Olga Peña
(51 pages)
Listen to the interview
Biography:
Olga Peña was born Olga Ramos in 1925 and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She studied Folklórico dance and graduated from San Antonio 'Tech' (Fox Technical High School) in 1943. She earned an Associate's Degree from San Antonio College, and attended both Draughn's Business College and St. Mary's University. She was a member of the auxiliary of the American G.I. Forum and was the first Mexican American to join the Bexar County Democratic Women's Club, serving as treasurer. She actively worked on campaigns for major democratic candidates and organized the political campaigns of her husband, Albert Peña, prior to their divorce in 1972. She worked with the Mexican American Unity Council (MAUC) and was a member of the boards of the Wolverine Council, the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG), and the Bexar County Child Welfare Board.
Interview Summary:
Olga Pen~a begins with her family background and her early life and expresses her passion for performing traditional Mexican American dance, Ballet Folklo´rico, in San Antonio, Texas. She talks of the discrimination she and her former husband, Albert Pen~a, faced during their years in Houston and Pasadena, Texas before their return to San Antonio. She talks about their investigation of school discrimination in Hondo and Mathis, Texas. She refers to Albert Pen~a's campaign for state representative against Ray T. Felixson in the early 1950s, his run for Bexar County Commissioner in 1956, and his involvement in the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). She discusses her grass roots campaigning, the poll tax, and the intimidation aimed at preventing Mexican American voter registration. She discusses their involvement in the American G.I. Forum and the Democratic conventions in the 1960s, and comments on Henry B. Gonzales, Adlai Stevenson, and her husband's law partner African American G. J. Sutton.
Locations of residence or activity:
Houston, Pasadena, San Antonio
Interview Date:
4/14/1997