- Collection:
- Civil Rights in Black and Brown
- Title:
- Oral History Interview with Willie Serna, July 25, 2016
- Creator:
- Wisely, Karen
Zapata, Joel
Serna, Willie - Date of Original:
- 2016-07-25
- Subject:
- Persons
Ethnic groups
Civil rights - People:
- Serna, Willie
- Location:
- United States, Texas, Tom Green County, San Angelo, 31.46377, -100.43704
- Medium:
- oral histories (literary works)
biographies (literary works)
interviews - Type:
- MovingImage
- Format:
- video/mp4
- Description:
- Guillermo "Willie" Serna was born in Seguin, Texas in 1927 where he attended “Mexican schools.” He served in the Pacific during World War II after volunteering in 1944 (he was in the service until 1947). Upon his return to Seguin, Serna was part of creating the fourth chapter of the American GI Forum in his home town in 1948 with over 100 members. He worked as a migrant farm worker, traveling to West Texas, Ohio and Indiana. In Indiana he, Serna organized a strike for higher wages that were equal to Anglo workers. Serna moved to La Mesa, Texas where he eventually gained a job in the local employment office (Texas Workforce Commission), where he helped other Mexican Americans gain government jobs. He eventually began directing the office and moved to San Angelo to also managed the local office in the 1970s. During the 1970s, San Angelo’s LULAC chapter was founded, for which Serna became president. Within this office, Serna helped launch various suits or threats of suits at the county and city level as well as against the local school district and Angelo State University. Serna also worked in Austin for the William P. Clements administration and served as Justice of the Peace in Tom Green County from 1995-2007.
- Metadata URL:
- https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth982483/
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- 6 video recordings (1 hr., 2 min., 58 sec.) : sd., col.
- Original Collection:
- https://crbb.tcu.edu/interviews/interview-with-willie-serna
- Contributing Institution:
- University of North Texas. Libraries
- Rights:
-
