In my final highlight for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I’m sharing the rich history of the Quan family, who are pioneers for Houston’s Asian community.
William Quan was originally born in Guangdong, China in 1927. He moved to Texas after serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces in Germany during World War II, to help his family with their grocery business in San Antonio. His family eventually moved to Houston in 1951 and ran their Eastern Food Market for more than 30 years. Quan also was a leader in the community, creating the Asian American Bank of Houston and serving as president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance. He passed away in 2005.
His son, Gordon Quan, followed in his father’s footsteps and became a community leader. In 1948, Gordon was born in China and then moved to America with his family at 3-years-old. Once they moved to Houston, he lived in the East End surrounded by mostly Hispanics. Gordon went on to graduate from the University of Texas with history and government degrees. He snagged his first teaching job at a school in the historic African-American neighborhood, Fifth Ward. He would teach in the Houston Independent School District for years. While he taught, Gordon also worked towards gaining his law degree from the South Texas College of Law.
In 1980, he opened his immigration firm, Quan, Burdette & Perez PC. In 1999, he became the first Asian American to ever serve as a Houston City Council member-at-large. Then, the Mayor and Council of Houston selected Gordon to be the Mayor Pro-Tem in 2002. As a community activist, Quan also helped with developing Chinatown. Throughout his law career, he's received top-rated rankings and is now currently the managing partner of the Quan Law Group, PLLC.
Houston History runs every Tuesday. Do you have ideas for what I should feature next? Email me.
