Father Luis Olivares, a Biography

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560 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 25 halftones, notes, bibl., index

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4696-4331-1
Published: October 2018
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-6927-4
Published: February 2022
E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-1-4696-4332-8
Published: August 2018
E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-5033-1
Published: August 2018

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Awards & distinctions

Finalist, Best Biography Book Award, International Latino Book Awards

This is the amazing untold story of the Los Angeles sanctuary movement's champion, Father Luis Olivares (1934–1993), a Catholic priest and a charismatic, faith-driven leader for social justice. Beginning in 1980 and continuing for most of the decade, hundreds of thousands of Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees made the hazardous journey to the United States, seeking asylum from political repression and violence in their home states. Instead of being welcomed by the "country of immigrants," they were rebuffed by the Reagan administration, which supported the governments from which they fled. To counter this policy, a powerful sanctuary movement rose up to provide safe havens in churches and synagogues for thousands of Central American refugees.

Based on previously unexplored archives and over ninety oral histories, this compelling biography traces the life of a complex and constantly evolving individual, from Olivares’s humble beginnings in San Antonio, Texas, to his close friendship with legendary civil rights leader César Chávez and his historic leadership of the United Neighborhoods Organization and the sanctuary movement.

About the Author

Mario T. García is distinguished professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies and history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of The Latino Generation: Voices of the New America.
For more information about Mario T. García, visit the Author Page.

Multimedia & Links

Listen

The author is interviewed on this episode of KSTX-San Antonio's Fronteras: "Faith Politics, 1980s Sanctuary Movement in Los Angeles." (7/4/2019, running time 21:25)