board of Education and the Rockefeller Foundation. The survey for English speaking students was prepared first and the Spanish speaking community was outraged by the questions included in the survey.

From the guide to the Antonio A. Sedillo Papers, 1932-1937, (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)