Political and Civic Engagement

Stories with interview subjects from our Political and Civic Engagement collection. Browse all stories to see subjects across all Voces collections.

Displaying 1 - 50 of 82
Subject Collection Story Interviewed by

José Aguilera

Jose Aguilera - Voces Oral History Project  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Brigit Benestante

As a high school student in South Texas, José Aguilera participated in a six-week walkout that was ultimately unsuccessful and resulted in him leaving school. Yet he has no regrets: The experience defined him as...

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Raquel Garza

Ward Albro

Albro Ward  

Political & Civic Engagement

By: Voces Staff

Born in San Antonio Texas, Albro spent most of his youth moving from place to place, leaving Texas to settle in Tennessee for most of his elementary years, then settling in San Angelo Texas where he attended San Angelo High...

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Ruben Paquian

Henry Alfaro

Henry Alfaro - Voces Oral History Project  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Jeffrey Kmiecinski, St. Bonaventure University

When Henry Alfaro began his broadcasting career, he was one of very few Mexican-Americans in the industry. Decades later, his community work and trailblazing career led to him being named...

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Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Albert Alvarez

Albert Alvarez  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Dylan Nikoletopoulos

Albert Alvarez did not have to make any compromises to become mayor of Pearsall, Texas. He knew exactly why he wanted to do it and had the background and name recognition to help get him elected.

His father,...

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Dylan Nikoletopoulos

Adolfo Alvarez

Adolfo Alvarez  

Korean Conflict, Political & Civic Engagement

By Jacob Martella

Coming back from the Korean War, Adolfo Alvarez knew he had to do something with his life.

He had survived nine months along the 38th Parallel holding the line against the North Koreans, not knowing if he would...

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Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Felicita Munguia Arriaga

Felicita Munguia Arriaga - Voces Oral History Project  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Hope Teel

In 1959, Felicita Munguia Arriaga was a 12-year-old accompanying her mother to the polls, where the older woman planned to cast her vote for a man named Joe Hubenak.

Very few Hispanics were voting during that time for...

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Hope Teel

Modesto Arriaga

Modesto Arriaga - Voces Oral History Project  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Faith Daniel

Modesto Arriaga was playing baseball with his church team, the Rosenberg Lions, when a police car pulled up and asked for one of his teammates to go with them. Later, the other boys would learn that the ballplayer’s older...

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Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Rachel Ayala

Rachel Ayala  

Political & Civic Engagement

For 45 years, Rachel Medina Ayala was an educator in Brownsville, Texas, working her way up from elementary school teacher to assistant superintendent.

Ayala was born May 13, 1947, in Brownsville to Francisco Medina and Maria Torres Medina...

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Cecilia Gonzales

David Ayala

David Ayala  

Political & Civic Engagement

Not getting an education was “not an option” for David Ayala and his three siblings.

Ayala was born March 3, 1949, in Pharr, Texas, to Marcelino and Ana Maria (Guajardo) Ayala. After he graduated from high school in 1967, he attended Pan...

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Martin do Nasciemento

Gonzalo Barrientos

Gonzalo Barrientos  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Ashley Mastervich

As one of the first Mexican Americans to represent Travis County in the Texas House of Representatives and Senate, Gonzalo Barrientos Jr. was part of the first wave of Latino officials who led the way for minority...

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Ashley Mastervich

Antonio Becerra

Antonio Becerra  

World War II, Political & Civic Engagement

By Martin do Nascimento

Antonio Becerra has always found a way to remain steadfast, persistent and determined in the face of adversity - first as a Mexican American growing up in rural Texas in the 1920s and '30s, then as a German prisoner...

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Martin Do Nascimento

Stanley Bittinger

Stanley Bittinger  

Political & Civic Engagement

By: Voces Staff

The main topic of this interview centered around professor Stanley Bittinger’s life during the chicano movement in South Texas, and the experiences he had working at Texas A&I University during this time as well. The...

