Fighting for Justice: Civil Rights Landmarks

San Antonio's civil rights history runs in two intertwined threads — the long Mexican-American struggle for legal equality and labor rights, and the Black community's fight to build its own churches, schools, and institutions under segregation. This driving tour connects five landmarks across downtown and the near-east side: the 1897 federal case that secured Mexican immigrants a path to citizenship, the 1938 strike a 21-year-old labor organizer led against the pecan-shelling industry, and three institutions — a college, a church, and a library — that Black San Antonians built for themselves when the rest of the city wouldn't make room. It's a longer drive than the downtown walking tours, but it covers ground just as central to who San Antonio is.