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In 1936, community leaders began organizing to fight deeply engrained anti-Hispanic racism present in Wharton County. That year, Wharton established its first council, Number 69, of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC. A women’s LULAC council was chartered in 1951. LULAC councils allowed the Latin American population to assert their citizenship while also advocating for changes to overt discriminatory policies. Through generous funding, Wharton County LULAC councils would prove pivotal to the success of the U.S. Supreme Court case Hernandez v. The State of Texas (1954), a pivotal Mexican-American civil rights decision. Wharton LULAC was also an early participant in the “Little School of the 400.” This program, spearheaded by LULAC national president Felix Tijerina, sought to combat segregated schooling under the guise of language difficulties. Through the program, students were taught 400 essential words in English to succeed in early elementary grades.
The town of Louise stood out within Wharton County. Czech immigrants living in the community were sympathetic to the plight of Spanish-speakers. In Louise, schools, churches, and businesses were not segregated like other towns in Wharton County. Louise resident Conrado Cardenas was a prominent LULAC leader, becoming district governor in 1956. Cardenas’ district participated in a test of the Little School of the 400 program, proving its value. Leaders used this data to secure state funding for initiatives including bilingual education, ESL programs, migrant programs, and the HeadStart project. (2021) |
