Feliz Abalos was born (1979) and raised in Odessa, Texas. Abalos graduated from Odessa High School in 1996 a semester early and attended one spring semester at Sul Ross State University. She graduated from the University of Houston in 2001 and then attended law school at Ohio Northern University Abalos has been chair of the Ector County Democratic Party. She has worked in various local political campaigns since she was a child. Abalos was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Premium Basin Planned Parenthood.

Delma Abalos was born and raised in Odessa, Texas. She attended Odessa College as well as the University of Texas-Permian Basin. Abalos gained her undergraduate degree in political science and her master’s degree in history. She now teaches courses in history, including Mexican American history, at Odessa College. Delma also served within the Ector County ISD board of trustees.

Dr. Morris Baker was born in 1939 in Ranger, Texas, the son of a mechanic and a domestic worker. As a child in Ranger, Baker lived in a mixed neighborhood of Mexican Americans, poor whites, and African Americans. Although, Ranger had segregated black and brown neighborhoods as well. Baker attended a one-room, all-black school called Slaughter Ward Elementary up to 6th grade. From 6th to 10th grade, Baker had to be bused to Eastland, where education ended for African Americans before they could obtain a high school Diploma. Thus, when the Brown v. Board dissension came in, his parents simply signed him up for classes in the white Ranger High School. Baker was allowed to attend as long as he did not socialize with the white high school female students or attend many of the school’s social events. He graduated as the school’s first African American graduate in 1957. Other African Americans followed. Baker then graduated from Cisco College (A.A. 1959), McMurry University (B.A. in Biology 1963), Harvard University (M.Ed. 1970), The Ohio State University (Ph.D. in clinical psychology 1976). Baker has worked for the Peace Corps, public schools in Los Angeles, California and other cities, and has taught at …

Dallas “Dally” Willis was born in 1920 in Dallas, Texas but grew up in Cleburne, Texas, raised by a single mother of seven children after his father abandoned the family. Willis attended high school in Cleburne and joined the Marine Corps in 1941. In the Marine Corps, Willis worked as an aerial photographer mapping the Pacific territories controlled by Japan. Upon returning to Cleburne, Willis worked for Southwestern Bail and joined the Communication Workers of America union. He moved to Midland, Texas in 1949. From 1961 to 2005 he served within the CWA’s Political and Legislative Committee, lobbying in the Texas Legislature. Dally also began the Labor Day Celebration of the Permian Basin in 1957. He has been a delegate for the DNC convention and was the decades long president of the Permian Basin Central Labor Union.

Lilia Escajeda was born in El Paso, Texas. She grew up between El Paso, Van Horn, and Amarillo; and she remembers going to segregated schools in Van Horn. She settled in Amarillo as an adult after her husband died, and she eventually became the first female loan-officer for any bank in Amarillo, at the Amarillo National Bank. She joined various community organizations, boards, and became both the first Mexican American women Amarillo College board member and City Commissioner (later City Council Member).

Hector Mendez was raised in Big Lake, Texas and attended Angelo State University, where he was part of the Mexican American Student organization that called for ethnic studies in the university. He later attended the university of Texas Permian Basin for his master’s degree in education. He became the superintendent of Ector County Independent School District in the 2000s as conservative trustees led the district.

Karen Hildebrand was born in Odessa, Texas in 1958. She graduated from Permian High School in 1976 and attended Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, where she graduated in 1981. Hildebrand returned to Odessa and worked for various non-profits, including Planned Parenthood. She served various capacities within Planned Parenthood, including becoming CEO for twenty-three years. Hildebrand has also served in the Peace Corps, earned a Master’s degree in public administration from the University of Texas-Permian Basin, and now heads for a women’s crisis center.

Interview with Odel Crawford, president and CEO Black Chamber of Commerce of the Permian Basin. Crawford was born in Brownwood Texas. He attended Abeline Christian University.

Berta Perez Linton was born in 1942 or 1943 in Brady, Texas. She attended schools in Melvin, Texas until 7th grade while her family lived in a ranch. Linton’s family then moved to San Angelo, Texas where she graduated from Central High School in 1961. Linton attended Angelo College for one year and a half before transferring to the University of Texas at Austin. Linton graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a major in elementary education in 1967. She taught bilingual education in Austin Schools before attending Texas Southern University’s Welcome to Thurgood Marshall School of Law, graduating in 1977. Linton then moved to San Angelo where she was the counsel for the local LULAC council. She still practices law in San Angelo.

Gene Collins was born and raised in Odessa, Texas. He attended Abilene Christian University, where he was a campus and community civil rights organizer. He completed his college education at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Collins is now a local businessman and minister in Odessa, Texas. He has been president of the Odessa NAACP for over 15 years, and co-chair for environmental justice for the statewide NAACP. He helped lead several efforts toward environmental justice in and outside Odessa.

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.

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.

