Oral History Interview with Eva Benevides, July 20, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Eva Benevides, July 20, 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 …
Date: July 20, 2016
Creator: Benavides, Eva; Enriquez, Sandra & Rodriguez, Samantha
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Luis Cano, June 20, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Luis Cano, June 20, 2016

Luis Cano was born in Corpus Christi, TX. After attending University of North Texas, he came to Houston and would become involved in the Mexican American Youth Organization and La Raza Unida Party. As a teacher at Austin High School, he would develop one of the first Mexican American courses. This experience along with his awareness of his family's political history would lead him to dedicate his life to education efforts. Cano talks the Huelga School Movement, a false pairing plan that placed Mexican American and African American youth together and called it integration. He also speaks about co-founding the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans and developing some of its cultural and youth-oriented initiatives, including teatro, a library, a school for at-risk students, and gang prevention. Cano describes his experiences as one of the first lecturers for the UH Center for Mexcian American Studies.
Date: June 20, 2016
Creator: Cano, Luis; Enriquez, Sandra & Rodriguez, Samantha
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with Elvira Martinez, July 20, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with Elvira Martinez, July 20, 2016

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 …
Date: July 20, 2016
Creator: Enriquez, Sandra & Martinez, Elvira
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oral History Interview with William Lawson, June 20, 2016 captions transcript

Oral History Interview with William Lawson, June 20, 2016

William Lawson was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928. He arrived in Houston and worked at Texas Southern University where he became involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Reverend Lawson discussed the Weingarten Sit In, desegregation of public spaces in Houston, and Martin Luther King's visit to Houston. He also discuses the establishment of the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in the community and how it has become a hub for social movements. He also discusses the founding of the William A. Lawson Institute for Peace and Prosperity in 1996 and how it has helped the community.
Date: June 20, 2016
Creator: Enriquez, Sandra; Rodriguez, Samantha & Lawson, William
System: The Portal to Texas History