VIP'S of CIVIL RIGHTS

William Perry Clements Jr. was twice governor of Texas as a Republican.

After making his fortune in crude oil, Clements also served as Deputy Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Board of Governors.

In a surprising upset, Republican Bill Clements was narrowly elected over Democrat State Attorney General John Luke Hill, winning 50% of the vote to Hill's 49%.

James Leonard Farmer Jr. was a civil rights activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement.

He pushed for nonviolent protest to dismantle segregation, and served alongside Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1942, Farmer organized the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Chicago.

Raul A. Gonzalez retired as a Justice of the Texas Supreme Court after 14 years of service on that court.

He served as Justice of the Texas 13th Court of Appeals, and Presiding Judge of Texas 103rd District Court, for a total of 20 years in the judiciary.

Raul A. Gonzalez, Jr., the first Hispanic appointed or elected to statewide office in Texas.

As U.S. Secretary of State and White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush.

He served as White House Chief of Staff and United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Ronald Reagan.

James Addison Baker III is an American attorney and political figure.

Lyndon Baines Johnson was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969.

Formerly the 37th vice president of the United States, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

He is remembered for his "Great Society" social service programs, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and expanding U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Henry Barbosa González was a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Texas.

He who represented Texas's 20th congressional district from 1961 to 1999.

Henry B. Gonzalez was the first Mexican American elected to the Texas Senate, in 1956.

He was the founder of the American G.I. Forum.

The G.I. Forum is a Congressionally chartered Hispanic veterans and civil rights organization founded in 1948.

Hector Perez Garcia was a Mexican-American physician, surgeon, and World War II veteran

Raymond L. Telles Jr. was the first Mexican-American Mayor of a major American city, El Paso, Texas.

He was also the first Hispanic appointed as a U.S. ambassador.

Born in El Paso and educated as an accountant, Telles worked at the United States Department of Justice for eight years.

Barbara Charline Jordan was an American lawyer, educator and politician who was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement.

A Democrat, she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction.

She was also the first Southern African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives.

Lulu Belle Madison White was a teacher and civil rights activist in Texas during the 1940s and 1950s.

n 1939, White was named as the president of the Houston chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

She was executive secretary of the branch in 1943.

Oveta Culp Hobby was the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

She was the first director of the Women's Army Corps, and a chairperson of the board of the Houston Post.

Oveta Culp Hobby worked to organize a women's support section for the Army, and through her efforts, more than 150,000 women served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.