Mr. Mata grew up in Wharton and Houston and, although most of his knowledge was based on his activism in Houston, he was part of cases on the outskirts as a board member of LULAC, an EEOC officer, and while taking part of organizational leadership. He also had some information on cases like Hernandez v. Texas, police-civil coalitions, Black-Brown coalitions, and activism in Houston.

Ms. Franklin was raised in Conroe in the 1960s to parents who were both teachers at the local All-Black school, Booker T. Washington High. Franklin discussed how integration occurred in Conroe, including the freedom of choice phase and the process of the forced integration phase. Franklin overheard her parents discussing their sentiments about integration. Franklin's parents decided to not send their daughter to the formerly all-white schools in Conroe during freedom of choice but a few Black parents did send their children to integrated schools during that time. Notable historian Annette Gordon-Reed is said to be one of the first Black students in Conroe to attend integrated schools. Franklin discussed her experiences with integration and her time attending college at Rice University. Franklin attended Rice partially because her father heard that it had integrated fairly recently. Franklin worked in technology (programming, etc.) throughout her career and experienced some discrimination in the workplace at companies in Houston.

Luciano "Lucky" Salinas was born in 1950 in Galveston. During the segregation era of the island, Salinas the attended Mexican American Goliad Elementary School. By the time he was in tenth grade, he would attended the integrated Ball High School. Due to a lack of college funding, Salinas opted to enlist in the Vietnam War. After serving in the war, he would attend Laredo Community College briefly before enrolling at the University of Houston. While at UH, Salinas became involved in student activism and took the first classes offered by the Center for Mexican American Studies. He talks about his involvement in the UH Mexican American Youth Organization, the various Mexican American student groups on campus, what he learned in the CMAS courses and how they shaped his worldview, his involvement in the Association for the Mexican American Advancement, and how he has dedicated his life to education endeavors.

Ray Wilson was born in Alabama in 1939 and moved to Chicago at the age of 7. When he was in 10th grade, his mom remarried and his family moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he came of age and joined several local struggles for civil rights including a sit in. Wilson also joined the military in the 1960s, where he experienced integrated ranks within the Army. In the 1970s, he moved to Baytown where he began working for ExxonMobile. Upon his arrival, he quickly noticed racism and segregation in Baytown. Shortly thereafter, Wilson became involved in the community through different efforts including the Political Action Committee, re-establishing a local chapter of the NAACP, and Gang Activity prevention work.

Cody Wheeler was born in Dalhart, Texas in 1985. He moved to Pasadena with his family in 1991. Wheeler developed a political consciousness as a young kid due to his father's union involvement. He attended schools in the Pasadena Independent School District and graduated from Deer Park High School. In 2003, he joined the Marines and did tours in Iraq. Upon his return from the war, he enrolled at the University of Houston. The persistent stark differences between North and South Pasadena pushed him to successfully run for city council member in 2013. During his campaign, he made an attempt to educate his constituents and get them out to vote. As a member of city council, he has been a witness to the voting rights violations resulting from the redistricting of Pasadena (which he describes in detail). Wheeler also described his unsuccessful run for state representative for district 144 in 2016.

Eva Benavides was born in 1952 in Baytown. She attended Lorenzo De Zavala Elementary, the Baytown Mexican School, and witnessed segregation in her youth. She experienced a culture shock when she attended the integrated Baytown Junior High. Inspired by her mother's and father's dedication to helping others, Benavides served as a Baytown City Councilwoman and became involved in the West Baytown Civic Association. The Luis Alfonso Torres police brutality case galvanized her and others to forge a cross-racial coalition (United Concerned Citizens of Baytown) to hold the police department accountable. Benavides talks about how Mexican Americans were situated in a segregated Baytown, the importance of Fiesta Patrias, her involvement in the PTO, her determination to become a city councilwoman and her experiences as an Mexican American female representative for a single member district, how she bodly held the Baytown Police Department accountable for the Luis Alfonso Torres case when other Mexican American representative refused to speak out, and cross-racial efforts to address police brutality. She also discusses gentrification and how her community lacks businesses and grocery stores, how she taught citizenship classes for many years, the role of Exxon in Baytown, and how city council representatives have to address race …

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 …

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.

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. …

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.

Mike Wilson was born in Dayton, Ohio, in the 1960s, where he witnessed white flight and urban decay. He grew up in all-Black spaces and was surrounded by a community of Black progressives. When he was in second grade, his parents divorced, subsequently moving him to Louisiana. Upon his arrival to the South, he faced a culture shock, as he believed African Americans were more “submissive” and “knew their place.” Two years later, his parents got back together and moved to Baytown. Wilson attended Robert E. Lee High School in the 1980s, where he still experienced the remnants of segregation. As a young adult, Wilson witnessed the lack of mentorship for African American men in Baytown, which drove him to get involved in efforts to create programing to prevent gang activity and juvenile delinquency amongst Blacks and Latinos. He became the executive director for a pilot project funded by the Texas General Attorney’s Office called Gang Activity Prevention (GAP). Most recently, Wilson founded and directs Upgrade 2 the Next Level, a self-funded program for the youth in Baytown that serves as an outlet for discipline and self-expression.

