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Oral History Interview with Lupe Casares, July 7, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Lupe Casares, July 7, 2016

Guadalupe "Lupe" Casares was born in 1950 in Santa Rosa, Texas, which is located in the Rio Grande Valley. Growing-up as a migrant farmworker, he traveled throughout the United States for much of his youth. After Casaras' father passed away from Tuberculosis in 1965, his family would settle in the midwest and he would attend school for first time. He would eventually work for the University of Wisconsin to recruit Mexican American students from Mercedes, Texas. The Black Power Movement along with his families' own resistance to discrimination would propell him to become involved in the Texas Farm Workers Movement, the Mexican American Youth Organization, and the founding of the first Chicana/o college--Colegio Jacinto Treviño in Mercedes, Texas. Casares talks about segregation as it relates to the Mexican American community, the ideological differences in the farmworkers struggle, and how Colegio Jacinto Treviño played an influential role in liberating the minds of Chicanas/os. He also discusses the many struggles embedded in the broader fight for Chicana/o freedom--tackling police brutality, establishing educational self-determination, obtaining labor rights, pressuring for welfare rights, and utllizing teatro to raise awareness. Lastly, Casares talks about his dedication to filmmaking.
Date: July 7, 2016
Creator: Casares, Lupe; Enriquez, Sandra & Rodriguez, Samantha
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Richard Farias, July 7, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Richard Farias, July 7, 2016

Richard Farias was born in Brownsville in 1948 and moved to La Porte in 1962 when he was about to begin his Freshman year in High School. At La Porte High School, he was the only Latino and received no mentoring and no guidance during. Soon after graduating from High School, Farias joined the Air Force, spending a year (1968-1969) in Vietnam. While he met people from all over the United States, the war was a scary time for him as he survived an attack on the Air Force base. Farias' time in Vietnam, however, encouraged him to work with underrepresented youths through various capacities. Upon his return from the war, Farias worked with the Texas Juvenile Justice System as a Juvenile Probation Officer for 16 years. In the late 1970s, he served as the Executive Director for the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans (AAMA) where he oversaw the George I. Sanchez School, the AAMA House (a home for drug abusers), and an AIDS/HIV Prevention Program. In 1992, Farias founded the Tejano Center for Community Concerns, a holistic way to address all needs of Latino families in Houston. Through this organization, he founded the Raúl Yzaguirre School For …
Date: July 7, 2016
Creator: Enriquez, Sandra; Rodriguez, Samantha & Farias, Richard
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Linda Morales, July 7, 2017 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Linda Morales, July 7, 2017

Linda Morales was born in Uvalde and left the area in 1975 to go to Austin. Her parents encouraged her activism as her mother was vocal and her father was a Teamster. In Austin, she briefly became involved in the local Chicano Movement. Subsequently, she moved to Houston, where she became involved in the LGBT movement. Along with Cristina Martinez, she was condemned a "Wetback Look-a-Like" Contest at a Montrose Bar. This incident and her experiences as a Mexican American Woman made her realize that the White Feminist Movement and the LGBT Movement was not inclusive of Latina/o LGBT issues. In 1989, Morales led a fight against the state of Texas in order to overturn sodomy laws to get HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment to the LGBT Community. Although Morales v. Texas was not successful, it was a first step towards equality prior to Lawrence v. Texas. Morales has also been involved politically, as she was a member of the Mexican American Democrats in Houston. Most recently, Morales has been working as a labor organizer, leading several strikes across the state of Texas.
Date: July 7, 2016
Creator: Enriquez, Sandra; Rodriguez, Samantha & Morales, Linda
System: The Portal to Texas History