Biography of tomas rivera center

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The life and legacy of Tomás Rivera

Tomás Rivera, the first Hispanic person to lead a University of California school, was born December 1935 in Crystal City, Texas, to migrant farmworkers.

“Every year, around the middle of April, we would get in the back of some truck,” he described during a tribute to him by the University of California. “And we’d take our few belongings, las colchas, you know, some blankets, and a kerosene stove. And that was it.”

Rivera’s parents encouraged their children to read and learn. His father, who had no education, had taught himself to read and write Spanish.

Rivera’s first schooling was at a small private, Spanish-language school in Crystal City. There, he was introduced to Spanish-language literary works. Then, during one of the family stays in Iowa, the librarian at the local public library kindled in him a love for reading and gave Rivera a place to escape to.

Many years later, poet and writer Pat Mora became a friend and was fascinated by Rivera’s educational journey. In 1997, Mora published a book, “Tomás and the Library Lady,” based on Rivera’s experience.

“It’s a great example to talk about the idea that it isn’t money that going to be

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Tomas Rivera
By Leticia Duncan-Brosnan
Board Director, Tomas Rivera Center for Pupil Success
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Writing institute: offer

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Texas Originals
Tomás Rivera
December 22, 1935–May 16, 1984
Tomás Rivera's career as a writer and educator was shaped by the struggles of his family.
Rivera was born in 1935. His parents were farm laborers who followed the annual harvests from Texas to the Midwest. Rivera traveled and worked with his family throughout his education. Ultimately, he earned a PhD and became a university professor.
Rivera's 1971 novel . . . y no se lo tragó la tierra—or, in English translation, . . . And the Earth Did Not Devour Him—portrays the terrible conditions faced by Mexican American farm workers. Rivera later explained, "I wanted to document, somehow, the strength of those people that I had known . . . when the migrant worker was living without any kind of protection."
The novel received the first Premio Quinto Sol, an annual literary award given to the best work of fiction by a Chicano author.
As an educator, Rivera saw that he could advance the interests of first-generation college students more effectively as an administrator than as a professor. After serving on The University of Texas campuses in San Antonio and El Paso, he became the first Mexican American chancellor in the University of California system.
Rivera died in 1984. His achievements are commemorated at many