Book details life of ‘forgotten’ US Latino scholar

*We need to tell more of these untold stories. It’s a vital part of the American narrative. VL

By Russell Contreras, Associated Press/BND.com

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — George I. Sanchez regularly is left out of books on the civil rights movement. His role is seldom mentioned in studies on desegregation cases. Even people in his birth-state hardly know his name, though his imprint on New Mexico’s educational system still is felt today.

A new biography seeks to change that.

This month, Carlos Blanton released “George I. Sanchez: The Long Fight for Mexican American Integration.” He’s hoping the biography finally places the Latino scholar in his proper place among civil rights giants.

A project that took more than a decade, Blanton wrote the book after combing through previously unknown letters, writings and materials to reconstruct the life of a man who was at the center of some of most important civil rights moments in history.