Maggie Trejo became the first Mexican American woman to serve on Lubbock’s city council in 1984 and represented SMD 1 until 1993. Her colleague on the city council, T.J. Patterson was the first African American man to the city council as well. During the 1970s and 1980s, many local towns in the South Plains and the broader west Texas region launched campaigns and lawsuits to change their electoral system from at-large to single-member districts.
Trejo was born in Nebraska but raised in Lubbock and attended Texas Tech University. She became a Lubbock resident in 1945 and attended Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church. Community members knew Trejo as a “family-oriented” woman. From 1978-1980, Trejo worked as an analyst and administrative aide for state Rep. Froy Salinas. When Trejo launched her grassroots campaign for SMD 1, she served on the Transit Advisory Board and worked as a real estate broker. Trejo was on the city council from 1984 to 1993, which she resigned to work as a communtiy representative for U.S. Representative Bill Sarpalius.
In 1997, the city of Lubbock recognized Trejo by naming a community center on her behalf — the Maggie Trejo Supercenter — to preserve Trejo’s legacy in Lubbock.
Lubbock_Evening_Journal_Thu__Apr_12__1984_-768x745 PDF
| Title | “City Council, Mayor leads pleages of harmony” |
|---|---|
| Date | April 12, 1984 |
| Source | Lubbock Avalanche- Journal |
Lubbock_Evening_Journal_Wed__Apr_11__1984_-1-768x682 PDF
| Title | “One Man’s Opinion, Making It Work” |
|---|---|
| Date | April 11, 1984 |
| Source | Kenneth May, Lubbock Evening Journal |