Activists for Hispanic and Latino American civil rights

Raúl R. Salinas (March 17, 1934 - February 13, 2008), better known by his pen name raúlrsalinas, was a Chicano pinto poet, memoirist, social activist, and prison journalist. Much of raúlrsalinas' writing was grounded in arguments for social justice and human rights. He was an early pioneer of Chicano pinto (prisoner) poetry and is notable for his use of vernacular, bilingual, and free verse aesthetics.Alongside Ricardo Sánchez, Judy Lucero, Luis Talamantez, and Jimmy Santiago Baca, raúlrsalinas sought to make prisoners' rights a more central focus of the Chicano Movement. Incarcerated for over a decade (1959–1972) for carrying a small amount of marijuana, raúlrsalinas wrote extensively while in prison, including essays, letters, prose, and journalism, the vast majority which is now held at Stanford University. raúlrsalinas' work extended beyond his prison writing, focusing also on his Xicanindio (indigenous identified Chicano) heritage and his politics as a Latino internationalist. According to Oxford University, raúlrsalinas "transformed elements of the American literary canon."

Raul Loya (born Raul Bejarano Loya; 30 June 1938 – 1 April 2015) was a Mexican-American workers' rights activist, known for his association with Cesar Chavez and the National Farm Workers Association.

Ernesto Galarza (August 15, 1905 – June 22, 1984) was a Mexican-American labor organizer, activist, professor, poet, writer, storyteller, and a key figure in the history of immigrant farmworker organization in California. He had a dream of giving better living conditions to working-class Latinos.

Carlos Flores Truan Sr. (June 9, 1935 – April 10, 2012), was an American businessman from Corpus Christi, Texas, who served for thirty-four years as a Democrat in both houses of the Texas Legislature. He was a state representative from 1969 to 1977 and a senator from 1977 until his retirement in 2003.

Eloisa Garcia Tamez (born March 2, 1935) is an American civil rights leader, lecturer, professional nurse, professor and retired officer of the United States Army's Nursing Corps. She is a prominent opponent and litigant against the Texas-Mexico border wall. She self-identifies as being of Lipan Apache descent.

Virgilio P. Elizondo (August 28, 1935 – March 14, 2016) was a Mexican-American Catholic priest and community activist, who was also a leading scholar of liberation theology and Hispanic theology. He was widely regarded as "the father of U.S. Latino religious thought."Elizondo was the founder of the Pastoral Institute at the University of the Incarnate Word. He was also a co-founder of the Mexican-American Cultural Center, a think tank for scholars and religious leaders to develop pastoral ministry and theology from a Hispanic perspective. (It has since become the Mexican American Catholic College.) Elizondo was also well known for his book, Galilean Journey: The Mexican-American Promise, which examined the similarities between Jesus' Galilean background and the mestizo experience.

Alicia Escalante is a Chicana activist who was active during the Chicano Movement. She was the founder and chair of the East Los Angeles Chicana Welfare Rights Organization from 1967 to 1978.

Rueben Martinez (born April 26, 1940 in Miami, Arizona) is an American activist and businessman. He is active in Democratic party politics and runs a barbershop and a Latino-focused bookstore in Santa Ana, California.

Mario Guerra Obledo (April 9, 1932 – August 18, 2010) was an American civil rights leader. He was called the "Godfather of the Latino Movement" in the United States, credited with establishing numerous civic institutions and bringing Latino interests into the center of the U.S. political arena. He also served as California's Secretary of Health and Welfare from 1975 to 1982.