Samuel Collins was born in Galveston, Texas in 1971. He grew up in Hitchcock with his mother and grandparents, and spent time in Galveston with his father's family. He grew up in a predominantly African American community but attended the integrated schools. He attended Texas A&M University. After he graduated, he moved to Corpus Christi in 1995 but quickly returned to Houston in 1996. In 2012 he decided to become his own boss and opened his own business. In 2005, Collins and his wife purchased the Stringfellow Orchards after he saw a historical marker on the road. Since then, he has endeavored to restore the property and highlight the histories of African Americans who worked in the orchards following the Civil War. Collins has also been involved in Juneteeth Celebrations in both Galveston and Hitchcock, and other historic preservation efforts in Galveston County. In his interview, he details the need for historical preservation in the African American community.

David Willard is an educator in Beaumont, Texas. In his interview, he discussed his father's work and legacy in the desegregation process in southeast Texas, his own work in civil rights and education, and the ongoing struggles of the black community in the region.

Dr. Morris Baker was born in 1939 in Ranger, Texas, the son of a mechanic and a domestic worker. As a child in Ranger, Baker lived in a mixed neighborhood of Mexican Americans, poor whites, and African Americans. Although, Ranger had segregated black and brown neighborhoods as well. Baker attended a one-room, all-black school called Slaughter Ward Elementary up to 6th grade. From 6th to 10th grade, Baker had to be bused to Eastland, where education ended for African Americans before they could obtain a high school Diploma. Thus, when the Brown v. Board dissension came in, his parents simply signed him up for classes in the white Ranger High School. Baker was allowed to attend as long as he did not socialize with the white high school female students or attend many of the school’s social events. He graduated as the school’s first African American graduate in 1957. Other African Americans followed. Baker then graduated from Cisco College (A.A. 1959), McMurry University (B.A. in Biology 1963), Harvard University (M.Ed. 1970), The Ohio State University (Ph.D. in clinical psychology 1976). Baker has worked for the Peace Corps, public schools in Los Angeles, California and other cities, and has taught at …

T.J. Paterson was born in Waxahachie, Texas and grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas. He went to Bishop College in Marshall, Texas and majored in physical education. He then moved to Lubbock to work for a private school. Upon meeting and marrying his wife, he stayed in Lubbock. Patterson was the first African American elected to the Lubbock City Council and served in that role for two decades.

Cresencia Reyes Mendeke ("Chris") was born in the late 20s and raised in Uvalde during the Great Depression. In her interview, she talked about the strict segregation in the town during those years. She attended a "Mexican school" for her early education, and recalled the neglect and disinterest in educating the Mexican American children. She also talked about her father's role as a benefactor in their neighborhood, and of his relationship with a prominent family of Anglo business owners. After finishing school and working in a local Penney's store for some time, Mendeke married and moved around, as she and her husband looked for opportunities in and out of Uvalde. Eventually, they settled in the Los Angeles area, and found professional work. Later, they became licensed realtors and opened their own office in Buena Park. After several decades, the Mendekes retired and moved back to Uvalde in the eighties, and Chris was determined to get involved in local affairs. She joined the local Democratic party and helped run local campaigns; she was also a ranking member of the Mexican American Democrats (later the Tejano Democrats). In recent years, Mendeke spearheaded the restoration and marking of the Nicolas Street School, the …

Diane Montejano is a poet, educator, and activist. In her interview, Montejano talks about growing up on the west side of San Antonio, her role in the Brown Berets, differences between Southside/Westside Berets, and the decline of Berets.

Mr. Walters was born and raised in Ames, Texas. He grew up on his family's farm; his father worked as a cowboy on a nearby ranch. He attended the Catholic school in Ames, a Creole settlement, until junior high, when he attended West Liberty High. In 1969, he participated in integration. After persistent discrimination, he left high school and joined the military, where he stayed until 1976. He then began work at Texaco. In his interview, Mr. Walters describes the history of Ames, his father's career and encounters with racism, the difficulties of integration, and discrimination in both the military and at work.

