[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 99 (Tuesday, June 19, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1339]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      HONORING RODOLFO AND DORA MIRABAL FROM CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. SOLOMON P. ORTIZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 19, 2007

  Mr. ORTIZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the 
accomplishments of two pioneers in the national Hispanic community, and 
their home in south Texas. Rodolfo Zepeda Mirabal, Sr., and Dora 
Cervera Mirabal, were two activists and organizers in the Corpus 
Christi community who answered the call of patriots and did much to 
make our community a better, more transparent, place to live.
  Rodolfo was among the original founders of the League of United Latin 
American Citizens, LULAC, and in the 1920s he began publishing his own 
Spanish-language newspaper, called El Democrata. In the 1930s Dora 
began an annual publication of a traditional form of Mexican satirical 
verse for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead or All Souls Day).
  Always civically engaged, Dora founded a bilingual school called El 
Circulo de Nuestros Amigos Para Los Estudiantes Bilingues, which 
operated at the Mirabal Printing Company and helped Spanish speakers 
learn English. She became the first female member of the Corpus Christi 
Mexican Chamber of Commerce, and served as an officer in the Corpus 
Christi Ladies' LULAC Chapter.
  Together Rodolfo and Dora operated Mirabal Printing Company in the 
heart of the Mexican-American community of Corpus Christi.
  In 1938 the couple began publishing a weekly, full-size Spanish 
language newspaper in Corpus Christi, El Progreso, which kept the 
community informed for 41 years. This paper not only served as a 
crucial resource to the Hispanic community for local, national, and 
international issues, but it tried to give the Mexican-Americans in the 
Coastal Bend inspiration and a voice.
  Following Rodolfo's death in 1968, Dora Cervera Mirabal continued 
work on El Progreso until she died of cancer on December 4, 1979. The 
Mirabals were succeeded by three children: Rodolfo, Jr.; Rosie; and 
Robert, all of whom carry on the family's printing business today.
  Rodolfo and Dora Mirabal were ``lost giants'' in the advancement of 
the Mexican-American civil rights movement who inspired not just my 
generation, but generations to come.
  I ask the House of Representatives to join me today in remembering 
this extraordinary couple and their outstanding record of civic service 
to the city of Corpus Christi and the south Texas community.

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