Antonio Jimenez was born in Mexico and moved to the U.S. during the 1980s. He worked at Cactus Feeders then Swift, a meat packing plant in Cactus, Texas. While at Swift, Jimenez felt that the United Food & Commercial Workers was not representing the meat packing plant’s workers well. Thus, he and others, inspired by Trini Gamez and Coco Medina, launched a local union that eventually initiated a strike that brought better conditions. He eventually left Swift and the independent local union when he felt his family was threatened by United Food & Commercial Workers operatives. He was sued by the United Food & Commercial Workers, but the suit was thrown out. Jimenez began a successful automotive body shop.

Mario spoke about growing up in La Pryor, Texas. He remembered his dad working in the Blewett mines near Uvalde; he talks a bit about the culture there because it was a company town. He talked about the discrimination his father felt in the mines and how his dad organized for union representation in the mine. His family moved to Uvalde in the 1950s. He talked about the segregated schooling in Uvalde--separate schools for ethnic Mexicans and African Americans. He talked about the reprimands he would receive for speaking Spanish in school. He also spoke about the importance of education to his family. Cruz left Uvalde for San Antonio to pursue a nursing degree/career but he retired in Uvalde later in life.

Mr. Booty was born in Carthage, grew up in the Third Ward of Houston, and moved to Tamina when he was 16. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. He is the former president of Tamina's water supply and a current minister. In his interview, Mr. Booty described life in Tamina under segregation, how the community has changed over time, the threats Tamina has faced, and the strategies he and Mr. Leveston have used to preserve Tamina. Mr. Leveston also grew up in Tamina, Texas, a small African-American community near the present-day The Woodlands. He attended Booker T. Washington school in Conroe. Leveston joined the military after school and returned to Tamina after some time in Houston. He is currently the president of Tamina's water supply company. In his interview, Mr. Leveston described growing up in Tamina, segregation, his experience at Conroe's school, and his struggle to preserve the small community against the encroachment of surrounding cities.

Interview with Israel Reyna, a lawyer and community activist from Laredo, Texas. In this interview, he talks about La Raza Unida and the Chicano movement in South Texas.

Michael "Mike" Espinoza was born in 1979 in the East End, a Mexican American enclave in Houston, TX. He grew up experiencing homelessness and having to join a gang in order to survive in his neighborhood. Having gained the assistance of the Ripley House on Navigation and the intervention of his parents, Espinosa would go on to attend Franklin Marshall College where he would develop a racial and political consciousness. He talked about how he would become involved in the Unviersity of Houston Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan and participate in efforts to address discrimination. His political involvement would reach a zenith when he became active in the fight for immigrant rights in the early 2000s. Espinoza spoke about how his community involvement lead him on a path to become an organizer for the SEIU Justice for Jaintors Campaign, a movement he is still involved in as a organizing consultant.

Rose Wilson was born outside of Waco and moved to Lubbock as a young married adult. She raised her children in the city. Wilson became the first African American women to become president of Lubbock’s NAACP—when she was working as a maid. Because of her work sector, she faced pushback by some community economic elites. Sheila Patterson-Harris was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas. Her father is T.J. Patterson-Harris, the first African American City Representative of Lubbock, Texas. She attended school at the University of North Texas Denton, Texas. After graduating from university, Patterson-Harris moved back to Lubbock and worked in the radio industry but transferred over to working as a probation officer for twenty-nine years. She won the city representative seat her father once had in 2016.

Richardson discusses his personal history as an African-American in San Antonio, Texas, learning about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Austin, and creating a branch in San Antonio.

Dr. Bonner was born and raised in Fairfield, Texas. Her family was connected through bloodlines to a prominent white family, which helped shelter them from some of the harshness of segregation. Dr. Bonner than went to college in New Orleans, where she became active in civil rights. She moved all over the country, including California, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Washington DC. She returned to the area to take care of her parents. She revived the local NAACP and currently serves as president. She was also elected to the city council. Dr. Bonner discusses her early life in Fairfield, her educational background, activism across the nation, reviving Lufkin's NAACP, and her election to city council.

Becky talks about her activism, mostly outside of Texas, with SNCC & SDS; her later career; and lifelong commitment to racial justice

Perez talked about his life as a migrant worker and working in a cannery. Supporting the walkouts in Uvalde was his first political march. He also participated in voter registration drives at Texas A&I. Mr. Perez also discusses his time working with the La Raza Unida Party in Crystal City.

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 …

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 …

Richard E. Reyes was born in 1951 and grew-up in the Northside of Houston. As a young adult, he would become heavily involved in the arts and would create the Pancho Claus play about a Mexican Santa Claus donned in a Zoot Suit that provides toys for barrio youth. Reyes also served as the director of Talento Bilinque de Houston, a bilingual arts center that has played a critical role in providing creative outlets for Latina/o youth. He discusses his involvement in gang prevention efforts, addressing AIDS in the Latina/o community though the Chicana/o Family Center, the benefits of the Low rider culture, the struggle to find funding for Latina/o art, cross-racial efforts in the art scene, and his thoughts on the recent gentrification of Second Ward.

