Alma Canales
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alma Canales (born 1947) is an American organizer and activist best known for being the first and only Chicana, and the only Mexican-American, to run for lieutenant governor of Texas[1][2] before Linda Chavez-Thompson in 2010 and Leticia Van de Putte in 2014. In the 1970s, she actively participated in the Chicano movement as a member of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) and as an organizer in the Raza Unida Party (RUP).[2]
Canales was born in Rosita, Texas, to migrant parents and raised in Edinburg, Texas.[1] Her family claimed ties to the land long before the United States annexed Texas in 1845.[1] All family members worked as migrant farm workers during the summers, and their work took them seasonally from West Texas to Michigan.[1] From a young age, Canales witnessed discriminatory practices in West Texas toward migrant workers.[1]
The itinerant life of her farm working family made it difficult to establish a track record in school. However, Canales persevered to graduate from Edinburg High School in 1965 and received a journalism scholarship from the Edinburg Daily Review to attend University of Texas Pan American.[2]
