Patricia A. Thomas was born in 1957 in Andrews, Texas, where she grew up. She entered elementary school in an integrated school where many of her classmates as well as some teachers physically and verbally abused the African American students. Thomas first attended Lincoln Elementary and then Jack and Jill Elementary. In junior high and high school, Thomas adapted many black nationalists or “radical” viewpoints, which led her to call for the teaching of African American history in her high school. She graduated from Andrews high school in 1976. After high school, Thomas moved to Dallas where she attended Bishop College. She subsequently lived in various communities that included Big Springs, Odessa, Amarillo, and Seminole, Texas.

Proposed budget for the University of Texas of the Permian Basin outlining expected operating expenses, available funds, and other relevant information for fiscal year 2012.

Operating budget containing information on the proposed appropriations and expenditures of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin for fiscal year 2015.

Proposed budget for the University of Texas of the Permian Basin outlining expected operating expenses, available funds, and other relevant information for fiscal year 2013.

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.

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.

Frizella C. Whitiker was born in Greenwood, Lousiana and grew up in Austin, Texas. Whitiker graduated from Anderson High School and Samuel Huston University (1950), now Huston-Tillotson University, in Austin. Upon graduation, Whitiker moved to Odessa to teach in the Ector County Independent School District, specifically Blackshear High School. She retired from teaching in 1986. In Odessa, Whitiker has been a sponsor and board member of Head Start as well as a board member of the Black Cultural Council of Odessa. She has also been a leader of Mackey Chapel of the United Methodist Church.

Nick Hernandez was born and raised in Odessa, Texas. He attended Milam Elementary, Dunbar Junior High, and Ector High School before obtaining his GED at Southwest State University in San Marcos, Texas while working within Job Core; Hernandez was only fourteen when he obtained his GED. As a teenager, he took an interest in cars, which eventually led him to study car body work, which he took and taught others. Influenced by Raul Guerrero, originally from Pecos and educated at the University of Texas at El Paso, Hernandez helped start the Brown Berets chapter of Odessa, Texas. Hernandez helped lead the community protests against police brutality regarding the Larry Lozano beating and killing by the Odessa Police Department. Hernandez is now in the Hall of Fame of Lowrider Magazine and is part of Taste of Latin Car Club.

Manuel Orona was born in 1964 in Pecos, Texas. He attended segregated schools until high school, going to Central High school and graduating in 1966. He then enlisted in the U.S. Marines, serving in Vietnam from 1967-1969. He was wounded in Vietnam. Upon returning to the United States, Orona attended Odessa College in Odessa, Texas, graduating in 1969. He then attended West Texas State University in Canyon, Texas for a year before transferring and graduating from the University of Houston in 1973. When returning from Vietnam, Orona was introduced to the Raza Unida Party by Juan Chávez (who then lived in Muleshoe was part of Chicanos Unidos Campesinos). By 1976, Orona left Houston and returned to Pecos to run for County Judge under the Raza Unida Party. In Pecos, he faced political and police oppression in response to his candidacy, and he lost the election. Orona then moved to Odessa permanently. In Odessa, he published El Editor Permian Basin edition from 1980 to about 2011 as well as participated in state level and local election campaigning for both Democrats and Republicans.

Lorraine Perryman was born in Pampa, Texas in 1953, but her family eventually settled in Odessa, Texas. She grew up as a liberal in conservative Odessa as a way to contradict her father, who was a staunch Republican conservative. After high school, she attended the University of Texas at Austin. She came back to Odessa in 1979 to became the heed of communications of Ector County ISD while it went through desegregation. Afterwards, she started her own public relations business and briefly became a news anchor. In the 1980s, Perryman ran for mayor of Odessa but lost. She ran again and became the first female and youngest mayor of Odessa in 1990. Under her tenure, the Odessa City Council voted in single member districts that allowed for better representation for people of color in the city. Perryman has since helped start a rape crises center and battered women’s shelter in Odessa and has worked for nonprofits to better the city’s schools.