Lydia Evaro Madrigal was born in Odessa, Texas in 1957 and grew up in the majority minority area of south Odessa. She attended Zavala Elementary, Travis Elementary, Ector County Junior High and High School, and transferred to Permian Basin high school for the higher level of academic classes. Madrigal graduated from high school in 1975. She then attended Odessa College, and began working in a local television station due to a suit by attorney Richard Abalos due to the lack of people of color in that television station. She initially reported on the Larry Lozano case and saw the bias of the local media against Lozano and his family. Madrigal had been part political campaigns since she was thirteen and was offered a job at the Texas House of Representatives while in college. Eventually, she graduated from the University of Texas-Permian Basin 1989 after having attended Southwestern Texas State University. Madrigal has been the Latino outreach coordinator for the DNC in Washington D.C., has worked to make Odessa College a Hispanic Serving Institution, and is now a business owner in Odessa and Midland, Texas.

Fay Batch was born and raised in Fairfield, New Jersey. Her parents were social justice advocates with various organizations, including the NAACP. As a child and teenager, she participated in various rallies and joined picket lines in chain stores to challenge segregation. Upon graduating from high school, Batch attended the University of Southern California from 1975-1979. After graduating from the USC, she moved to the Midland-Odessa area with her husband, also a USC graduate, who was originally from the area. In Midland, Batch began registering African American voters in the east side of the city. Batch was elected to the Ector County ISD Board of Trustees, where she served from 2000 to 2013. In this position, she had a vital role in helping more fully integrate ECISD schools. As an School District Trustee, from 2000-2013, Batch helped oversee the school system reach unitary status under a federal court.

Robbyne Hacker Fuller was born in Clarksville, Texas in 1943. She attended schools in Clarksville through 5th grade until her family moved to Midland, Texas. She graduated from African American Carver High School in Midland in 1961. She attended San Angelo Jr. College, Odessa College, and graduated from Midland College with an associate’s degree. In 1964 she became the first African American women to sale real estate in Midland. She retired from Texas Instruments and was a major part of founding the Midland African American Chamber of Commerce. She is now the CEO of the Midland African American Roots Historical/Cultural Arts Council. She played a major role with the NAACP and other organizations in attempting to desegregate Midland ISD. James Fuller was born in San Angelo, Texas in 1942. Schools in San Angelo integrated in 1955 while Fuller attended them. He graduated in 1960 from San Angelo’s Central High School. He graduated from San Angelo Jr. College in 1963, North Texas State University in 1966, and from Texas Tech University in 1974 with an MA in English. Fuller taught in Lubbock schools before joining the faculty of Midland College in Midland, Texas. He has been on the board of trustees …

Guillermo "Willie" Serna was born in Seguin, Texas in 1927 where he attended “Mexican schools.” He served in the Pacific during World War II after volunteering in 1944 (he was in the service until 1947). Upon his return to Seguin, Serna was part of creating the fourth chapter of the American GI Forum in his home town in 1948 with over 100 members. He worked as a migrant farm worker, traveling to West Texas, Ohio and Indiana. In Indiana he, Serna organized a strike for higher wages that were equal to Anglo workers. Serna moved to La Mesa, Texas where he eventually gained a job in the local employment office (Texas Workforce Commission), where he helped other Mexican Americans gain government jobs. He eventually began directing the office and moved to San Angelo to also managed the local office in the 1970s. During the 1970s, San Angelo’s LULAC chapter was founded, for which Serna became president. Within this office, Serna helped launch various suits or threats of suits at the county and city level as well as against the local school district and Angelo State University. Serna also worked in Austin for the William P. Clements administration and served as …

Daniel Caudillo was born to Mexican immigrants in Odessa, Texas. He grew up as a migrant child with a home base in Odessa. Caudillo graduated from Permian High School in 2000, and then briefly attended Odessa College and the University of Texas-Permian Basin. He graduated from Texas Tech University in 2003 and then the Law School of Texas Tech University in 2007. Caudillo then went to work for an immigration law firm in El Paso, Texas; he opened his own law firm dedicated to immigration law in 2008 with offices in both El Paso and Odessa. Caudillo advises the public on immigration law through various non-profits.

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.

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.

Carol Uranga was born in 1949 in Marathon, Texas, but she was raised in Alpine, Texas. Growing up in Alpine and later in Pecos, she saw LULAC and the Brown Berets and Raza Unida Party protest and demand civil rights for Mexican Americans. Uranga graduated from central High School in Alpine in 1968. She moved to Pecos, Texas in 1974 when she married. In Pecos she became involved with women’s rights and LULAC, going to various civil rights conferences in other parts of the state. Indeed, Uranga helped organize what was perhaps the first women’s empowerment conference in West Texas, in Pecos in 1976 or 1977. Uranga moved to Odessa in the mid-1980s, where she helped re-start a LULAC chapter. She has since hosted radio shows centered on the Mexican American culture, she has helped start scholarship programs, local cultural events, including the nonprofit Hispanic Heritage of Odessa.

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.

K.T. McLeaish was born and raised Granbury, Texas. She briefly attended the University of Northern Colorado before returning to Texas. McLeaish is retired from a long-time, non-paying career of political activism (she was once an elected member of the Democratic National Committee). She's been married to a prominent West Texas criminal lawyer (Michael McLeaish) for 32 years and they've lived in Odessa, TX for the past 34 years. She has also been on the now closed Premium Basin Planned Parenthood.

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.

Armando S. Rodriguez was born and raised in south Odessa, Texas. He attended Ector County High School, where he was senior class president. As the class president, Rodriguez led a school walkout to demand that advance academic classes be offered in the majority minority school. He later attended St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and is now an Ector County Commissioner.