The Longoria Affair: For English, Press 1; For Spanish, Press 2

The Longoria Affair airs Tuesday night on Independent Lens at 10 PM (check local listings). The documentary will also be streamed in its entirety online from November 10 until November 16. Plus, we are excited to offer the program in Spanish from November 10 until January 10, 2011. (There are two Independent Lens websites, too: one in English and one in Spanish.)

Director John J. Valadez’s film examines the story of Private Felix Longoria, an American citizen of Mexican descent who was killed fighting in the Pacific Theater for the United States during WWII. After Longoria’s body was sent home to Three Rivers, Texas, the town’s only funeral parlor refused to provide him a wake because “the whites wouldn’t like it.”

The incident created deep divisions in Three Rivers, tensions that last even today,  but it also helped launch the Mexican American civil rights movement, elect John Kennedy to the White House, and lead Lyndon Johnson to sign the most important civil rights legislation of the 20th century.

Watch The Longoria Affair on Independent Lens Tuesday night or online (in both English and Spanish) starting November 10.