By Morgan Montalvo
WOAI News
St. Mary's University this evening concludes a 12-month centennial celebration of the life and legacy of longtime Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez of San Antonio.
The fete, called the Gran Final and sponsored by St. Mary's law school. takes place from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the college's conference center on what would have been the iconic lawmaker's 101st birthday. Gonzalez graduated from St. Mary's Univ. School of Law in 1943. He died in late 2000.
Organizer and St. Mary's history professor Teresa Van Hoy says the event features speakers, presentations, a range of displays and memorabilia, and a preliminary cut of a documentary film about Gonzalez, whose life of public service included time as a chief probation officer, San Antonio city councilman, state senator and nearly four decades as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Van Hoy says over the past year her student researchers have chronicled countless recollections from native San Antonians of Gonzalez' work as a lawmaker, civil rights trailblazer, consensus builder, friend, family man and role model. She says many local residents interviewed shared how households across San Antonio came to a standstill during Gonzalez' scheduled - usually Saturday morning - television appearances to update constituents on developments in Washington. D.C. and how legislation would affect their lives.
Other stories, she said, range from examples of Gonzalez' kindness and encouragement to accounts of his famous 36-hour filibuster in the Texas Senate during the 1950s to combat watered-down legislation crafted to delay desegregation.
Following the two-hour event attendees are invited to help recreate one of Gonzalez' annual, and best-known, Washington, D.C. celebrations: a combination birthday and Cinco de Mayo party featuring elements Gonzalez felt best represented South Texas - tamales, Big Red soft drink, Lone Star Beer and mariachis.
Van Hoy said Gonzalez' legacy is manifest in San Antonio's atmosphere of inclusion and tolerance.
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