Private Felix Longoria died during World War II, his Texas hometown’s only funeral parlor refused his family because “the whites wouldn’t like it.” The incident created deep divisions — but it also helped launch the Mexican American civil rights movement.

Private Felix Longoria died fighting the Japanese during World War II. But when his body was sent home to Three Rivers, Texas, the town’s only funeral parlor refused to allow his family to use their chapel 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.