Elvira Martinez was born in 1929 in Baytown, Texas. Her father lived in "El Campo," the Humble Oil and Refinery Company community for their predominately Mexican American male employees. Martinez remembers growing up in the company community and how families forged deep bonds. She attended the Lorenzo De Zavala Elementary School, the Baytown Mexican School that was originally funded by the Humble Oil and Refinery Company. Through the music program at the Baytown Mexican School, Martinez was able to travel the country as a player in the group La Tipica. She talks about the development of the Baytown Mexican School and how it served as the first ESL program. Martinez also discusses the role that Dr. Antonio Bañuelos played in the development of La Tipica, how La Tipica was portrayed as an "authentic" Mexican group from Jalisco, how she had to act like she did not know English while traveling throughout the nation, the Mexican musicians she encountered during her involvement in La Tipica, and how this female music group played for WWII bond drives at the behest of the Humble Oil and Refinery Company. Martinez addresses the role of Mexican celebrations, Baytown Mexican School's role in the creation of …

Fred Aguilar was born in 1950 in a small barrio located in the affluent Alamo Heights neighborhood of San Antonio. His father's determination along with his his mother's dedication to volunterism provided him the fortitude to not only survive the discrimintation he witnessed in his youth, but to also become an community activist in both Houston and Baytown. After the Jose Campos Torres case sparked Aguilar's participation in the Houston Chicana/o Movement, he would move to Baytown where he became involved in the West Baytown Civic Assocation, the United Concerned Citizens of Baytown, gang prevention, and the co-founding of the Promise Center. He talks about how the Jose Campos Torres case outraged the Houston Chicana/o community, how he tackled gang graffiti and worked with youth on mural projects through the West Baytown Civic Association, how African Americans and Mexican Americans in Baytown came together to address police brutality after the brutal death of Luis Alfonso Torres, and how the Promise Center is committed to serving the community through child, youth, and adult programming. Aguilar also speaks about the importance of gang prevention endeavors, particularly in the area of art and culture.

Raphael Montgomery was born in 1973 in Baytown. He came of age in the African-American Cedar Bayou neighborhood where there was a vibrant African-American business community and residents created a village setting. His parents raised him with the idea that he had to work harder and smarter due to racial discrimination. After graduating from Ross S. Sterling High School, Montgomery attended Prairie View A&M briefly before enrolling at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. At Fisk University, he gained a deeper awareness of the Civil Rights Movement and African-American history that he did not receive in public school. The knowledge he gleaned from African-American texts and African-American Studies courses instilled a sense of pride and the ability to perservere. During these college years, Montgomery received the call to become a minister and to later return to Baytown to preach at his childhood church, Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church. He talks about racial profiling by the police, growing up in the church and his father's role as a preacher, the benefits of attending a HBCU, and his position as a special education teacher for Goose Creek Independent School District. He also describes his unity and inclusion work in Baytown through his church …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Patricia "Pat" Gonzales was born in 1967 in Houston in the Gulfgate area. She moved to the toxic Manchester neighborhood, a predominately Latina/o area of town next to the oil refineries, after she graduated from high school. Gonzales became active in the environmental justice movement due to the health issues she acquired while living next to the refineries. She later worked for the Texas Organizing Project to address the lack of infrastructure in the Northern Pasadena area. Gonzales discusses the risk of explosions in Pasadena, attending EPA conferences and addressing environmental racism, how the Anglo power structure functions in Pasadena, and how both African Americans and Latinas/os are neglected. She also talks about the recent voting rights violations in Pasadena and how the city capitulates to the interests of the oil industry.

Described her childhood in a working class Mexican American family, the obstacles she had to overcome to become lawyer, and her history working on both sides of the criminal justice system.

Ms. Moore was raised in Houston, Texas. Her family is from Conroe, and she spent time growing up visiting relatives in Conroe, including her aunt Lucille Bradley. In her interview, Ms. Moore describes her family's history, the career and life of Ms. Bradley in Conroe's schools, and her observations on how Conroe has changed over time.

Mr. Lastrappe spent his formative years in Conroe, Texas. He went to school at Booker T. Washington. Upon graduating, he went to California, where he witnessed the Watts Riot. Following that, he went to Chicago and then Seattle, where he worked primarily in juvenile detention facilities, then retired and returned to Texas. Mr. Lastrappe's interview describes segregation in Conroe, black-owned businesses, discrimination in Chicago, comparisons between Texas, Chicago, and Seattle, and a discussion of Mr. Lastrappe's publication of poetry.

Mrs. Jordan has worked as a community social worker mainly servicing the Hispanic/Latino population in mainly Houston and Montgomery County. Jordan has worked to ensure that the Hispanic/Latino population has access to resources. Jordan consistently collaborates with other organizations that fosters multiracial collaborations. Jordan discussed growing up in Houston and Aldine. Jordan's family left the Barrio in Houston and moved to the more rural Aldine when she was three. Jordan discussed the different cultural practices she learned by having Cuban and Mexican parents, visiting the Barrio and living in a predominantly white and rural area. Jordan witnessed violence between residents of the Barrio and law enforcement. Jordan also discussed her experience with school integration. Jordan describes the changes in racial demographics of Montgomery County and efforts to secure political representation through creating and sustaining a multiracial coalition.

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 …