UM GRAD J.T. CANALES: BROWNSVILLE'S RENAISSANCE MAN

LSA University of Michigan

Most University of Michigan Law students who study in Hutchins Hall do not realize the importance of the portraits that hang. 

The people whose portraits line the walls represent parts of history. Hutchins Hall, room 120 is dedicated to State Legislators and it is the room where a portrait that represents an illustrious figure in the annals of Mexican-American history, 

José Tomás Canales, is hung. Alumni José Tomás Canales, who went by J.T. Canales, was honored by the University by being included in Hutchins Hall as a person of special interest for his work as a Texas Legislator and advocate for Mexican-American Texans.

J.T. Canales lived an affluent life devoted to public service and he made his mark as both a lawyer and a politician. In excavating the history and life work of J.T. Canales, another history that has long been buried gets uncovered.

 Arguably, J.T. Canales’ most noteworthy contribution was his role in the Texas Ranger investigation. The Texas Rangers discriminated against, abused, and killed people of Mexican descent.

Canales defended against the Rangers, leading the investigation and demanding a reorganization of the force. This is only one of the many extraordinary things Canales accomplished in his life before passing away on March 30, 1976, in Brownsville (Schmal).

J.T. Canales was born on March 7, 1877, at his family’s ranch house in Alice, Nueces County, Texas. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Andres Canales, pioneer residents who owned large amounts of land. During his adolescent years, Canales attended both public and private schools, including Kansas High School, in Kansas City which he graduated from in 1896. 

While he was in Kansas, at sixteen-years-old, Canales converted from his Catholic upbringing to Presbyterianism. That October, Canales was admitted into the University of Michigan (UM) Law School (Anders).

While at UM, Canales lived in West Quadrangle, a dorm very close to the law school. During his last year as a student, Canales was the president of the law school’s Sumner Society, a student organization for the purpose of literary culture. He graduated from UM in 1899 at the young age of twenty-two, receiving his Bachelor of Law degree.


After graduation Canales returned to Texas to practice law, starting his career in the town of Corpus Christi, later moving to Laredo, and then Brownsville. His whole career was spent in Texas.

1904: He worked in the county assessor’s office (Ribb, 45).

1905: He served on the Constitutional Amendment, Military Affairs, Counties, and Irrigation Committees (Ribb, 45).

1907: He headed the Public Lands and Land Office Committee and sat on committees looking at Banks and Banking, Private Corporations, Reforms in Civil and Criminal Procedure, and Stock and Stock Raising (Ribb, 50).

1909: He was the chairmanship of the Committee on Reforms in Civil and Criminal Procedure and positions on the Judiciary, Counties, Criminal Jurisprudence, and Irrigation Committees (Ribb, 50).

1915-1919: He was a partner of the Canales and Dancy firm (Oliveira).

1919-1925: He was a partner of the Canales and Davenport firm (Oliveira).

1929-1931: He was a partner of the Canales and Eidman firm (Oliveira).

1930-1937: He sat as City attorney (Oliveira).

1932: He served as president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (Anders).

Throughout his life, Canales valued education and supported efforts for improvement of curriculum and accessibility in Texas. He believed that education was the key to success. 

Canales was elected to the Texas legislature in 1905 as a representative for Cameron County and served three terms until 1911. He then served as County Superintendent of Schools from November 1912 to December 1914.

 During this time he initiated the Summer Normal, which provided education courses for teachers and prospective teachers that provided preparation for the state teacher-certification examination, and held the first Tri-County Teachers Institute in the towns of Brownsville and San Benito (Oliveira). 

A few years later, he was elected to the State Legislature serving two terms from 1917 to 1921. It was during this time that he wrote the “Canales Act” on Irrigation and Actionable Fraud Statute, which shut down fraudulent land corporations, he voted for liberal support of public education, including the state university and other higher education institutions.

Other accomplishments of Canales include, serving as president of the Brownsville Historical Association, vice president of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Council of Boy Scouts of America, and was appointed by Gov. Allan Shivers to the Interim Committee, which studied the state water laws which reference to irrigation in the state of Texas (Oliveira).

A new elementary school in Brownsville, Texas was established in 1949 and named after J.T. Canales. 

According to James Pace, president of the local school board, the school was named after Canales “because of his courageous and unselfish leadership to the cause of education during his tenure as County Superintendent of Public Instruction of Cameron County.” At the time of the open house, the J.T. Canales Elementary School had eight classrooms, ten teachers, and 375 students enrolled in first through third grade (Oliveira).

To read his story, click on linkm: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/presente/2018/04/22/the-life-of-jose-tomas-canales/