Rio Grande Valley Oral Histories

Identifier

HCHC_Longoria_Samuel_2025-04-10

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Creation Date

4-10-2025

Description

Samuel “Sam” Longoria (b. March 11, 1951, Austin), a seventh-generation Texan and retired 40-year Assistant U.S. Attorney, narrates his family’s deep roots in the lower Rio Grande Valley and the remarkable political and professional ascent of his father, the Hon. Raul Longoria (1921–2001).

The Longoria family traces its presence on the north bank of the Rio Grande to the 1749 Escandón colonization, receiving Porción 94 near present-day Rio Grande City. Sam details the Spanish porción system, the family’s hidalgo status, and the eventual sale of the last ancestral tract after 275 years. His mother’s Anglo-Saxon from Central Texas met his father at the University of Texas, where Raul, a World War II veteran who crossed the Atlantic on troop ships and served in occupied Germany, used the GI Bill to earn his undergraduate and law degrees (1952).

The family relocated to Pharr in 1952. Raul Longoria rapidly rose from assistant district attorney to private practice with Joe Evans in Edinburg, then entered politics: state representative (1961–1972), state senator (1973–1980), and 139th District Court judge (1981–1992). Sam vividly recalls the excitement of the 1960 Kennedy-Johnson campaign, his father’s legislative leadership, the famous 1979 “Killer Bees” walkout that derailed John Connally’s presidential hopes, and the 1978 day Raul Longoria served as ceremonial Governor of Texas.

Sam reflects on childhood in 1950s–1960s Pharr before air-conditioning, the magic of citrus groves and vegetable fields stretching between discrete towns, the fragrance of orange blossoms, rows of Egyptian palm trees as windbreaks, and the 1983 freeze that ended the citrus era and spurred urbanization. He also discusses his own legal career (Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Texas, 1978–2016), his siblings’ accomplishments, and pride in the Raul Longoria Elementary School (Pharr) and Raul Longoria Road (San Juan) named in his father’s honor.

Format

.M4A, 256 kbps

Length

01:11:10

Language

English

Notes

Part of the Hidalgo County Historical Commission, RGV Legacy Anthology Collection.

Interview with Samuel

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