An educator who infused his passion for teaching into every aspect of his career, from schoolteacher and administrator to university professor and civil rights advocate, State Sen. Joe Bernal is a founding father of The University of Texas at San Antonio.
Bernal died earlier this year. But his legacy will be preserved for future generations.
The senator’s family recently donated more than 70 boxes containing Bernal’s personal papers, photographs, research files, writings, correspondence and books from his reference library to UT San Antonio Special Collections.
The donation provides a rare insight into the life of a man whose influence continues to shape San Antonio’s educational and civic landscape, noted Dean Hendrix, UT San Antonio Libraries vice provost and university librarian.
“With this gift, UT San Antonio Libraries safeguards the courage and conviction of a legislator who believed education was the surest path to opportunity,” Hendrix said. “His legacy is written into the very fabric of San Antonio’s educational and cultural life, and his collection will continue to inspire the pursuit of educational access, justice, and opportunity for all.”
“They will serve as a vital resource for scholars, students and community members seeking to understand and draw inspiration from the legacy of advocacy and leadership that he embodied throughout his life.” — Amy Rushing
‘University of the First Class’
Bernal served in the Texas House and Senate from 1964 to 1972, where he fought for Mexican American civil rights, the state’s first bilingual education law and the creation of the University of Texas at San Antonio and the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.
One of his most lasting contributions was co-sponsoring legislation with State Rep. Frank Lombardino to establish a “University of the First Class” in San Antonio.
Bernal authored the senate’s companion bill, successfully securing the vote to establish the university. The same bill also laid the foundation for the dental and nursing schools that would later develop into UT Health San Antonio.
Housing the archive at the university that he helped to create was a natural choice for his family.
Bernal’s children, Patrick Bernal and Rebecca Bernal Villarreal said they are very pleased that UT San Antonio Special Collections agreed to house their father’s personal files and papers, noting it is a fitting place for them.
Patrick Bernal remembers their father first and foremost as an educator: “His happiest moments were in the classroom teaching, mentoring, and guiding students through new discoveries. We are sure he would take immense pride in knowing that UT San Antonio students will have access to his files to explore the issues, challenges, and successes he experienced as a community advocate, educator, legislator and political leader.”
Full circle vision
The Bernal collection includes scrapbooks of photos, clippings and ephemera from his time playing on the Lanier High School basketball team during the 1940s, a period in which the team won two state championships, in 1943 and 1945.
It also includes material documenting his unwavering efforts to establish the university, early drafts of his memoirs, reel-to-reel tapes and objects from his political campaigns, and a vast number of writings, speeches, publications and research on bilingual education.
The timing of the donation is particularly meaningful, as the two institutions he helped to create recently merged to form UT San Antonio — now the third largest research institution in Texas.
For the Bernal family, this milestone brings their father’s vision full circle.
“As a State Representative, Dad coauthored the bill assuring the start-up medical school would have a teaching hospital,” Patrick Bernal said. “Then, as Senator, he negotiated the addition of nursing and dental schools. Now that they are one, San Antonio has reached the upper ranks of university cities nationwide.”
The family also expressed their gratitude to UT San Antonio’s leadership, including Amy Rushing, associate vice provost of Special Collections, for accepting the papers and preserving them for current and future generations of community, student and faculty researchers.
Rushing views the Bernal papers as a cornerstone addition.
“We are incredibly honored to be the stewards of Dr. Bernal’s papers,” she said. “They will be in good company alongside the many archives that make up our Chicano Research Collections. They will serve as a vital resource for scholars, students and community members seeking to understand and draw inspiration from the legacy of advocacy and leadership that he embodied throughout his life.”