Interview with Velma Spivey, a social worker from Bryan, Texas. In her interview, Spivey discusses her early life, living under segregation, her education, and career.

Alfredo Santos was born in southern California; after spending the first years of his life attending schools there, he moved to Uvalde and started attending schools there. While he had some awareness of disparities and the strains in relations between Anglos and Mexican Americans, he became politicized while attending high school. He joined the local chapter of MAYO, led by Amaro Cardona and Rogelio Muñoz, and was involved in their early direct action activities, including protests against police brutality and their efforts to instill ethnic pride among Mexican American students. While he was no longer attending school, he supported the 1970 walkout. Santos later moved to California and went to college there, majoring in economics at UCLA. While in California, his activism turned to farm workers' struggle (and in the interview he suggested this was his main interest). The next decades, Santos worked in a variety of jobs in different places; upon returning to Texas, he created a network of bilingual publications named La Voz -- one of which was based in Uvalde. Santos currently runs La Voz in Austin and is highly involved in Chicano politics across Texas.

Izola Collins was born in Galveston, Texas in 1929. Her mother's family has been on the island since the 1860s when her great grandfather, Horace Scull, moved his children and wife into the area. Her grandfather, Ralph Albert Scull, was one of the first African American teachers in Galveston. She grew up in the East End of the Island, where she believed a life of luxury although her family was poor. She attended Central High School and joined the band and learned about African American history. She left the Island in the late 1940s to attend Prairie View A&M and graduated with a degree in music. She began teaching the Bay City band, then left to Evanston to attend Northwestern where she received her Master's in music in 1953. Collins returned to Galveston and taught music at different schools in the area (Hitchcock) and at Goliad and Stephen F. Austin schools. She became celebrated as her students represented Galveston in different state competitions. In 1986, she ran for the board of the Galveston Independent School District and won. Collins served for 9 years and became president of the board during her last term. She has been recently involved in the …

Interview with Wayne Sadberry, a curator at the Brazos Valley African-American Museum from Prairie View, Texas. Sadberry discusses his early life, family background, and living under Jim Crow segregation. Sadberry also discusses his education at St. Emma Military Academy in Powhatan, Virginia and service in the Air Force. He also discusses working as a research assistant on a grant project to Antarctica while a graduate student at Texas A&M.

Peggy Fontenette Yates was born in Houston in 1946 and grew up in Pleasantville, a historic African American neighborhood of Houston. She discusses her mom's involvement in the community through civic organizations and her brother's experience at the University of Houston as one of the school's first Black students. Ms. Yates also shared her business ventures as she owned and ran Fontenette's Restaurant in the 1970s, and her experience in nursing school and becoming a nurse subsequently. Currently, she is a member of SHAPE's Elders Institute of Wisdom, and is involved in the community through her project Woman's Roots prison aftercare program.

Alonso speaks about growing up in San Felipe and the segregated nature of Del Rio generally. He also speaks a great deal about migrant farm work and following the seasonal harvest. He speaks about his time in the West Texas cotton fields and speaking Spanish in Anglo schools out in West Texas. He talks a little bit about the 1969 Palm Sunday march--he wasn't a participant but he talks about the march. He also talks about the importance of education he received from Bambi Cardenas and Aurelio Montemayor who were both educators at San Felipe in the late 1960s. All in all, this is a great interview that has tons of useful information on Del Rio, San Felipe, and Alonso's life story.

