Question

Describe the contributions of Henry B. González to the federal goverrnment." Be sure to write 2 complete sentences or more - you can copy the sentence stem/essay template in RED below the Essay Question. Then fill in the blanks with your own words based on what you learn in these paragraphs: Leadership at the Federal Level “Henry B. Gonzalez served in the federal government as a representative in Congress for 37 years. He served longer than any other Hispanic American in history. His leadership showed the strength and influence a Mexican American could have in the federal government. Gonzalez began his career as a chief probation officer in Bexar County. He worked there for three years in the 1940s. However, he left because he was now allowed to hire any Black Americans. He then began working for the San Antonio Housing Authority. His work in housing and as a probation officer made people in the city familiar with him. Gonzalez decided to run for Texas Senate. He won a position in 1956. As a Mexican American, he faced discrimination during his term. He fought against opposition in the Senate to national civil rights legislation. In 1958, Gonzalez ran for governor but failed. Then, in 1961, he ran for election to Congress. He won this election. Gonzalez served as Texas’s representative for the 20th congressional district from 1961 to 1999. During this time, Gonzalez spoke up for Mexican workers against the Bracero Program. This program allowed farmers and businesses to use Mexican citizens as farm workers. These workers were not paid well. They suffered with poor health care and housing. He tried to fight against segregation. However, Gonzalez believed that gaining civil rights would be achieved by working through the system. He became involved in the Banking and Currency Committee. Gonzalez continued to work on housing through the Subcommittee on Housing and Development. He pushed to improve public housing and cosponsored the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990. Many public housing programs lost funding under President Reagan. This bill gave funding back to housing programs that were popular" (excerpt from Unit 4, Lesson 8, page 20). Essay Question: In at least two sentences, describe the contributions of Henry González to the federal government. If you don't know what to write for 2 complete sentences, start by copying the RED sentence stems below into the answer box, and fill in the blanks with your own words based on what you learned in the above Paragraphs: Henry B. Gonzalez was a Texas Representative in the United States Congress from 1961 - 1999. He spoke against the _________________________________. This program did the following: ___________________________________________________________. Gonzalez also helped by ______________________________________________________________

Answer 1

Henry B. Gonzalez was a Texas Representative in the United States Congress from 1961 to 1999. He spoke against the Bracero Program, which allowed farmers and businesses to use Mexican citizens as farm workers without ensuring fair wages or adequate living conditions. This program did the following: it subjected Mexican workers to poor health care and housing while providing them with insufficient pay for their labor. Gonzalez also helped by advocating for civil rights through federal legislation, working on the Banking and Currency Committee, and cosponsoring the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 to improve funding for public housing programs.