In 1850, Jose Angel Navarro graduated as the first Latino alumnus of Harvard Law School. According to historian Dr. Daniel Coquillette, author of “On the Battlefield of Merit: Harvard Law School, the First Century,” Navarro returned to San Antonio after graduation and advocated for the downtrodden and exploited in Texas. He served on the San Antonio City Council, as a district attorney and city attorney in Laredo and, at 29, was elected to the Texas Legislature. He is widely credited with removing the word “white” from the new Texas Constitution’s voting requirements. In 1876, he was gunned down on Laredo’s main street. Coquillette cites how Navarro died a martyr’s death and deserves broad recognition and honor.

Trailblazing Influence

Giving Navaro that recognition and honor is exactly what current Latino alumni had in mind when they started contemplating a group gift to Harvard Law School (HLS). Every five years, an all-classes reunion known as the HLS “Celebration of Latino Alumni” (CLA) is held. Members organize the self-funded, 4-day event on campus. “Alumni had been talking about doing something for Latino students,” says Ricardo Anzaldua, JD ‘90, who served as a CLA chair.

As a trailblazer, Navarro seems to have set the bar for the caliber of Latino law students at HLS, as well as an advocacy agenda. “The history of Latino presence at Harvard is a long one,” explains Anzaldua. “A sizeable population began arriving in the 1970s. With more Hispanics, we needed a curriculum sensitive to Latino issues, immigration, social justice issues, reform.”

Since 2015, more than 850 law students who identified as Hispanic graduated from HLS.  The need to recognize Navarro’s achievements, as well as those of other Latinos throughout Harvard Law School’s history, became a mission.

“I always felt we could do better, but we weren’t as well represented as we could be,” says Anzaldua, who is the executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Company. “We needed the numbers to correspond with the numbers in our communities.”

The Gift

At the 2017 CLA, the theme “Latino Leadership: Embracing the Challenge” seemed to help alumni fine-tune their vision. They wanted to ensure recruitment of more Latino students and tenured faculty. They wanted to see the past recognized and have a vision for future students and faculty. They wanted to make their presence and achievements known. They wanted to leverage outcomes that mattered to them.

Their efforts shifted to positions of leadership.

They came up with the idea of creating a HLS Latino Alumni Scholarship Fund.

A core group of six alumni members and one HLS staff member kicked off the venture and pledged or gifted $625,000. To date there are 18 donors and more than $900,000 in gifts and pledges, says Desne Crossley, associate director, Major Gifts at Harvard Law School. Their goal is to raise a minimum of $2 million and make scholarships available in 2021.

Any law student with financial need will be able to apply for the Latino Alumni Scholarship, says Crossley. Scholarship recipients will be educated about Navarro. They will also receive short biographies of the founding donors who, in turn, will receive an annual report on the scholarship and student awardees.

“My goal is that not only are they remembered and recognized for what they’ve done,” says Crossley. “Latinos will learn something about the Latino experience and history in Harvard Law School.”

Representation Going Forward

In 2015, more than 160 years after Navarro graduated, HLS alumnus Andrew Manuel Crespo (‘08) was hired as an assistant professor by the HLS dean at the time, Martha Minow. In 2019, he was promoted to professor of law—the first Latino to be promoted to a tenured position on the HLS faculty. He had served for years as a public defender and was known for his research on the criminal justice system. While a student, he was the first Latino to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review.

“Now that Andrew is in, we will work on another round for more money,” says Anzaldua. “Now we get a seat at the table. It gives us a voice at the table. It helps us unify Latino alumni.”

Anzaldua believes graduating from Harvard Law School opens a gigantic world of opportunity, and the Latino Alumni Scholarship Fund can help connect students, alumni and community leaders and give them that voice at the table. Yet there is still much work to be done.

“We still are a community looking for empowerment, recognition and striving to be heard. We need to be heard for who we are, what we’ve achieved individually, and as a group. We are extending the hand to the next generation to ensure we continue the efforts to be well represented. It’s necessary to keep the momentum going. We don’t want one professor to be the only tall pine tree on the hill.” •