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Longtime congressman and civil rights pioneer Henry B. González was born in San Antonio in 1916. González's political career began in the fifties, when he served on the San Antonio City Council and, later, in the Texas Senate. He made his name by speaking out against segregation and fighting rate hikes by public utilities.

In 1961, González became the first Mexican American to represent Texas in Congress. González was reelected eighteen times and became the longest-serving Hispanic member of Congress. When he retired in 1999, Congressman Jim Leach of Iowa remarked that González "never had a conflict of interest. . . . His only special interest was his constituents. He never let them down." More»