Henry B Gonzalez Accomplishments

Originally born Enrique Barbosa Gonzalez, Henry B. Gonzalez was a member of the Texas Senate and the first Mexican American from Texas to be elected to the House of Representatives. Henry B. was a highly revered and outspoken Congressman that established a national reputation for public service and for his advocacy of economic justice and equality for all Americans (Henry B. Gonzalez - Voice of the People). He accomplished so many achievements that left their mark in American by shaping the economy and society in the last half of the twentieth century.
Henry B. Gonzalez was born on May 13, 1919 in San Antonio, Texas to Leonides Gonzalez Cigarroa and Genoveva Barbosa Prince de Gonzalez. Mexicans that fled to America from their home in Mapimi,

had several accomplishments as mayor of San Antonio, even more accomplishments as a member of the Texas State Senate, and numerous accomplishments as a Congressman. Awards such as the National Alliance to End Homelessness Award, the Texas Civic Leadership Award, the B'Nai B'Rith National Humanitarian Award, the 1992 National Rural Housing Legislator of the Year, and the 1994 Profile in Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy Foundation. His attitude and work ethic earned him quite a reputation that was good or bad depending on who was asked. As Jan Jarboe Russell once said, “He was often not in control of his own emotions. He railed against real and imagined enemies, calling them “skunks” and “scoundrels,” and threatened to give anyone who challenged his beliefs a “knuckle sandwich,” as he once did to an Earl Abel’s customer who called him a communist. Then, in the next breath, he would reveal some endearing memory—like the fact that he still treasured every book his father had given him—and look as if he might weep….Like everyone in San Antonio, I both feared and admired Henry B. After all, he was regarded as only slightly less powerful than God and just as easy to offend.” Henry B. Gonzalez is a man that will be remembered not just as the first Mexican American from Texas to be elected to the House of Representatives, but as a great man that helped shape