Manuel "Lito" G. Peña Jr. (November 17, 1924 - October 12, 2013) was a state legislator and activist in the US state of

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. Known informally as the "godfather" of the Democrats in the

Arizona Senate The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figure ...

, Peña served in the state legislature for 30 years, from 1967 to 1996. He was also remembered for his work in school desegregation and voter registration.

Personal life

Peña was born on a ranch in Cashion, Arizona in 1924 and grew up in nearby Tolleson, where his family were merchants. He was drafted into the Army in 1945 and served as a heavy weapons specialist in Korea.

Political career

In 1946, Peña organized the first voter registration drive in Tolleson, raising the number of registered voters from 150 to 750. Peña also played a leading role in the desegregation of the Tolleson school, serving as the vice president of the group that successfully brought suit to end racial segregation in Tolleson in '' Gonzales v. Sheely'' in 1951. He was further inspired in his activism by meeting

Cesar Chavez Cesario Estrada Chavez (; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta and lesser known Gilbert Padilla, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), ...

in the

Community Service Organization The Community Service Organization (founded 1947) was an important California Latino civil rights organization, most famous for training Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. Founding and Early Success The Community Service Organization (CSO) was ...

in the 1950s. Peña began his legislative career in the

Arizona House The Arizona House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Arizona Senate, Senate. The House convenes in the le ...

following the 1966 reform that replaced at-large county representation with districts, thus making it possible for Hispanic lawmakers to win office. He switched to the Arizona State Senate in 1972. In total he served from the 28th Arizona State Legislature in 1967 through to the 42nd Arizona State Legislature in 1996. He is the namesake of an elementary school in the Cartwright Elementary School District in Phoenix, which was named for him in 2003.

References

External links

Manuel "Lito" Peña Papers 1957-2000
(ASU Libraries)
James Walsh on Manuel Lito Pena's Role as Parliamentarian
from Arizona Memory Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Peña, Manuel 1924 births 2013 deaths Members of the Arizona House of Representatives Arizona state senators Politicians from Phoenix, Arizona 20th-century members of the Arizona State Legislature