The College of Liberal and Fine Arts (COLFA) at the University of Texas at San Antonio was established in 2000, following a restructuring of the university. As of June 2009, the college comprises eleven departments: Anthropology, Art and Art History, Communication, Philosophy and Classics, English, History, Modern Languages and Literatures, Music, Political Science and Geography, Psychology, and Sociology.
The College of Liberal and Fine Arts Oral History Program provides a unique opportunity for select students to conduct original oral history research. Students must be upper division undergraduate studnets enrolled in majors in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts (COLFA) at UTSA to be eligible for the program.
COLFA Oral History Program students are trained in oral history research methodology and practice. Students meet with their faculty mentor on a weekly basis and complete a process paper when the project is finished. Complete oral history projects are deposited in the UTSA Archives.
The collection consists of correspondence, release forms, oral history recordings on audiocassette and interview transcripts.
Original audiovisual materials are closed to patron use.
This collection is housed at UTSA's Main Campus and must be accessed via the John Peace Library Special Collections reading room. To request access, please use the
The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.
Donation from University of Texas at San Antonio College of Liberal and Fine Arts in 2005-2006 (Acc. 2007-124).
The collection is in one accession (Acc. 2007-124) and has been encoded by Nikki Lynn Thomas, Manuscripts Curator. More detailed processing is not anticipated at this time.
[Identification of item], UTSA College of Liberal and Fine Arts Oral History Program Collection, MS 314, University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections.
Black was born in San Antonio on Nov. 28, 1916, the son of a Pullman porter and a housewife. After graduating from then-Douglass High School in 1933, he enrolled at St. Philip’s College. Black earned a bachelor’s degree in 1937 from Morehouse College. He served as pastor of Mount Zion First Baptist Church from 1949 until he retired in 1998 where he was a major force in ending segregation at lunch counters, theaters and other public accommodations in San Antonio. Black served on the San Antonio City Council from 1973 to 1977 and was its first black mayor pro-tem.
Source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/obituaries/Rev_Claude_Black_dies_at_age_92.html (Accessed July 1, 2009).
Topics: childhood, segregation, racism, unions, career, Mt. Zion Baptist Church (San Antonio, Tex.)
Brennan has a B.A. from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio and has does graduate study work in library science. She worked for the City of San Antonio's Parks and Recreation Department managing city landmarks. Brennan is an active member of numerous genealogical societies, including a role as President of the San Antonio Genealogical and Historical Society from 1999-2003. She has presented programs of genealogical interest regionally, and has published articles in the San Antonio Genealogical and Historical Society's Our Heritage and the Texas State Genealogical Society's publication
Topics: Genealogy, local genealogical societies and projects
Castro, and his twin brother Joaquin, were born to Rosie Castro, a San Antonio community activist, in 1975. He is a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School, in San Antonio. Castro earned his undergraduate from Stanford in 1996 and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2000. In 2001 he was elected, the youngest person ever, to the San Antonio City Council. In 2005 Castro ran an unsuccessful campaign for San Antonio Mayor, but was successful in 2009.
Topics: Education, politics, career
Flores grew up in a Texas migrant worker family in Atascosa County. She graduated Fox Tech High School in San Antonio. After working in a civil service job for the Army, she earned an undergraduate degree in sociology from St. Mary's University and a master's degree in community organizing from the University of Michigan in 1972. She returned to south Texas in 1973 and began working for the United Farm Workers. Cesar Chavez appointed Flores state director in 1975. In her work with UFW, Flores has organized farm workers, provided services, led boycotts and union political campaigns, and lobbied the Texas Legislature, winning enactment of important legislation on workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, field sanitation, minimum wage, pesticide right-to-know and abolition of the short-handled hoe.
Topics: childhood, activism, unions, women's rights, Cesar Chavez, United Farm Workers