Oral history interview with José Plata, 1998 [videorecording].

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Oral history interview with José Plata, 1998 [videorecording].

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/49834826

The interview begins with a discussion regarding Mexican American leadership, ethnic tensions, the importance of education, and Plata's role as one of the first openly gay elected officials in Dallas. He reviews gay/lesbian political and social issues and talks about his involvement as a political activist in the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance as well as the political difficulties he experienced in his bid for election to the Dallas Board of Education due to the public's knowledge about his sexual orientation. After describing his family's genealogy and geographical origins, Plata talks about the importance of education for his family and that it is the number one most important issue for Mexican Americans. He describes his political involvement as a student representative to the National Education Association(NEA) and with the creation of the Department of Education during the Carter administration. Plata discusses Dallas School Board elections and internal politics as well as his campaign style, financing, and management. He talks extensively about the internal political problems between the ethnic groups that made up the Dallas School Board and the numerous corruption scandals in the late 1990's involving some members of the Board and the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Yvonne Rodriguez. He concludes by stating that Dallas School Board politics is so corrupt that educational improvement and student welfare is severely compromised.

1 videocassette (VHS) (1 hr., 35 min.) : col. ; 1/2 in.Transcript : 31 p. ; 28 cm.

University of Texas at Arlington, Central Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 7614449

University of Texas at Arlington, Central Library

Related Entities

There are 9 Entities related to this resource.

University of Texas at Arlington. Center for Mexican American Studies

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63c6s61 (corporateBody)

Plata, José,

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61c5w9m (person)

Born in 1954. Reared and educated in Cunningham, Texas in Southeast Lamar County. Plata was an educator and was first elected to the Dallas Independent School District Board of Education in 1996. He received his B.A. in 1978 from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas and later received his bilingual education certification from East Texas State University at Commerce. From the description of Oral history interview with José Plata, 1998 [videorecording]. (University of Texas at A...

Plata family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63v3g26 (person)

Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63j9zxc (corporateBody)

Dallas Independent School District (Tex.). Board of Education

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n93wz8 (corporateBody)

États-Unis. Dept. of Education

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67h5fw3 (corporateBody)

A Department of Education, headed by a Commissioner, was established by an act of March 2, 1867. It was abolished as an independent agency on July 20, 1868, and reestablished as the Office of Education in the Department of Interior. The original statutory function of both the Department and the Office was to collect and desseminate information on education in the United States and abroad and to promote better education throughout the country. Later legislation and Executive orders h...

National education association of the United States

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nk78cg (corporateBody)

Rodriguez, Yvonne.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rj8h1v (person)

Gutiérrez, José Angel,

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62r404b (person)

José Angel Gutierrez was born Oct. 25, 1944, in Crystal City, Texas. An activist, educator, organizer, and lawyer, Gutierrez co-founded the La Raza Unida Party and played many leadership roles in the early Chicano civil rights movement. He served as President of the Crystal City Independent School District Board in the early 1970s and as a County Judge for Zavala County, Tex. (1975-1980). In the 1980s, Gutierrez pursued a teaching career and moved to Oregon where he taught at Colegio Cesar Chav...