PRINT THIS STORY E-MAIL THIS STORY James DeAnda 1925-2006
Activist helped desegregate area schools
By mary ann cavazos Caller-TimesSeptember 8, 2006
Civil rights activist, lawyer and retired U.S. District Judge James DeAnda was a man who fought for fairness and equality for all Americans, in and out of the courtroom, friends said.
DeAnda died Thursday in Michigan after a long illness. He was 81.
In 1968, DeAnda argued in the landmark case Cisneros v. Corpus Christi ISD, which went before the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices' ruling resulted in busing and later helped increase funding for special emphasis schools that ultimately led to school desegregation in the city.
"It was a major civil rights case involving Hispanics," said former state Sen. Carlos Truan. "It clearly brought out that Hispanics had suffered the same civil rights violations that African-Americans had."
During the trial, DeAnda refused to be steered off his goal and remained focused on winning the case, despite receiving several death threats.
"He was dedicated to what he did. He stood up under those things," Corpus Christi lawyer Bill Edwards said of his former business partner and longtime friend. "It was something that he knew had to be done."
Truan credits DeAnda as one of the top attorneys ever to practice in the area.
"As a community, we have lost a great friend who dedicated his life to the practice of law," Truan said, adding that DeAnda also served as his first campaign manager at the start of his lengthy political career.
Despite his heavy caseloads, DeAnda always found time to work with civil rights leaders such as Hector P. Garcia and organizations such as the American GI Forum, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Truan said.
Amador Garcia, a local lawyer, GI Forum member and cousin of Dr. Hector P. Garcia, said DeAnda was the forum's legal adviser and confidant to its founder.
"They kept their eyes on the prize and the prize was equality. Everything else was secondary," Garcia said.
He practiced law from 1955 to 1974 before being appointed by former President Jimmy Carter in 1979 to serve as a federal judge in Brownsville.
He was the second Mexican-American to be appointed to the federal bench, where he served until 1992. After retiring as a judge he continued to practice law in Houston until he became ill, Edwards said.
"He helped as many people as he could. I think he would have still been practicing if he hadn't gotten sick. We lost a real champion," Edwards said.
Services at George Lewis Funeral Home in Houston were pending late Thursday.
Contact Mary Ann Cavazos at 886-3623 or HYPERLINK mailto:cavazosm@caller.com cavazosm@caller.com
