Jackson, H. Joaquin, 1935-

Joaquin Jackson was born in Anton, Texas in 1935 to Anglo-American parents who gave him his Hispanic name. He attended West Texas State College in Canyon, Texas on a basketball scholarship and earned a bachelor of science degree from Sul Ross State University. In 1957, he completed his training for the Texas Highway Patrol (THP, under the Department of Public Safety) and worked for THP for nine years until he entered the service of Texas Rangers Company D in April, 1966 in Uvalde, Texas. As a Texas Ranger, his role in upholding the law to ensure fair local elections was key to the overwhelming victory of the Raza Unida Party candidates in Uvalde in 1972. He settled in Alpine, Texas in 1987, retired from the Texas Rangers in 1993, and ran a private investigations company. He has appeared in several motion pictures playing character roles and has written books on his work with the Texas Rangers. He is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and was elected to its board of directors in 2001.

José Angel Gutiérrez graduated from Crystal City High School in 1962 where he was was high school class president when he began becoming involved in politics and the Chicano movement in his hometown of Crystal City. He attended Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde, Texas, and served in the United States Armed Forces before he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Texas A&I University-Kingsville in 1966, a Master of Arts in Government from St. Mary's Univerrsity in San Antonio in 1968, a Ph.D. in Government from the University of Texas at Austin in 1976, and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Houston in 1988. Dr. Gutiérrez served as a member and president of the board of trustees for the Crystal City Independent School District, as Urban Renewal Commissioner for Crystal City. He served as Zavala County Judge from 1974-1981, as Administrative Law Judge for the City of Dallas from 1990-1992. He is the author of many books on the Mexican American struggle for civil rights and was instrumental in the founding of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO), the Mexican American Unity Council (MAUC), Ciudadanos Unidos, and the Raza Unida Party, and served as state treasurer of the Mexican American Democrats of Texas (MAD). He has been a professor of political science at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) since 1993 and founded the Center for Mexican American Studies.