Oral History Interview with Andrew Melontree, June 22, 2015 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Andrew Melontree, June 22, 2015

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.
Date: June 22, 2015
Creator: Melontree, Andrew & Bynum, Katherine
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Alphonso Saenz, July 22, 2015 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Alphonso Saenz, July 22, 2015

Interview with Al Saenz, a city councilman from Bryan, Texas. In the interview, Saenz discusses his family background, civil rights organizations and the Mexican-American community in Bryan. Saenz also discusses time living in Houston during his childhood.
Date: July 22, 2015
Creator: Saenz, Alphonso & Acuña-Gurrola, Moisés
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Felipe Peralta, July 22, 2015 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Felipe Peralta, July 22, 2015

Interview with Felipe Peralta, community activist from El Paso, Texas. In the interview, Peralta discusses his childhood and education, the Chamizal Treaty, student activism, community organizations, race relations, politics, the Chicano movement, and labor unions.
Date: July 22, 2015
Creator: Peralta, Felipe & Enriquez, Sandra
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Ruby Rodgers Dorsey, July 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Ruby Rodgers Dorsey, July 22, 2016

Ruby Rodgers Dorsey discussed growing up in rural Kendleton when it was an all-black community, her education, her views on what was gained and lost by integration, and her work as a teacher and school board member.
Date: July 22, 2016
Creator: Bobadilla, Eladio & Rodgers, Ruby Dorsey
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Terry Mena, June 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Terry Mena, June 22, 2016

Mena discussed his family history, trajectory from Florida to New York to Beaumont, TX, and his rough upbringing (gangs, discrimination), and other topics.
Date: June 22, 2016
Creator: Grevious, Danielle; Bobadilla, Eladio & Mena, Terry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Elwyn Lee, June 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Elwyn Lee, June 22, 2016

Elwin Lee was born in Virgina and was raised in Third Ward, a historic African American neighborhood in Houston, TX. He talks about segregation in Houston, the vibrancy of Third Ward, and the Texas Southern University "riot." Lee also discusses how he went to Yale Law School and returned to Houston to become the first African American tenured at the University of Houston Law School. After serving as the director of African American Studies for a couple of years and reviving the program, Lee built upon the student and community relationships he developed at the time to serve as the Vice President of Student Affairs. He discusses how he is currently involved in efforts to bridge the university and Third Ward by figuring out how the school can assist education, health, and economic empowerment.
Date: June 22, 2016
Creator: Enriquez, Sandra; Rodriguez, Samantha & Lee, Elwyn
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Priscilla Graham, June 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Priscilla Graham, June 22, 2016

Priscilla Graham was born in Georgia in 1968. During her childhood, schools were integrated in Georgia, where she experiences protection from both Black and White teachers. Ms. Graham joined the military where she experiences sexism. She attends TSU where she received her degree in accounting. In Houston, Ms. Graham becomes involved at the YMCA across Harris County, working at several branches. She became the executive director of the Houston Texans YMCA in Sunnyside. Ms. Graham has also been involved in the preservation of African American history in Houston, in particularly Freedman's Town. She discusses the different efforts, past and present, to preserve one of the most historic African American neighborhoods in the city.
Date: June 22, 2016
Creator: Enriquez, Sandra; Rodriguez, Samantha & Graham, Priscilla
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Jesse Shead, July 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Jesse Shead, July 22, 2016

Jesse Shead was born in 1947 in East Austin, a segregated African American neighborhood with thriving businesses. He grew-up going to African American schools, such as Campbell Elementary and Kealing Junior High, and experienced a middle-class lifestyle in his ethnic enclave. Shead went to Anderson High School before its closure and and reopening as an integrate school in 1971. After attending Huston-Tillotson University in Austin for two years, he was employed for the Humble Oil and Refinery Company in Baytown as it was transitioning to Exxon. While in Baytown, Shead witnessed instances of discrimination where he was refused service at local businesses. He talks about how desegregation efforts in Austin lead to the drain of African American professionals in the schools and overall community of East Austin, the weak company union at Exxon, how he was one of the few African Americans to work in the Exxon's processing department, his inability to rent in certain areas of town due to his race, and racial discrimination at Lee High School during the time that his two sons were attending. Shead also describes his unsuccessful bid to serve on the board of regents for Lee College, organizing around the police brutality case …
Date: July 22, 2016
Creator: Enriquez, Sandra; Rodriguez, Samantha & Shead, Jesse
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Jimmie Shaw on July 22, 2016. captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Jimmie Shaw on July 22, 2016.

Ms. Shaw was born and raised in Willis, Texas. Shaw described her experiences with racism and Jim Crow discrimination. Shaw discussed one surprising impact of racism in Willis, she was fearful of Halloween. During Halloween in Willis, white youth would throw things at Ms. Shaw's house. A great aunt of Shaw was able to live in the white part of Willis while a uncle of Shaw became the first Black person to vote in the Willis/Conroe area. The first time he was able to vote was when he was elderly in the mid-twentieth century. Shaw also discussed difficulties in the workplace in Conroe.
Date: July 22, 2016
Creator: Howard, Jasmine & Shaw , Jimmie
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Mary Tolbert, July 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Mary Tolbert, July 22, 2016

Mrs. Tolbert was born in 1943 in Cleveland. Tolbert grew up in Houston until she moved to Conroe in the 4th grade. Tolbert attended school in Bordersville while living in Houston. In Bordersville the neighborhood was integrated with a Mexican American and African American population. Tolbert graduated from Booker T. Washington in Conroe. She began working for law enforcement in 1984 after a few years of attempting. Tolbert experienced and witnessed explicit discrimination, racism, and sexism while working as a Deputy Sheriff in Montgomery County. Tolbert currently mentors young girls.
Date: July 22, 2016
Creator: Howard, Jasmine & Tolbert, Mary
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Iris Lawrence, June 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Iris Lawrence, June 22, 2016

