Eloisa Garcia Tamez

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Eloisa Garcia Tamez (born March 2, 1935) is a Lipan Apache civil rights leader, lecturer, professional nurse, professor and retired officer of the United States Army's Nursing Corps. She is a prominent opponent and litigant against the Texas-Mexico Border Wall.

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[edit] Early life

Born in Cameron County, Texas to Jose Cavazos Garcia (of Lipan Apache and Hispanic descent) and Lydia Esparza Garcia (Hispanic), Eloisa Garcia Tamez was raised in a traditional indigenous community with her sibling, grandparents, cousins, and extended family.

Her birth community is located within the historical land-base of the Lipan Apache. Following schooling in La Encantada and San Benito High School, she pursued undergraduate and graduate studies at Incarnate Word College, the University of Texas School of Nursing at San Antonio, and the University of Texas at Austin. She pursued education and advocacy as interrelated mechanisms towards expanding civil and human rights for Indigenous peoples in the Lower Rio Grande and throughout civil sectors of United States society.[citation needed]

[edit] Early activism

In the summer of 1952, she led her community members in a local struggle against the discriminatory effects of the controversial consolidation of Landrum District #3 with the San Benito Independent School District, which would have favored white and elite families and disadvantage the poorer land owners in traditional rancherias.[citation needed] She achieved high status among the rancherias during this struggle to advance the civil rights of the poorer, indigenous and Mexican-American families in 'Deep South Texas'. Her community referred to her as "La Chata, prieta y justa" ["Chata, Indian and just"].[citation needed]

[edit] Education

Educated traditionally by her elders in El Calaboz rancheria, her mother, Lydia Esparza Garcia, provided the material support for her to attend the local school house in La Encantada. The land for the schoolhouse had been donated to the indigenous peoples by Spanish land grantee heir/political activist, José Esparza (1856–1926).[citation needed]

[edit] Degrees

[edit] Awards

  • 2008: Henry B. Gonzalez Civil Rights Award

[edit] Texas State Guard

  • October 25, 2008: She was sworn into the Texas State Guard Medical Brigade as Commander for the Rio Grande Valley Company,
  • October 1994: She was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing, the most prestiguous national organization in the nursing profession.
  • June 1994: She was the recipient by competitive selection of the “A” Proficiency Designator, Highest award of distinction in the United The United States Medical Department, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C.

[edit] United States Veterans Administration

  • 1972-1982 Audie L. Murphy Department of Veterans Affairs Medican Center, San Antonio, Texas
  • 1982-1987 Assistant Chief Nurse, Veterans Administration Medical and Regional Office Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • 1991-2000 Chief Nurse, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio

[edit] United States Army

1982-1999 Officer, Army Nurse, United States Army Reserver, Department of The Army, Lieutenant Colonel and Assistant Chief Nurse in a Combat Support Hospital

In 2007, Tamez co-founded the Lipan Apache Women Defense, an Indigenous Peoples Organization. Registered at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the organization serves to educate the public regarding contemporary Lipan Apaches and Lower Rio Grande indigenous peoples' legal challenges to human rights violations by the Department of Homeland Security in the process of constructing the Texas-Mexico border wall.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  • Handbook of Texas Online:
Nuevo Santander
Jose Esparza (1856-1926)
El Calaboz, Texas
Apache Indians"
Land Grants

[edit] External links

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