• Who is Dr. Tomàs Rivera?
    Scholar, Author, Poet, 1935-1984
     
    Dr. Tomàs Rivera Tomás Rivera was born in 1935, in Crystal City, Texas, to a migrant Mexican-American family. He started writing when he was 12 and was an avid reader. As a boy, Rivera and his family followed the migrant stream from Texas to the Midwest and back to Texas again.
     
    With diligence and intelligence, Rivera overcame the great handicap of his youthful poverty and rose to success through academic achievement. He was a strong proponent of education, as his career in the academic field indicates. Dr. Rivera was also a notable writer and poet.
     
    Despite the many educational obstacles of the migrant life, Rivera graduated from high school and went on to receive his bachelor’s degree in education. He taught in public schools in San Antonio, Crystal City, and League City before earning his doctoral degree.
     
    Rivera achieved many “firsts” in his life, as he was the first in his family to attend college. Dr. Rivera’s dedication and accomplishments did much to create new and important opportunities for Hispanics at the time. Rivera received international acclaim as an educator, author, and scholar before his untimely death in 1984 at the age of 49.
     
    The legacy of Dr. Tomás Rivera remains strong, and numerous schools and other establishments have been dedicated in honor of this “great” man, and his life of excellence, scholarship, and service!