Book Review: From the Barrio to Washington (Via Sacramento)

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Kenneth C. Burt

The current interest in the Latino vote, and the emergence of high-profile leaders such as Antonio Villaraigosa, might lead one to ask: How did it all begin? Who were the early leaders? Part of the answer can be found in Armando Rodriguez’s From the Barrio to Washington: An Educator’s Journey, which fulfills the stated goal — “to inspire” — while teaching us about a bygone era.

The trajectory of Rodriguez’s life is awe-inspiring. Born into a large family in Mexico where his mother neither spoke English nor wrote Spanish, he became the second Latino college president and an advisor to four U.S. presidents.

Rodriguez is the most prominent San Diegan of the Mexican American generation, the cohort shaped by the Depression and World War II. He was among the first large wave of Latinos to come to California’s state capitol during Governor Pat Brown’s tenure, reaching national influence in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Rodriguez grew up in the San Diego of the 1920s and 1930s, then a small city near the border. The Latino community was based in Barrio Logan; the largest employer was the tuna canneries, where young Armando worked and where his sister became a union organizer for the CIO. (It is the same neighborhood that two generations later produced Assemblymen Fabian Núñez and Kevin de León.)