The American Constitution Society presents "A Class Apart"
The American Constitution Society and its National Partners present:
A Class Apart
A documentary film chronicling the landmark 14th Amendment case, Hernandez v. Texas

Banner photo credit: Lee (Russell) Photograph Collection, Center for American History UT-Austin; John J Herrera Collection, Houston Public Library; San Antonio Light Collection, UTSA’s Institute of Texan Cultures, Courtesy of the Hearst Corporation.
In the tiny town of Edna, Texas, in 1951, a field hand named Pete Hernandez murdered tenant farmer Joe Espinosa after exchanging words in a gritty cantina. From this unremarkable small-town murder emerged a landmark civil rights case that would forever change the lives and legal standing of tens of millions of Americans. "A Class Apart" tells the little-known story of a band of underdog Mexican-American lawyers who took their case, Hernandez v. Texas, all the way to the Supreme Court, where they successfully challenged Jim Crow-style discrimination against Mexican-Americans.
In the landmark case, defense lawyers forged a daring legal strategy, arguing that Mexican-Americans were "a class apart" and did not neatly fit into a legal structure that recognized only blacks and whites. As legal skirmishes unfolded, the lawyers emerged as brilliant, dedicated, humorous and at times terribly flawed men. This film dramatically interweaves the story of its central characters -- activists and lawyers, returning veterans and ordinary citizens, murderer, and victim -- within the broader history of Latinos in America during a time of extraordinary change.
Join us for our screenings of the film nationwide:
Washington, D.C. – Thursday, February 5, 2009
San Francisco, CA – Thursday, February 12, 2009
New York, NY – Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Kansas City, KS – Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Detroit, MI - Friday, April 3, 2009
Nashville, TN - Thursday, April 16, 2009
Denver, CO - Thursday, April 23, 2009
Dallas, TX - Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Boston, MA - Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Philadelphia, PA - Thursday, September 24, 2009
Newark, NJ - Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Chicago, IL - Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Phoenix, AZ - Thursday, November 19, 2009
Portland, OR - Thursday, January 28, 2010
Come back soon to see if there will be a screening near you!

