Tomás Rivera, the first Hispanic person to lead a University of California school, was born December 1935 in Crystal City, Texas, to migrant farmworkers.
“Every year, around the middle of April, we would get in the back of some truck,” he described during a tribute to him by the University of California. “And we’d take our few belongings, las colchas, you know, some blankets, and a kerosene stove. And that was it.”
Rivera’s parents encouraged their children to read and learn. His father, who had no education, had taught himself to read and write Spanish.
Rivera’s first schooling was at a small private, Spanish-language school in Crystal City. There, he was introduced to Spanish-language literary works. Then, during one of the family stays in Iowa, the librarian at the local public library kindled in him a love for reading and gave Rivera a place to escape to.
Many years later, poet and writer Pat Mora became a friend and was fascinated by Rivera’s educational journey. In 1997, Mora published a book, “Tomás and the Library Lady,” based on Rivera’s experience.
“It’s a great example to talk about the idea that it isn’t money that going to be essential for personal success for students,” Mora told PBS’ Reading Rockets in 2011. “It is really his determination, his love of learning, and the fact that there was an educator – in this case, a librarian – who helped open that world of books for him.”
By the age of 12, Rivera was writing short stories and excelling in his English classes. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1958 from what is now Texas State University and taught Spanish and English at the high school level. Later, he earned master’s degrees in English and educational administration and, in 1969, a doctorate in Romance languages from the University of Oklahoma.
Rivera taught Spanish at Sam Houston State University and in 1971 published his most notable work, an anthology of short stories and vignettes told from the perspective of a Mexican American boy whose family were farm workers: “… Y no se lo tragó la tierra,” or “… and the Earth Did Not Devour Him.”
“I write about the migrant workers within the historical context of 1945-1955. It’s a period of time when there was no protection at all for the migrant workers,” he said. “And the migrant workers were at the mercy of all types of exploitation.”
Also in 1971, Rivera became a Spanish professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Later, he became a UTSA vice president for administration.
In 1979, he moved to UT El Paso and was executive vice president for a year before taking the top spot of chancellor at the University of California, Riverside. He was the first Mexican American to take that position at any of the University of California System’s 10 campuses.
Rivera made major changes at UC Riverside by appointing people of color and women to leadership roles. Rivera died of a heart attack in 1984 at the age of 48. But his contributions to literature and to the universities where he worked, were recognized widely.
On the 25th anniversary of Rivera’s death, former UC Riverside Vice Chancellor James Erickson described Rivera’s contributions:
“Not only did he excel in his performance as chancellor, but by his example and by his bold appointments at UC Riverside, he ensured that others would have opportunities that previously had been denied people of color.”
UT San Antonio named its center for academic excellence in his name, and UC Riverside has a Tomás Rivera Library. “… and the Earth Did Not Devour Him” was adapted into a movie in 1994.
