After the American G.I. Forum formed in 1948 in Corpus Christi, Dr. Hector P. Garcia and his board aimed during the 1950s to expand from Texas into a nationwide advocacy force.
Saginaw was among the earliest communities across the U.S.A. to come on board, with a start during the middle of the Eisenhower years, and the history moving forward will be celebrated at the scholarship luncheon, says Gilberto Guevara, the local G.I. Forum commander.
Dr. Garcia began with a focus on VA medical rights for Mexican-American servicemen who faced bias in gaining their rightful benefits. Soon, out of necessity, issues of law enforcement injustice and voting exclusion also came to the forefront.
Saginaw’s G.I. Forum, like most other branches, supported the national activism, but locally was more of a fund-raising club. A top focal point became education, with scholarships to bring college costs within reach and events to raise the funds, in line with Dr. Garcia’s slogan, “Education is our freedom, and our freedom should be everybody’s business.”
Guevara says the scholarship funds have been a mainstay for family budgets across the community, but the impact goes beyond dollars.
“Many recipients were the first in their families to attend college, and so their successes were steppingstones for their brothers and their sisters,” he explains. “They were able to come home and tell stories of what they had experienced, what it was like to enter higher education.”
The earliest Saginaw grants to help with tuition and textbooks came at a time when Mexican-Americans were excluded from some of the other school-aid programs, he adds, and so links with the G.I. Forum helped to build trust for family connections with the entire scholarship system.
G.I. Forum men were more than happy to support the equal rights of their spouses to form their own Women’s Auxiliary. Among the first leaders was Sarah Pena, who married Korea vet Guadalupe Pena (1927 to 2016) upon his return in 1954 and began studies toward her own nursing career.
“We started in 1956 by supporting the men’s activities,” she says. “We would help to prepare the meals and set the tables, and then take tickets at the door. In time we would do our own activities in cooperation with the men, like card parties and tamale sales, but the whole purpose still was to make money for the scholarships.
“Eventually we decided that we would like to be able to select our own scholars, but it was never really divided. The men would select both males and females, and so would we.”
A generation later, Lupe Guevara also enlisted in the Women’s Auxiliary after husband Gil finished his Vietnam service.
“Looking back,” Lupe says, “we always should remember the importance of these scholarships, not only for the young men but also for the young women. Men in college still had more options, but the post-high school studies helped women move into such professions as school teachers, nurses, accountants and secretaries.”
The Sept. 15 luncheon is set with the opening of Hispanic Heritage Month. It was originally scheduled for March 31 as a highlight for Michigan’s Cesar Chavez Day, but the covid pandemic forced the delay.