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Alex Valdez

Norma Cantú

Norma Cantu  

Political & Civic Engagement

By: Voces Staff

Born and raised in Brownsville Texas, Norma Cantú excelled in school despite coming from poverty. Thanks to her families emphasis on early education, Cantú skipped many grades, graduating college at the age of 19. After...

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Mia Uhumwuangho

Arnoldo Cantu Jr.

Arnoldo Cantu Jr.  

Political & Civic Engagement

By: Voces Staff

Judge Arnoldo Cantu Jr. recounts events in his life that impacted him and South Texas. The interview takes place in Brownsville, Tx located in the Rio Grande Valley where Cantu currently serves as judge in the Hidalgo...

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Yenibel Ruiz Mirabal

Joe David Casillas

Joe (left kneeling down).  The picture was taken early in 1946 at Scott, Field, in Villerville, Illinois-now called Scott Airforce.  The abbreviation Tele Type Mechanic (T.T.M.) 426.  

World War II, Political & Civic Engagement

By Nora Ramirez

World War II is over, but the fight against discrimination is far from finished for Joe Casillas, a WWII veteran who lives in San Diego.

His father, Felix Ledesma Casillas, was a migrant worker who came from Jalisco,...

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Rene Zambrano

Maria del Rosario Castro

Maria del Rosario Castro  

Political & Civic Engagement

At a young age, Rosie Castro was outspoken about racial, educational, housing and gender inequality. Despite facing pushback, she became a prominent political and civil rights activist.

Castro was born in San Antonio on March 7, 1947. Her...

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Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Eddie Cavazos

Eddie Cavazos  

Political & Civic Engagement

By: Voces Staff

Cavazos grew up in housing projects as a young boy, he describes it as a tight knit community. Growing up in this environment allowed him to experience different people with various personalities. Cavazos then mentions his...

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Lynda Gonzalez

Paul Cedillo

Paul Cedillo  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Vinicio Sinta

One evening during the early 1970s, a crowd much larger than the usual Latino activists who periodically met in Rosenberg, Texas, poured into the local A.W. Jackson Elementary School to listen to a speech by Congresswoman...

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Miguel Gutierrez

Adrienne Cervantez

Adrienne Cervantez  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Doug Waters

Growing up in Dilley, Texas, Adrienne Cervantez (nee Garcia) hated two things: politics and fried cow intestines, or tripas.

A lot of her childhood was spent campaigning for her parents, and backyard barbecues were a...

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Mr. Douglas Michael Waters

Jaime Chahin

Jaime Chahin  

Political & Civic Engagement

By: Voces Staff

Jaime Chahin is an advocate for educational equality in Texas. He was the lead witness in the LULAC v Richards case in 1987 that dealt with educational inequality in the South Texas/Border region. He is now a Dean at Texas...

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Olga Tobías Charles

Olga Tobías Charles - Voces Oral History Project  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Voces Staff

In the spring of 1970, Olga Charles was a senior at Uvalde High School in South Texas. With just a few weeks before graduation, she was preparing to follow her mother’s career advice: Go to business school and become a...

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Anna Casey

Francisco Cigarroa

Francisco Cigarroa  

Political & Civic Engagement

Growing up on the Texas-Mexico border, Francisco Cigarroa developed an understanding that would prepare him to become the first Latino chancellor of the University of Texas System, which allowed him to put into play the creation of the University...

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Yenibel Ruiz

Carmen Danna

Carmen Danna Voces - Oral History Project  

Political & Civic Engagement

By: Voces Staff

Carmen Danna was born in San Antonio, TX and grew up in Devine, TX. As a former elementary school teacher she experienced different forms of discrimination throughout her life. She reflects on her...

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Natalie Venegas

Hector De Leon

 

Political & Civic Engagement

Austin attorney Hector De Leon considers himself lucky to have been born in Austin and raised in East Austin.

“Without being born in Austin, Texas, I wouldn’t have been able to go to college,” he said.

He grew up not far from the...

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Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Hector De Peña

Hector De Peña  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Anita Rice

Hector De Peña never saw any action on the battlefield during World War II. He never stormed the beach at Normandy, never liberated the prisoners of Europe's concentration camps and never fired upon the Japanese or Germans....