Bryan Parras was born in 1977 in the East End, a Mexican-American enclave in Houston, TX. His parents, Jesusa Moreno and Juan Parras, played influential roles in his political consciousness. He talks about discrimination and how he has became involved in Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say as well as the immigrant rights movement. Parras also discusses how the creation of Cesar E. Chavez High School right near the oil refineries in Houston sparked his involvement in the environmental justice movement. He provides an in-depth discussion of how the environmental justice movement has taken him all over the world, particularly in Canada and South American, and how through his organization, Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services, he has forged relations with indigenous communities as well as African-American communities.

Perri "P.K." McCary was born in 1953 in Texarkana. She grew-up in a ethnically diverse community in Alamo Garden, New Mexico and later lived near Prairie View A&M University when her father obtained a teaching position in the Industrial Education Department. McCary's parents gave her the tools to resist discrimination by exhibiting a strong sense of self and for confronting racist acts in front of her. She would opt to attend Jack Yates High School when her family moved to Houston because of the poor treatment of African-American students at the predominately white Madison High School. By 1970, McCary was attending the University of Houston and becoming involved in student activism. She would later engage in peace work and adapting religious texts with Black urban language to appeal to youth. She talks about instances of racism growing up, how her early experiences with diversity shaped the ways in which she engaged in cross-racial collaborations in her adult life, how Deloyed Parker and Ester King mentored her at UH, police brutality, and her family's association with the political movements of the 1960s and 1970s. She also discusses SHAPE Community Center and the Elders Institute of Wisdom, when she wrote a newspaper …

Fay Batch was born and raised in Fairfield, New Jersey. Her parents were social justice advocates with various organizations, including the NAACP. As a child and teenager, she participated in various rallies and joined picket lines in chain stores to challenge segregation. Upon graduating from high school, Batch attended the University of Southern California from 1975-1979. After graduating from the USC, she moved to the Midland-Odessa area with her husband, also a USC graduate, who was originally from the area. In Midland, Batch began registering African American voters in the east side of the city. Batch was elected to the Ector County ISD Board of Trustees, where she served from 2000 to 2013. In this position, she had a vital role in helping more fully integrate ECISD schools. As an School District Trustee, from 2000-2013, Batch helped oversee the school system reach unitary status under a federal court.

Cody Wheeler was born in Dalhart, Texas in 1985. He moved to Pasadena with his family in 1991. Wheeler developed a political consciousness as a young kid due to his father's union involvement. He attended schools in the Pasadena Independent School District and graduated from Deer Park High School. In 2003, he joined the Marines and did tours in Iraq. Upon his return from the war, he enrolled at the University of Houston. The persistent stark differences between North and South Pasadena pushed him to successfully run for city council member in 2013. During his campaign, he made an attempt to educate his constituents and get them out to vote. As a member of city council, he has been a witness to the voting rights violations resulting from the redistricting of Pasadena (which he describes in detail). Wheeler also described his unsuccessful run for state representative for district 144 in 2016.

Interview with Tony Gutierrez, an activist and former county commissioner from from Harlingen, Texas. In his interview, Gutierrez discusses his background, working life, his local political activism, and race relations in Harlingen.

Interview with Andrew Melontree, a retired lawyer from Marlin, Texas. Melontree discusses his upbringing, education, experiences with discrimination and Jim Crow, his military service in the Air Force in the Korean War, his work as a laboratory technician, and his civil rights activism in Tyler.

Eric Strong was born in 1952 and raised in Lubbock, Texas. As a child, he grew up in East Lubbock—the African American area of segregated Lubbock. Upon graduating from Dunbar High School, he attended Texas A&M University Prairie View and then obtained a masters degree from Texas Tech University. Strong worked for Texas Tech University and upon retirement began dedicated his life to the preservation and development of East Lubbock. He now helps lead Lubbock’s Roots Historical Arts Council Roots Historical Arts Council.

Interview with Rubye Jones and Julia Williams, from Marshall, Texas. In the interview, Jones and Williams discuss their family backgrounds, higher education at Bishop and Wiley Colleges, experiences with racial discrimination, and their involvement with the Civil Rights Movement. Ms. Jones's uncle Romeo Williams, was a prominent African-American civil rights attorney in Marshall who was killed in an accident in 1960.

Interview with Ofelia de los Santos, a retired attorney from Edinburg, Texas. In her interview she discusses her civil rights activism in South Texas, community organization Valley Interfaith, La Raza Unida party, and women in the Chicano movement.

Interview with Estrus Tucker, a social worker from Fort Worth, Texas. In his interview, Tucker discusses his background, residential segregation, the Como neighborhood, and community activism in Fort Worth.

Mario N. Contreras was born in 1951 in the south side of Odessa, Texas (the “original” barrio of Odessa). He grew up in that neighborhood and graduated from Ector High School in 1970. Afterward, Contreras attended Odessa College, Sul Ross State University, and Baylor University before graduating from the University of Texas-Permian Basin in 1974. Contreras briefly joined the Brown Berets of Odessa during the late 1960s. After college, Contreras became the first Mexican American salesman in West Texas for Xerox, where he became a top salesman at a state level. In 1988 Contreras founded his own consulting company, and in 2005 became a board member of the Mexican American Network of Odessa that became the Odessa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.