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Tony Bonilla Papers
Longtime Corpus Christi attorney and civic
leader Tony Bonilla was born in Calvert, Texas,
on March 2, 1936. After moving to Corpus Christi,
he attended Del Mar College and graduated from
Baylor University. He received his law degree
from the University of Houston. A senior partner
in Bonilla and Chapa, he specializes in personal
injury litigation.
Among his many accomplishments, Tony Bonilla
was elected in 1964 as the first Hispanic State Representative from Nueces County.
In the legislature, he served on the Banks and Banking, Criminal Jurisprudence, Education, Judicial Districts, and Public Health Committees. He was co-author of a constitutional amendment providing for abolishing the poll tax as a prerequisite for voting in the Lone Star State. |
Bonilla was appointed by Governor Dolph Briscoe to
the Coordinating Board for Texas Colleges and Universities
and was a member of the 1973 Texas Constitutional
Revision Committee.
Like his brothers William and Ruben, he is one of
the most influential LULAC leaders in that organization’s
history and helped to keep Corpus Christi Council
No. 1 at the center of LULAC activities. Tony Bonilla
was State LULAC Chair of the Year for the United States
and 1971-1972 State and National LULAC Man of the
Year. He was twice National President of LULAC being
elected at the 1981 national convention in Albuquerque,
New Mexico and at the 1982 convention held in San
Antonio, Texas. William, Ruben, and Tony are a unique
LULAC family as all three brothers have held the national
presidency.
On the local level, Tony Bonilla has held numerous civic
positions. He has long been an articulate spokesman
of community concerns, especially as they relate to
Corpus Christi’s sizeable Hispanic population.
The Tony Bonilla Papers comprise approximately fifty
linear feet of materials. These items cover a range
of topics including his 1965 term in the Texas Legislature
(59th legislative session), the Texas Constitutional
Revision Commission, his campaigns for the State Legislature,
his extensive LULAC activities from the 1960s to the
1980s, the LULAC Feria de los Flores, LULAC national
conventions, LULAC’s National Education Service
Centers, his actions as LULAC District and State Director,
Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign of 1984,
Texas prison conditions, the National Hispanic Leadership
Conference, the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce,
and other subjects.
We invite questions and/or comments and look forward
to hearing from you. Contact Jan Weaver at Jan.Weaver@tamucc.edu.
Webpage revised on
09/11/2007
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