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Karla Gonzalez

Rosalio Rabbit Duran

Rosalio\Rabbit\"Duran"  

Korean Conflict, Political & Civic Engagement

By Katy Lutz

Rabbit's Lounge was a dimly-lit, tiny bar that boycotted Budweiser while serving up some of the coldest beer in Austin, Texas. It might have seemed a very unlikely candidate for the Austin hub of Chicano politics in the early...

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Katy Lutz

Charlie Ericksen

Charlie Ericksen, interviewed at the Voces Oral History Project office, University of Texas at Austin on February 27, 2010.  

Korean Conflict, Political & Civic Engagement

By Jordan Strassner

Charlie Ericksen spent most of his adult life creating a strong bond with Mexican-Americans, writing news stories and columns about them, and advocating for better treatment for that community.

During his...

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Frank Trejo

Mark Escamilla

Mark Escamilla  

Political & Civic Engagement

By: Voces Staff

Mark Escamilla, who is the current President of Del Mar Community College grew up in Corpus Christi and attended college there himself. When he was of college age, the court case LULAC v. Richards was in progress and...

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Elizabeth Quinn Phelan

Mary Espiritu

 

World War II, Political & Civic Engagement

By Rebecca Millner

In more than 40 years of service, Mary Espiritu De Leon received at least 45 awards and honors, recognizing her commitment to San Antonio's Latino community, and especially its women.

Her role as a spokeswoman and...

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Stephen Casanova

Diana Fernandez

Diana Fernandez  

Political & Civic Engagement

Diana Fernandez was born in 1950 in Corpus Christi, Texas. She grew up in a newly developed, integrated neighbored designed to serve people working at the Navy base. Pursuing higher education was not a continuous topic of discussion in Fernandez’...

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Brittany Mendez

Blandina Cardenas Flores

Blandina Cardenas Flores - Voces Oral History Project  

Political & Civic Engagement

By the Voces Staff

Former University of Texas-Pan American president Blandina “Bambi” Cardenas Flores found her life’s purpose at a very early age: working to provide quality education to students, no matter their ethnicity or their...

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Nathalia Hernandez

Iris Galvan

Iris Galvan - Voces Oral History Project  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Rebecca Chavoya

An old Hispanic man pushed a tamale cart down the streets of Rosenberg, Texas, in 1974. Iris Galvan, 18-year-old high school student and member of Juventud Unida, approached him with a warm, welcoming demeanor.

“...

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Rebecca Chavoya

Dr. Juliet Villareal Garcia

Dr. Juliet Villareal Garcia 1  

Political & Civic Engagement

Juliet Garcia forged her own way into the all-male “club” of Texas community college presidents to become president of Brownsville’s Texas Southmost College in 1986.

Eventually, she would become the president of the University of Texas at...

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Chelsea Moreno

Carolyn Jean Garcia

Carolyn Garcia  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Alexandra Cannon

Carolyn Garcia has lived by the words her father shared with her when she was only a child: "God gave you a voice. And if you don't talk for yourself or for others, then what good was it that he gave you a voice? You...

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Alexandra Cannon

Maria R. Garcia

 

Political & Civic Engagement

By the time her husband began pushing the idea of greater participation by Mexican Americans in her small South Texas town, Maria Ramirez Garcia had developed a strong and broad network of contacts who could support the effort.

Garcia was...

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Joseph Garcia

Josué "George" Garza

Josué George Garza - Voces Oral History Project  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Taylor Gantt

In 1970, George Garza was a popular middle school teacher in Uvalde, Texas. But when the school board repeatedly declined to renew his contract, he became a central figure in a six-week school walkout that changed the small...

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Prakriti Bhardwaj

Federico Garza Jr.

Federico Garza Jr.  

Political & Civic Engagement

By: Voces Staff

Federico Garza recalls his early childhood life. Garza grew up on a rural farm, seven miles north of Mission. He described his early life as selling tomatoes on the side of the road and getting into trouble. Growing up in...

