Audio recording of an interview with Johnnie Mae Carter, who was born in East Texas and grew up partly in College Station, Texas, Colorado, and Slaton, Texas. While living in Slaton, Carter was not allowed to attend the local high school because she is African American. Thus, she attended Dunbar High School in Lubbock, Texas. Her family later moved to Odessa, Texas. In Odessa, Carter attended Odessa College to become a nurse. She worked several years as a nurse and also volunteered and later worked for Planned Parenthood in Odessa.

Joann Davenport Littleton was born and raised in Crane, Texas. In Crane’s high school, Davenport Littleton became the first African American class president. Indeed, her mother was the first African American to graduate from the same high school. As a talented volleyball player, she received an academic scholarship to Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. Davenport Littleton did not like the athletic structure she had to adhere to and left Angelo State University after a semester. She moved to Odessa and worked for the city as well as a privet company while joining the Ector County Democrats. In 1990, deeming south Odessa being underserved, Davenport Littleton ran for city council. She won with a majority ethnic Mexican electorate. In the city council she worked to bring development and city services to south Odessa as well as to clean the environmental problems of that city section.