Bobby Smith grew up in Corpus Christi. During his high school senior year, he received numerous offers to play college football, but only a few colleges in Texas accepted black players at that time. He chose to attend North Texas State (now UNT) and later played in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1960s

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 …

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.

Jenny Espino is the founder and director of the Corpus Christi Dance Collective, a community based dance project. She is also involved in community activism, and discussed her local projects as a community organizer in Corpus Christi.

Mr. Wright was born in Texas. He went to Texas A & M University where he obtained certification in education. He began his teaching career in Lewisville and became very active in the American Teacher's Federation. He and his family moved to Nacogdoches, where he continued his teaching, union activism, and became politically active. He is currently running for state representative. Mr. Wright spoke in his interview about racial tensions in Nacogdoches, the progress and barriers for union activism in Deep East Texas, and the activism of the Democratic Party in Nacogdoches County.

Ms. Cervantes discussed her career as a victim's advocate for the Nueces County courthouse.

Interview with Salvador Avila, a civil rights activist from Canutillo, Texas. Mr. Avila discusses his early life, education, career, race relations and his involvement with civil rights and community organizations in the El Paso area.

Jannell Robles was born in 1987 in Northern Pasadena. She grew-up in an extended family environment. Robles recalls her family sharing stories of encounters with the Ku Klux Klan in Pasadena. After graduating from high school, she got involved in the Immigrant Rights Movement. Robles worked as an Immigrant Advocacy Coordinator for the Central American Resource Center, an Immigrant Outreach Coordinator for The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) in San Antonio, a Reconciliation Project Coordinator for the the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, and as an intern for the Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center's Build a Better Texas Campaign. She discusses the disparity of city services in North and South Pasadena, how Mexican American Studies at the University of North Texas set her on a community activist path, the rise of anti-immigrant bills after Arizona's SB 1070, addressing immigrant construction workers that are exposed to unsafe working conditions, and Secure Communities and the bridging of law enforcement and immigration enforcement. She also talks about how she worked to unite African Americans and Latinas/os around mutual issues, how Maria Jimenez served as a mentor to her, and how women's leadership style was more communal.

Rock discussed his career as president of the United Steelworkers local.

Interview with Bennie Sherman from Fort Worth, Texas. In the interview, Sherman discusses his early life, living under Jim Crow segregation, education in Fort Worth schools, and the Civil Rights Movement in Fort Worth.

Richard Orton's family came from Nacogdoches, but he spent most of his childhood in Midland. He went to UNT and then moved to Austin, where he worked at one of the first rape crisis centers in the nation. He also founded an organization to help and educate others about child sexual abuse. Orton is a photographer, which is how he became involved with the Upshaw family, who are the descendants of freed slaves who founded County Line, a community near Nacogdoches. Mr. Orton began a photograph project documenting the community, which is now a book. Mr. Orton described his career helping to found rape crisis centers, working with child sexual abuse victims, and his connections to the County Line community, founded by freed slaves.

Ms. Benham was born and raised in Lufkin, Texas. She went to segregated schools in Lufkin before participating in integration during the 1969-1970 school year. She graduated high school and went to college at the University of North Texas. She then became a flight attendant and worked in retail. She returned to Lufkin and worked with her mother, Bettie Kennedy, in the community. In the interview, Ms. Benham describes segregation in Lufkin, experiences with discrimination, problems during integration, discrimination she experienced at UNT, her work as a flight attendant, her time spent in retail, and the work of both her and her mother in the community.

Ida Bridgewater discusses growing up in the Stop Six Neighborhood of Fort Worth, Texas, where her parents, Garfield and Dorothy Thompson were civil rights activists. Her father graduated from I.M. Terrell High School and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was elected state representative of District 95 and held office for 10 years until his retirement.

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. …

Interview with Clarice Watkins, a Justice of the Peace from Marshall, Texas. In the interview, Watkins discusses her background, education, racial violence, community activism, integration, experiences with discrimination, and her radio career.

Interview with Amy Boykin, retired educator from Prairie View, Texas. She discusses her childhood in Prairie View, her education, her employment at Bishop College and McKinney schools, experiences with racial discrimination in Texas, and her activism.

Interview with Richard Menchaca, an educator, author and businessman from Dallas, Texas. In his interview, Menchaca discusses his upbringing in a segregated San Antonio, experiences as a student athlete, working as a teacher in Dallas, and his Chicano activism, including being president of LULAC.

Mr. Galvan shares his personal history as a musician and store owner in Corpus Christi.

Berta Perez Linton was born in 1942 or 1943 in Brady, Texas. She attended schools in Melvin, Texas until 7th grade while her family lived in a ranch. Linton’s family then moved to San Angelo, Texas where she graduated from Central High School in 1961. Linton attended Angelo College for one year and a half before transferring to the University of Texas at Austin. Linton graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a major in elementary education in 1967. She taught bilingual education in Austin Schools before attending Texas Southern University’s Welcome to Thurgood Marshall School of Law, graduating in 1977. Linton then moved to San Angelo where she was the counsel for the local LULAC council. She still practices law in San Angelo.

Gene Collins was born and raised in Odessa, Texas. He attended Abilene Christian University, where he was a campus and community civil rights organizer. He completed his college education at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Collins is now a local businessman and minister in Odessa, Texas. He has been president of the Odessa NAACP for over 15 years, and co-chair for environmental justice for the statewide NAACP. He helped lead several efforts toward environmental justice in and outside Odessa.

Interview with Darryl Bowdre, a minister, journalist and community leader from Tyler, Texas. He discusses his early life, education, work, and civil rights activism .

Hilda G. Tagle is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tagle received an Associate of Arts degree from Del Mar College in 1967, a Bachelor of Arts degree from East Texas State University in 1969 and won a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012, a Master of Science from North Texas State University in 1971, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law in 1977. Tagle was nominated for her seat by President Bill Clinton on March 21, 1997, to a new seat created by 104 Stat. 5089. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 11, 1998, and received her commission on March 17, 1998. She took senior status on December 31, 2012.

Georg Johnson is from Corpus Christi. In his interview, he recounts growing up during the Jim Crow era, desegregation, and civil rights activism in Corpus Christi.

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.