David H. O'Neal was born in 1948 in Galveston. He comes from a family of three people who traveled to the South to make a living. O'Neal grew-up in a few African-American housing projects on the island. He attended Central High, the first African-American high school in Texas, and his was the last class to graduate before the creation of the integrated Ball High. O'Neal relocated to Houston in 1966 to enroll in the University of Houston, where he would participate in student activism and the creation of an African-American fraternity (the Omega Theta Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity). He returned to the island after graduating from college. In Galveston, O'Neal started a career as a post office worker, served on the Board of Trustees for Galveston Independent School District, and participated in the preservation of African-American history on the island. O'Neal talks about experiences with discrimination, how significant Central High was to African-Americans, his decision to attend college over enlisting to serve in the Vietnam War, the role of African-American fraternities, his involvement in Afro-Americans for Black Liberation and the Black Student Union, cross-racial student endeavors, African American Studies at UH, and his commitment to racial uplift. He …

Described his early childhood in a segregated Liberty, TX, his early involvement with environmental issues, his trajectory to becoming an environmental lawyer, and finally, his work as a Democratic elected official.

Mr. Kegler was born in Lufkin and raised in North Lufkin. In eleventh grade, his parents forced him to be part of voluntary integration; he was one of six African-American children to enter Lufkin ISD in his grade. He then spent time in the military before returning to Lufkin to work at the State School. He served as city councilman and on the school board. In his interview, Mr. Kegler describes segregation in Lufkin, the long process of integration, life as an African-American in the military, and his politician and civic activism.

Interview with Bettye Mitchell a community leader from Tyler, Texas. In the interview, Mitchell discusses her family background, going to segregated and integrated schools, experiences with racism, civil rights activism, her church community, and her political activism.

Interview with Joreen Waddell, a teacher from Huntsville, Texas. In her interview, Waddell discusses her childhood, racial discrimination and segregation in Huntsville, community activism, civil rights organizations, school integration, and the HA-YOU (Huntsville Action for Youth) student organization

Ms. Davis is a lifelong resident of Lufkin, Texas. She was born with cerebral palsy, but she adapted to her handicap. She chose to go to Lufkin High School prior to forced integration. She became a special education teacher, although she had difficulty with promotions. She has been responsible for most of the caregiving in her family. In the interview, Ms. Davis discusses what segregated Lufkin was like, the difficulty she faced as part of the integration process at Lufkin High School, her education, overcoming a disability, her experience as a victim of domestic abuse, difficulty raising her children, and her life as a caregiver for multiple family members, including her parents and grandchildren.

I.D. Henderson, Jr. was the first Black County Commissioner of Angelina County, Texas. He served in that position from the early 1980s until the early 2000s. He was very involved in Lufkin politics and helped to improve the infrastructure of the Black Lufkin community. Mr. Henderson is also a war veteran who served in Vietnam and Korea. Mr. Henderson discussed the segregation and discrimination he witnessed from his birth in the Lufkin area in the late 1920s, his time in the military and his return to Lufkin in the 1970s. Mr. Henderson discussed receiving death threats before and after he won his county commissioner office. Also Mr. Henderson discussed his involvement in many other organizations.

M. Elayne Hunt is a retired educator from the public schools in Odessa, TX, after 36 years; having begun as an elementary teacher, also worked as an elementary counselor for eight years. Elayne retired after nine years as Associate Director of Guidance and Testing.

Mrs. Wade attended an all-Black school in Houston and during freedom of choice the Black students collectively decided not to integrate because white school officials had sought to only allow the top Black students to integrate. Wade benefited from the land ownership of her family. By owning land, Wade's mother was able to take care of her two children following the early death of her husband. Wade attributed her father's early death to an injury that occurred during his military service. Wade also attributed her brother contracting polio and her mother's subsequent difficulty obtaining care for her brother to discrimination. Wade's mother initially worked in menial jobs despite having a degree because she could not be hired as an secretary. Wade's mother ultimately started in the 1960s and sustained her own in-home business for decades. Wade described her schooling experiences at Texas Woman's University and Texas Christian University. Wade received some negative feedback from her teacher's for deciding to not attend a historically Black college or university. Wade decided to attend a predominantly white university because she was curious about the level of education white people were receiving. Wade began a career in corporate America shortly after graduating from TCU …