Jew Don Boney, Jr. was born in 1951 in Temple. His first experience with segregation was when his mother was initally denied entry into Scott and White Hospital when she went into labor with Boney. His parents were educators and his father wrote a dissertation on the racial biases in standarized testing while pursuing a doctorate in Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Boney relocated to Austin in 1966 and attended the University of Texas at Austin in the Fall of 1969. He became involved in Black-Brown student activism at this time. After spending a few years in radio and TV, Boney worked for the Urban League and became the Chairman of the National Black United Front Chapter in Houston. He later served as a city councilman for District D and a Mayor Pro Tem. Boney dedicated three years to the Free Clarence Bradley Campaign in order to exonerate a man falsely accused of the rape and murder of a white woman in Conroe, spent time bridging African and U.S. relations, advanced economic initiatives in Africa, and secured grants to process the Mickey Leland Papers at Texas Southern University while he served as the Associate Director for …

Daniel Bustamante was born in Corpus Christi in 1948 and was raised in both Mathis and Corpus Christi. He grew up in a farm worker family and attended the "Mexican" School in Mathis. His activist consciousness began in 1965, when he left to California to work in the fields--the discrimination he faced changed him. In addition, he became a conscious objector during the Vietnam War. He attended Del Mar College from 1967-1969, where he became involved in the Anti-War Movement, the Young Democrats, and supported the UFW Grape Boycott. He moved to Houston in 1969 to attend the University of Houston. At UH, he became involved in MAYO efforts. In 1975, he hosted a party that ended in an incident of police brutality. Bustamante, along with 2 other activists (Eddie Canales and Elliot ?) sued HPD in Federal Court and won in 1979. In 1977-1978, in the aftermath of the Joe Campos Torres death and the Moody Park Rebellion, Bustamante led several marches and pickets to demonstrate against police brutality in Houston. In the late 1970s, he worked at Casa de Amigos in the Northside, an institution geared to address health care isses and drug abuse in the community. In …

Ben Reyes was born in Burton, Texas in 1947. His family moved to Denver Harbor in Houston. The Reyes family worked as local migrant workers, picking up different crops in the surrounding areas of Houston. He faced discrimination in the schools he attended, and was even placed in Special Education classes since he only spoke Spanish. Reyes' mother was active in the community, and thus encouraged his activism as he began his community work at the age of eleven, registering people to vote. Reyes fought in the Vietnam War, and upon his return to Houston, he became involved in veteran groups that were demanding equality.He then met Lionel Castillo, who groomed him to become a politician and became a mentor. In 1972, after the creation of Single-Member districts, Reyes ran for State Representative of District 87. He and Mickey Leland employed cross-racial campaign tactics in order to win the support of African-Americans in his district. Reyes won the election. As a State Representative, he helped with the creation of single-member districts in Texas to ensure the representation of minorities in politics. In 1979, he ran for Houston City Council and became the first Mexican-American to hold a seat in council. …

Maria Jiménez was born in Coahuila, Mexico in 1957. Having grown-up in a political household, she would migrate to Houston at the age of six. Jiménez discusses Mexican American segregation in Magnolia Park and how that experience shaped her youth activism. She also discusses her involvement in the Young Democrats, the University of Houston Mexican American Youth Organization, her bid for state representative against Ben Reyes under the Raza Unida ticket, and the Dixiecrats. Jiménez also addresses fights for gender equality in the Texas Chicana/o Movement, Black and Brown collaboration, and her participation in labor movements in Mexico. Lastly, she talks about her life-long dedication to immigrant and human rights.

Alice E. Valdez was born in El Paso, and grew up in a middle class, Anglo and Mexican American community. She discusses her father's WWII experience to detail. Ms. Valdez was involved in the arts from an early age through church groups and in school activities. She attended the University of Texas at El Paso where she was part of the band and graduated with a degree in music. She recalled the 1966 Texas Western College (name prior to UTEP) NCAA Basketball Championship during her college experience. Upon graduation, Ms. Valdez moved with her husband to Atlanta for his military service. She moved to Houston in 1971. Due to her arts background, she became involved in creating arts programs for children and subsequently founded the Multicultural Education Counseling through the Arts Center, (MECA).

Ray Hill was born in Galena Park in 1940. He grew up in a blue collar household, and became involved with the NAACP at an early age. After travelling around the country, he returned to Houston and is prosecuted for burglary. Upon leaving jail, he becomes involved in the LGBT scene and movements in Houston including the founding of Pride, the Montrose Center, and through HIV/AIDS advocacy. Mr. Hill also led the prosecution of the Paul Broussard case in 1991. In 1980, he began the Prison Show and has continued to be involved in radio shows and media ventures since.

Luis Cano was born in Corpus Christi, TX. After attending University of North Texas, he came to Houston and would become involved in the Mexican American Youth Organization and La Raza Unida Party. As a teacher at Austin High School, he would develop one of the first Mexican American courses. This experience along with his awareness of his family's political history would lead him to dedicate his life to education efforts. Cano talks the Huelga School Movement, a false pairing plan that placed Mexican American and African American youth together and called it integration. He also speaks about co-founding the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans and developing some of its cultural and youth-oriented initiatives, including teatro, a library, a school for at-risk students, and gang prevention. Cano describes his experiences as one of the first lecturers for the UH Center for Mexcian American Studies.