Hidden Bibliographic Details
| Varying Form of Title: | History Makers video oral history with The Honorable Augustus F. "Gus" Hawkins
The Honorable Augustus F. "Gus" Hawkins
|
|---|
| Other authors / contributors: | Hawkins, Augustus F., interviewee.
Crowe, Larry F., interviewer.
Stearns, Scott, director of photography.
HistoryMakers (Video oral history collection), production company.
|
|---|
| Sound characteristics: | digital
|
|---|
| Digital file characteristics: | video file
|
|---|
| Notes: | Videographer, Scott Stearns.
Larry Crowe, interviewer.
Recorded Washington, District of Columbia 2003 September 12.
Vendor-supplied metadata.
|
|---|
| Summary: | Politician Augustus "Gus" Hawkins was born on August 31, 1907 in Shreveport, Louisiana. He moved to Los Angeles at age eleven. After graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1931 and taking graduate courses at the University of Southern California, Hawkins was elected to the State Assembly in 1934. He remained there for twenty-eight years where he advocated for civil rights. In 1962, Hawkins was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as the first black politician west of the Mississippi River elected to the House. Hawkins continued to advocate for equal rights and devoted much time to education. He co-authored the Full Employment Act. He succeeded in restoring honorable discharges to 170 black soldiers of the 25th Infantry Regiment who were removed after being falsely accused of a crime in Brownsville, Texas in 1906. He served California until 1990. Hawkins passed away on November 10, 2007 at age 100.
|
|---|
