Canales, Alma, 1947-

Alma Gloria Canales was born in 1947 in Rosita, Texas and raised in Edinburg, Texas, graduating from Edinburgh High School in 1965. She attended Pan American University on a journalism scholarship from the 'Edinburg Daily Review," and worked as a reporter. In 1969, she worked with the Colorado Migrant Council, and studied in Mexico City through the Colegio Jacinto Trevino. Shortly after her 1972 campaign as the first Mexican American and first woman to run for lieutenant governor of Texas, she married Louis Steven Espinoza, whom she later divorced. She was an active member of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) and a Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) Minority Mobilization volunteer. She worked with the Southwest Council of La Raza and was an organizer of the Raza Unida Party state headquarters in Austin. She was a member of the League of Women Voters, the Waco Peacemakers' Alliance, and district deputy director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). She organized a bilingual Head Start program in Waco and served as vice president for the Hispanic Women's Network and the Mexican American Democrats of Texas (MAD).

From the description of Oral history interview with Alma Canales, 1997 [videorecording]. (University of Texas at Arlington). WorldCat record id: 320956910