Hello doornail,
Escuela Tlatelolco provides a good biography for Rodolfo ?Corky? Gonzales.
?Rodolfo ?Corky? Gonzales was born in Denver on June 18, 1928 to
Federico and Indalesia Gonzales. He was the youngest of five brothers
and three sisters, Nattie, Beatrice, Tomas, Esperanza, Federico,
Severino, and Arturo. Corky's mother died when he was two years old
and his father never re-married, but managed somehow to keep the
Gonzales family together. The senior Gonzales ruled his household with
a firm hand, tempered with love.?
?The children grew up in the tough eastside barrio of Denver during
the devastating Depression. Rodolfo said, "Though the Depression was
devastating to so many, we, as children, were so poor that it (the
Depression) was hardly noticed."
?Corky's father had emigrated from Mexico to Colorado early in life
and often spoke to Corky about the Mexican Revolution, Mexico?s
history, and the pride of the Mexican people. Thus leaving little
doubt in Corky's mind about his own identity - and possibly his
destiny.?
?With the tremendous obstacles that faced Rodolfo from an early age,
it is truly astonishing that he persevered in the Denver educational
system to earn his high school Diploma at the age of 16. The
accomplishment is magnified by the fact that from an early age,
Rodolfo worked in the beet fields and at various other jobs that left
little time for study. Corky attended many schools including schools
in New Mexico as well as schools in Denver, Gilpin, Whittier, Lake,
Baker, West, and finally Manual High School from which he graduated in
1944.?
?During his final year in high school and the subsequent summer, Corky
worked hard to save money for a college education. With a keen
interest in engineering, Corky entered the University of Denver, but
after the first quarter realized that the financial cost was
insurmountable. Rodolfo then pursued a career in Boxing. An
outstanding amateur national champion Rodolfo became one of the best
featherweight (125 lb) fighters in the world. Even though Ring
Magazine ranked Corky number three in the world, he never got a justly
deserved title shot.?
(...)
Wife, children and grandchildren
? Corky and his wife, Geraldine Romero Gonzales, raised a family of
six daughters and two sons, Nita, mother of two children; Charlotte,
mother of three; Gina, mother of three; Gail, mother of four; Rudy,
father of one; Joaquin, father of three; Cindy, mother of two; and
Valerie, mother of two. All their children remain in Denver and
continue to carry on Corky's fight with his guidance. Corky is proud
of his family, especially the twenty-four grandchildren and seven
great-grandchildren.?
Read the complete biography at the Escuela Tlatelolco website.
http://escuelatlatelolco.org/corky_bio.html
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Corky Gonzales was born in Denver in 1928, the son of farm workers.
?His family continued to move constantly in order to follow the crops
and yet miraculously Gonzales graduated high school at age sixteen.
His boxing career included Golden Glove championships and an
impressive professional record as a bantamweight. In 1988 he was
inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
Throughout the 1950s, Gonzales owned a popular eatery and a bail bond
company in Denver. His real passion, however, was community activism
and he participated in numerous grass-roots organizations and
electoral politics, directing the Colorado Democratic Party's "Viva
Kennedy" campaign in 1960. By the mid 1960s, however, his confidence
that Democrats had a better understanding of the plight of working
people of Mexican descent was shaken. Police brutality, institutional
racism, and an escalating war in Southeast Asia moved Gonzales towards
a new identity and a new vision. "Chicanas" and "Chicanos" were being
born across the Southwest-Mexican Americans with an attitude, no fear,
and a hunger for social justice. Corky Gonzales would become one of
their most courageous leaders.?
April 15, 2005
Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales
The Passing of a Legend
Read more here:
http://www.zermeno.com/Corky.html
==============================================
?Gonzales was an iconic leader in the movement for justice and
equality for Mexican-Americans in the Southwest and he is credited
with raising the nation's awareness of the plight of urban Chicanos.
In the mid-1960"s he founded an urban civil rights and cultural
movement called the Crusade for Justice which advocated Chicano
nationalism. During the late sixties and early seventies, he organized
walkouts, demonstrations against police brutality and marches against
the Vietnam War.?
Democracy Now: April 15th, 2005
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/15/1337236
==============================================
Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales
The son of migrant workers who himself toiled in the beet fields of
Colorado, Gonzales left his career as a professional boxer when he
grew increasingly angered by the disparate treatment of Mexican
Americans in the barrios of Denver, in the school system, and by law
enforcement and city government. He founded the Crusade for Justice in
1966, which became one of the most respected Hispanic self-help
organizations in the country. Among its many programs were a school, a
nursery, a theater, and a cultural center. In the mid-1960s, Gonzales
published his epic poem, Yo Soy Joaquín (I am Joaquin), one of the
seminal and most enduring works of the Chicano movement which has
served as an anthem to several generations of Mexican American
students.
Mi Gente Magazine
http://www.migentemag.com/gente_pages/april05htms/passingofcorky_POL.htm
==============================================
Read two obituaries here.
http://listproc.ucdavis.edu/class/200503/spa174-s05/0002.html
==============================================
?Born in Denver, Gonzales was the youngest of four brothers and three
sisters. His mother, Indalesia, died when he was 2. His father,
Federico, who emigrated from Chihuahua, Mexico, never remarried, but
kept the family together in a tough east side barrio of the Colorado
capital.
Gonzales was a precocious youngster who earned his nickname when an
uncle mused that he was "always popping off, like a cork."
Although working in local beet fields left little time for study,
Gonzales earned a high school diploma at 16.
He entered the private University of Denver, but left after one
quarter because the cost proved prohibitive.
He then literally fought his way out of poverty.
In the ring, he was known for starting fast with sizzling rights
driving straight at the heads of his opponents. He won 65 of his 75
fights as a featherweight and was named to the Colorado Sports Hall of
Fame.
He left the ring in 1953 to run a neighborhood tavern, Corky's Corner.
Later, he worked as a bail bondsman and Democratic Party organizer.?
Real cost of Prisons: April 2005
Read the rest of the article here:
http://realcostofprisons.org/blog/archives/2005/04/corky_gonzales.html
==============================================
April 01, 2005
Another Round Left in Fight
Corky Gonzales stops treatment and goes home to family
http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/archieve/april01-05/corky.htm
?Career highlights:
- Professional boxer in the 1940s and ?50s and won the National
Amateur Athletic Union bantamweight title in 1946. Also named to the
Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
- Founded the Crusade for Justice in Denver in 1966. The cultural
center attempted to get the city to eradicate poverty and deal with
racial injustice.
- Founded Escuela Tlatelolco in 1970.
- Wrote his epic poem titled I Am Joaquin in 1970. His son, Joaquin,
however, said it wasn?t named for him.
- Led a contingent of the Poor People?s March on Washington, D.C., in 1968.
- Father of eight children: two boys and six girls.?
Originally published in the Rocky Mountain News. Reprinted from LatinoLA
==============================================
Read the poem ?I am Joaquin? By Rodolfo ?Corky? Gonzales here:
http://members.cox.net/mechademoh/I_Am_Joaquin.html
And here:
http://www.judybaca.com/dia/text/joaquin.html
==============================================
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I hope the information provided is helpful!
Best regards,
Bobbie7 |
