In Mexican American Odyssey, Thomas H. Kreneck 
not only traces the influential life of Houston 
entrepreneur and civic leader Felix Tijerina but also 
shows how Tijerina's enterprise influenced and reflected 
the trends in Mexican American development during years 
that were crucial for the Hispanic community. Kreneck 
outlines a pattern of identity and assimilation that has 
been traced in broader terms by other scholars, who have 
called Tijerina's contemporaries the "Mexican American 
Generation."


Felix Tijerina was born in 1905 in Mexico, although he 
publicly claimed to have been born in Texas. He worked his 
way from busboy and waiter to owner of a profitable, well-
known chain of Mexican restaurants. The story of his 
economic success parallels that of other self-made 
American business leaders. But his contribution did not 
end there. He was an active leader of local, state, and 
national Mexican American organizations, and in those 
groups he worked to advance the Hispanic community and 
promote social harmony. Moreover, Kreneck demonstrates 
how Tijerina's life and efforts symbolized the history of 
a people who, by the time Tijerina died in the mid-1960s, 
were no longer lost in a sea of voices and ineffectual.


Emerging as a leader in such mainstream groups and boards 
as Rotary International and the Houston Housing Authority, 
Tijerina was a pioneer in Mexican American interaction 
with Anglos. He was particularly noted for his efforts on 
behalf of Mexican American education. While serving an 
unprecedented four terms as national president of LULAC, 
from 1956 to 1960, he launched an internationally 
acclaimed educational initiative called the Little School 
of the 400, to teach English to preschool Spanish-speaking 
children.


Through Tijerina's life, Kreneck illustrates the intricate 
relations between Anglos and Mexican Americans during the 
early and middle years of the century. He identifies both 
prejudice and opportunity in Tijerina's environment and 
analyzes the qualities that allowed the man to flourish 
within those circumstances. He also shows how Tijerina and 
his colleagues responded to the black civil rights movement 
that swept the South in the later years of his life.


Mexican American Odyssey thus portrays a significant 
individual and places him within a larger context as a 
member of a generation whose importance still affects 
society at large.


"The work is very impressive and will be recognized as 
an important contribution, especially in the field of 
Mexican American biography."—Emilio Zamora, author, 
The World of the Mexican Worker in Texas
_________________________________________________________

THOMAS H. KRENECK is head of Special Collections and 
Archives at Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi. A 
specialist in developing local research resources, Kreneck 
founded the Mexican American archival component at the 
Houston Metropolitan Research Center.

Number Two: University of Houston Series in 
Mexican American Studies