Iris Lawrence was born and raised in the North Heights neighborhood of Amarillo, Texas. She attended African American universities, including Howard University, and earned a master’s degree in English. While in college, Lawrence also participated in attempting to integrate Amarillo while on school breaks. Upon returning to Amarillo after living in various places like Austin, Texas, Lawrence worked for the state’s comptrollers office and served as the president of the NAACP.
Date: June 22, 2016
Creator: Wisely, Karen & Lawrence, Iris
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Isabel Jimenez, July 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Isabel Jimenez, July 22, 2016

Isabel Jimenez was born in 1953 in Slanton, Texas. Her family moved to Midland, Texas and she attended De Zavala Elementary (the “Mexican” school), Austin Junior High, and graduated from Midland High School in 1971. Jimenez attended Austin College in Sherman, Texas for one year, then Midland College, and the University of Texas—Permian Basin, which she eventually graduated from in 1987 with a degree in Spanish. Beginning in 1976, Jimenez worked for Southwest Bell. She joined LULAC in the 1970s due to police brutality against Mexican Americans, not wanting her own son to experience such brutality. Jimenez was part of LULAC single member districts at the county, city, school district, and community college levels. Jimenez also participated in the Southwest Voter Registration Project, taught as a bilingual education teacher, and is now a counselor at Midland College.
Date: July 22, 2016
Creator: Wisely, Karen; Zapata, Joel & Jimenez, Isabel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Alphonso Vaughn, June 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Alphonso Vaughn, June 22, 2016

Alphonso Vaughn was born and raised in Amarillo, Texas. He lived through the integration of local schools as a high school student. From Amarillo, he entered the military and then attending the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas. Upon his return to Amarillo, Vaughn helped start the city’s Juneteenth Celebration along with various civil rights and cultural organizations. He served five, two year terms as president of Amarillo’s NAACP. Since then, he has served as a Potter County Commissioner.
Date: June 22, 2016
Creator: Zapata, Joel & Vaughn, Alphonso
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Luis Sanchez, July 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Luis Sanchez, July 22, 2016

Luis D. Sánchez was born in Midland, Texas in 1978. His parents originated from the Ojinaga area of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Sánchez grew up in majority-minority, south Midland. He attended Travis Elementary, Long Elementary, Alamo Junior High, and Midland High School. After high school, Sánchez obtained his associates degree, while working two jobs, in government from Midland College in 2000. In 2002 he obtained his bachelors in political since from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. After college, Sánchez worked for the Texas Secretary of State in Austin. When he moved back to Midland, he quickly became involved in local electoral politics, eventually running for office himself in 2003. He is now a city council member representing south Midland.
Date: July 22, 2016
Creator: Wisely, Karen; Zapata, Joel & Sanchez, Luis
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Claudia Stravato and Seldon Hale, June 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Claudia Stravato and Seldon Hale, June 22, 2016

Claudia Stravato was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She attended a mostly Mexican American high school in Downtown Dallas and then graduate with a BA and MA in political science from West Texas A&M University (then West Texas State University). She has been a lifelong advocate for voting rights and women’s health rights. She served as CEO of the Amarillo Planned Parenthood from 1999 to 2009. She has worked in numerous political campaigns at the state and local levels and various government agencies.
Date: June 22, 2016
Creator: Zapata, Joel; Stravato, Claudia & Hale, Seldon
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Joe Ortiz on June 22, 2016. captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Joe Ortiz on June 22, 2016.

A lengthy discussion of CC's troubled history and his role as GI Forum Commander.
Date: June 22, 2016
Creator: Acuña-Gurrola, Moisés; Wall, James & Ortiz, Joe
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Huey Dorn, July 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Huey Dorn, July 22, 2016

Mr. Dorn discussed growing up in Corpus Christi and his career as an NAACP investigator and steelworker.
Date: July 22, 2016
Creator: Acuña-Gurrola, Moisés; Wall, James & Dorn, Huey
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Mary Jo O'Rear on July 22, 2016. captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Mary Jo O'Rear on July 22, 2016.

Discussed growing up during Jim Crow in Louisiana, and her career as a teacher and local historian.
Date: July 22, 2016
Creator: Acuña-Gurrola, Moisés; Wall, James & O'Rear, Mary Jo
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Juan Tejeda, June 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Juan Tejeda, June 22, 2016

Juan Tejeda is the co-founder and producer of the Guadalupe Cultural Center's annual Tejano Conjunto Festival en San Antonio. In his interview he discusses, growing up on the Southside of San Antonio, Mexican American Studies, and educational equality.
Date: June 22, 2016
Creator: Sinta, Vinicio; Arionus, Steve & Tejeda, Juan
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Eloy Barrera, July 22, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Eloy Barrera, July 22, 2016

Mr. Barrera grew up in and around Del Rio, Texas. His father was a sheep sheerer. Barrera talked about the importance of education to his parents and learning "proper" Spanish. He also talked about the San Felipe barrio and the schools. Later he moved out of the barrio into a more mixed community. He talked about the disparity in sporting equipment between Del Rio ISD & San Felipe. He also talked about teaching drama in Del Rio, the march in 1969, and the impact of school consolidation in 1971. He also mentioned discrimination his drama students experienced during a UIL meet where they were the better team but the Anglo judges gave the win to another team.
Date: July 22, 2016
Creator: Arionus, Steve & Barrera, Eloy
System: The Portal to Texas History