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Chris Touma

Margaret Juárez Gómez

Margaret Gomez - Voces Oral History Project  

Political & Civic Engagement

By the Voces staff

Margaret J. Gómez credits her early political awareness to her father. He was a Mexican immigrant with little education, but he closely followed political and world events.

“He read the newspaper from cover to...

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Arnold Garcia

Jack Greenberg

 

Political & Civic Engagement

By Samantha Gallion

Jack Greenberg had been working with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for 17 years in 1966, when he received repeated requests from Mexican Americans and Native Americans.

“We had...

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Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Gabriel Gutierrez

 

Political & Civic Engagement

A lawyer for a landmark Texas desegregation case in the 1970s, Gabriel Gutierrez Jr. made contributions that brought important changes for Latinos’ access to public education.

Gutierrez was born Jan. 10, 1938, in Austin, Texas. His mother...

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Chris Hummer

Jose Angel Gutierrez

Jose Angel Gutierrez  

Political & Civic Engagement

By: Voces Staff

In the early 1960s Latino people in Texas had to be 21 years old and pay a poll tax to vote. Gutiérrez says, Latino people just didn’t vote. Later in the decade the poll tax was eliminated and the voting age was lowered as...

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Mario Castro-Villarreal

Lencho Hernandez

Lencho Hernandez  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Paige More

Retired labor organizer Lawrence "Lencho" Hernandez is still haunted by his elementary school principal's big green disciplinary paddle. That paddle would snap him in a direction that he would later regret.

"I had...

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Paige More

Ed Idar

Portrait of Ed Idar.  

World War II, Political & Civic Engagement

By Liliana Martinez

When Ed Idar was a teenager living in Buenos Aires, a neighborhood in Laredo, Texas, he never thought he’d volunteer as a civilian for Station X in England, and go to India and China while in the Army.

"I came to...

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Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez

Albert Henry Kauffman

Al Kauffman  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Amayeli Arnal-Reveles

Al Kauffman's middle-class background, attending segregated schools in Galveston, Texas, might not have seemed to prepare him for a role in Mexican American civil rights. But other aspects of his life - he was a...

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Amayeli Arnal-Reveles

George J Korbel

George Korbel  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Vinicio Sinta

For George Joseph Korbel, going back to Pearsall, Texas, a city about 55 miles southwest of San Antonio, unearthed memories of a time when Mexican American and black Texans were almost completely excluded from the...

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Mr. Vinicio Sinta

Mario Lewis

Mario Lewis  

Political & Civic Engagement

In high school in El Paso, TX, Mario Lewis was told to forget college, that he “could not compete with Anglos,” recalled Lewis, a Mexican American. But others saw promise in Lewis as he became active in the Junior League of United Latin American...

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Teresa Lozano Long

Teresa Lozano Long  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Lindsay Fitzpatrick

Growing up on her parents’ dairy farm in South Texas, Teresa Lozano Long learned the importance of education and philanthropy early in life.

“My parents believed that you went to school everyday,” Lozano Long...

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Brenda Sendejo

Eleazar M. Lugo

Eleazar Lugo - Voces Oral History Project  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Anusha Lalani

As the son of migrant farm workers, Eleazar Lugo might not have seemed a likely leader of a six-week school walkout in Uvalde, Texas. But in April of 1970, only a few weeks...

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Jorge Haynes

Frances Rodriguez Luna

Frances Luna  

Political & Civic Engagement

By Joan Vinson

Politics in small-town Texas were very different when Frances Luna was young. Back in the days of the poll tax, politicians would offer to cover the fee to encourage local residents to vote for them.

Luna said that...

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Joan Vinson

Arturo Madrid

 

Political & Civic Engagement

By: Voces Staff

Arturo Madrid recalls his involvement in the South Texas Border Initiative. Madrid hosted the community groups that were also involved in the South Texas Border Initiative and wanted to establish various goals that would...

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Scarlett Gamiz