This item is a finding aid to a ProQuest Research Collection in Microform. To learn more visit: www.proquest.com or call (800) 521-0600 This product is no longer affiliated or otherwise associated with any LexisNexis® company. Please contact ProQuest® with any questions or comments related to this product. About ProQuest: ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company has forged a 70-year reputation as a gateway to the world’s knowledge – from dissertations to governmental and cultural archives to news, in all its forms. Its role is essential to libraries and other organizations whose missions depend on the delivery of complete, trustworthy information. 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway ￭ P.O Box 1346 ￭ Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 ￭ USA ￭ Tel: 734.461.4700 ￭ Toll-free 800-521-0600 ￭ www.proquest.com A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of Research Collections in Latino Studies Microfilms from Major Archival and Manuscript Collections Latino Civil Rights During the Carter Administration Part 1: Records of the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs, 1979–1981 Series B: Files of Gilbert Colón, Raul Robert Tapia, Miriam Cruz, Armando Rendon, and Hilda Solis A UPA Collection from Cover: Mexican President José López Portillo, Jimmy Carter, Mrs. López Portillo, and Rosalynn Carter, February 14, 1977. Photo courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration. Research Collections in Latino Studies Microfilms from Major Archival and Manuscript Collections Latino Civil Rights During the Carter Administration Part 1: Records of the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs, 1979–1981 Series B: Files of Gilbert Colón, Raul Robert Tapia, Miriam Cruz, Armando Rendon, and Hilda Solis Guide by Mark A. Zimmerman The documents reproduced in this publication are among the records of the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs in the custody of the Jimmy Carter Library, Atlanta, Georgia. No copyright is claimed in these official U.S. government records. A UPA Collection from 7500 Old Georgetown Road ● Bethesda, MD 20814-6126 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Latino civil rights during the Carter administration. Part 1, Records of the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs, 1979–1981 [microform] / [project coordinator, Daniel Lewis]. microfilm reels. –– (Research collections in Latino studies) “Microfilmed from the holdings of the Jimmy Carter Library, Atlanta, Georgia.” Accompanied by a printed guide compiled by Mark A. Zimmerman entitled: A guide to the microfilm edition of Latino civil rights during the Carter administration. ISBN 978-0-88692-852-0 (series A) –– ISBN 978-0-88692-886-5 (series B) 1. Hispanic Americans––Civil rights––History––20th century. 2. Hispanic Americans–– Politics and government––20th century. 3. Mexican Americans––Civil rights––History–– 20th century. 4. White House Office of Hispanic Affairs (U.S.)––History––Sources. 5. Carter, Jimmy, 1924–––Relations with Hispanic Americans. 6. United States––Race relations–– History––20th century––Sources. I. Lewis, Daniel, 1972– II. Zimmerman, Mark A., 1979– III. Title: Records of the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs, 1979–1981. IV. Title: Guide to the microfilm edition of Latino civil rights during the Carter administration. V. Series. E184.S75 323.1168’07309045––dc22 2007061518 Copyright © 2007 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ISBN 978-0-88692-886-5. TABLE OF CONTENTS Scope and Content Note ............................................................................................. v Source Note.................................................................................................................. ix Editorial Note .............................................................................................................. ix Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. xi Reel Index Gilbert Colón Papers Reels 1–8 Subject File ............................................................................................................. 1 Reel 9 Subject File cont. ................................................................................................... 21 Chronological File .................................................................................................. 23 Reel 10 Chronological File cont. ......................................................................................... 23 Reel 11 Chronological File cont. ......................................................................................... 25 Resume File ............................................................................................................ 25 Raul R. Tapia Papers Subject File ............................................................................................................. 26 Reels 12–17 Subject File cont. ................................................................................................... 28 iii Reel 18 Subject File cont. ................................................................................................... 38 Miriam Cruz Papers Subject File ............................................................................................................. 39 Reel 19 Subject File cont. ................................................................................................... 40 Reel 20 Subject File cont. ................................................................................................... 42 Armando Rendon Papers Subject File ............................................................................................................. 43 Reel 21 Subject File cont. ................................................................................................... 44 Reel 22 Subject File cont. ................................................................................................... 46 Hilda Solis Papers Subject File ............................................................................................................. 46 Reels 23–27 Subject File cont. ................................................................................................... 47 Principal Correspondents Index................................................................................ 55 Subject Index............................................................................................................... 65 iv SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE This microfilm collection, Latino Civil Rights During the Carter Administration, Part 1: Records of the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs, 1979–1981, Series B: Files of Gilbert Colón, Raul Robert Tapia, Miriam Cruz, Armando Rendon, and Hilda Solis, sheds light on the many facets of the Latino experience in the United States as viewed from the highest office in the land. Created in the summer of 1979, the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs came into existence at a critical time for the Latino community. The coming decade of the 1980s was being hailed as “the Decade of the Hispanic,” and many were looking to the president and Congress to show more respect for Latinos and their manifold contributions to the United States. The creation of the Office of Hispanic Affairs represented President Jimmy Carter’s answer to the growing calls for Hispanic representation in Washington. President Carter chose Esteban E. Torres to head the new Office of Hispanic Affairs. Torres was born in a small copper-mining town in Arizona. During the Great Depression his family moved to East Los Angeles, California, where Torres spent his formative years. As a young man Torres joined the U.S. Army. After leaving the army in 1954, he became a worker on an automobile assembly line, where he became active in the United Auto Workers (UAW). Torres’s leadership skills were noticed by union officials, and he rose through the ranks in the UAW, eventually becoming the director of Inter-American Affairs for the union. After leaving the UAW, Torres returned to Los Angeles to help found and lead The East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU), a prominent anti-poverty agency. It was while at TELACU that Torres was tapped by President Carter to serve as the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris. President Carter then recalled Torres and appointed him as director of the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs in 1979, where Torres, with his noted administrative skills, proved to be an effective representative of the Latino population as well as an articulate spokesman for the Carter administration (Reel 17, Frame 0867). This collection comprises the papers of Ambassador Torres’s assistants in the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs: Gilbert Colón, Raul R. Tapia, Miriam Cruz, Armando Rendon, and Hilda Solis. The Gilbert Colón Papers Gilbert Colón was born in 1944 in Naguabo, Puerto Rico. After serving in the U.S. Army he moved to New York City, where he initially took a job with the Social Services Department of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Offices. In 1972 he graduated with a B.A. from the City College of New York, and four years later he received his M.P.A. from Baruch College. From 1977 to 1979 Colón served with the federal government as special assistant to the deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). It was while at OPM that Colón took the position of deputy assistant to the president for Hispanic Affairs. As deputy assistant, Colón