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Who WE Are

Launched in 2019, the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI) is the only national history museum dedicated to preserving and sharing Mexican American civil rights history. Located in San Antonio, Texas, the cradle of Mexican American civil rights, we are creating a national destination to learn about Mexican American civil rights history, including our rich local history as the birthplace of many significant Mexican American civil rights organizations and leaders, as well as the larger national story of Mexican American civil rights endeavors across the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the New South, and beyond. MACRI has an ambitious plan to house significant historical archives and collections, preserve the legacy of Mexican American civil rights endeavors for generations to come, and offer an unparalleled opportunity for the public to learn about this vital history.

The Macri Team
Sarah Zenaida Gould, PhD
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
(She | Her | Hers)
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Mariana Pasillas
PUBLIC PROGRAMS MANAGER
(She | Her | Hers)
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Angela TOrres-Lopez
OFFICE MANAGER
(She | Her | Hers)
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Board Members

MACRI is fortunate to have a group of talented and nationally recognized civic leaders and scholars with expertise in the areas of higher education, bilingual education, K-12 and higher education administration, early childhood development, fund development and civil rights history. With a combined professional experience of more than 200 years, the Board also includes members with experience in research and evaluation, organizational design and implementation, marketing, health, and museum curating. Board members also have experience in managing large systems and institutions as well as establishing new organizations, and have led and served on local, state and national boards that advocate for equal rights in the areas of historical preservation, good government, immigration, civil right, voting rights and equal educational opportunity.

Rosie Castro
BOARD CHAIR

Consultant
San Antonio, Texas

Gilberto S. Ocañas
VICE CHAIR

Chief Executive Officer
Ocañas Group
San Antonio, Texas

Olga Garza Kauffman
SECRETARY

Health Consultant
San Antonio, Texas

Celina Peña
TREASURER

President
IN/TEND
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Bill Avila
MEMBER

Owner
Avila Law PLLC
San Antonio, Texas

Marisa Bono, J.D.
MEMBER

Chief Executive Officer
Every Texan
San Antonio, Texas

Robert Garza, PhD
MEMBER

President
Alamo Colleges District –
Palo Alto College
San Antonio, Texas

Ezequiel Peña, PhD
MEMBER

Associate Professor
Our Lady of the Lake University
San Antonio, Texas

Stephen Pitti, PhD
MEMBER

Professor of History and of American Studies; Director, Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity and Transnational Migration
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut

Gloria Rodriguez, PhD
MEMBER

Founder, Former President/CEO
AVANCE
San Antonio, Texas

Lilliana Patricia Saldaña, PhD
MEMBER

Associate Professor and Program Director Mexican American Studies Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department
University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas

NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL
Gilberto S. Ocañas

Chair
San Antonio, Texas

Erika Prosper

Vice-Chair
San Antonio, Texas

Cecilia Elizondo Herrera

Member
San Antonio, Texas

Nora Dempsey

Member
Washington, DC

Victor Miramontes

Member
San Antonio, Texas

SCHOLARS COUNCIL
Stephen Pitti, PhD

Professor
Yale University

Mike Amezcua, PhD

Associate Professor
Georgetown University

Maria Cotera, PhD

Associate Professor
University of Texas at Austin

Mark Ocegueda, PhD

Assistant Professor
Brown University

Kathryn Blackmer Reyes

Librarian
San Jose State University

Gilberto Cardenas, PhD

Professor Emeritus
University of Notre Dame

Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, PhD

Associate Professor
University of Texas at Austin

George Sanchez, PhD

Professor
University of Southern California

Tey Mariana Nunn, PhD

Associate Director of Content and Interpretation
National Museum of the American Latino, Smithsonian Institution

Carolina A. Villarroel, PhD

Director of Research; Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literacy Heritage Program
University of Houston

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Sarah Zenaida Gould, PhD
She | Her | Hers

Sarah Zenaida Gould, Ph.D. is Executive Director of the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI), an emerging national museum collecting and disseminating Mexican American civil rights history based in San Antonio, Texas. A longtime museum worker and public historian, she has curated over a dozen exhibits on history, art, and culture. Before joining MACRI, she was founding director of the Museo del Westside, a community participatory museum housed at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center’s Rinconcito de Esperanza in San Antonio’s Westside, the historic center of Mexican American San Antonio. In 2019, her visionary work for the Museo earned her the “crown” at the biennial Reimagining the Museum: Conference of the Americas held in Oaxaca, Mexico. Prior to launching the Museo, Gould was the lead curatorial researcher at the Institute of Texan Cultures, a museum dedicated to telling the stories of Texas’ diverse cultures. While at ITC she curated exhibits on a range of topics from fashion to folklife and toys to Tejanos, and guest curated Bexar County’s tricentennial exhibit “Nuestra Historia – Our History: Spain in Bexar County,” featuring maps and documents from the Archivo General de las Indias in Seville, Spain.

Outside of museum work, Gould is a noted preservationist. She is co-founder and former co-chair of Latinos in Heritage Conservation, a national organization that promotes historic preservation within Latino communities and advocates for the protection of Latino tangible and intangible heritage, at local, state, and national levels. She frequently speaks on topics related to historic preservation and representation of Latino histories, serves as an Advisor to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and is a member of the Westside Preservation Alliance, a coalition dedicated to promoting and preserving the working-class architecture of San Antonio’s Westside.  Additionally, she serves on the boards of the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, the fundraising arm of Texas’ state historic preservation office, and Texans for the Arts, a non-partisan statewide arts advocacy organization. She formerly served on the boards of the American Association of State and Local History, El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association, San Anto Cultural Arts, and the South Texas Popular Culture Center.

Gould received a BA in American Studies from Smith College and an MA and PhD in American Culture from the University of Michigan. She also holds a certificate in Philanthropic and Fundraising Administration from NYU’s School of Continuing Studies. She is a former fellow at the National Museum of American History, the Winterthur Museum, and the American Antiquarian Society, and is an alumna of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Leadership Institute.

 Her publications include “Latinos in Heritage Conservation: Establishing a National Vision for American Latinos and Historic Preservation” in Bending the Future: Fifty Ideas for the Next Fifty Years of Historic Preservation in America (University of Massachusetts Press, 2016); “A Fair to Remember: HemisFair ‘68,” in 300 Years of San Antonio and Bexar County (Trinity University Press, 2018); and “Field Guide to the Westside,” in Vernacular Architecture of San Antonio and its Environs (Texas A & M University Press, 2021).

 Gould is a native Tejana and the descendant of farmers and farmworkers. Her maternal grandparents were active members of LULAC.

PUblic programs manager

Mariana Pasillas
She | Her | Hers

Mariana Pasillas is the Program Manager at the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI) in San Antonio, Texas. She is a San Antonio native who recently graduated from UT-San Antonio with a bachelor’s degree in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations. Mariana has worked for many nonprofits in San Antonio, including Conjunto Heritage Taller, Witte Museum, and KLRN.

She is passionate about storytelling that sparks connection, creativity, and community. Her Mexican-American identity fuels her passion for telling others’ stories like hers. Mariana is excited to now help tell MACRI’s story.

In her free time, Mariana loves listening to live music, reading, and traveling. Her favorite band is The Marias, her favorite book is Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and her favorite place to visit is Mexico City.

office manager

Angela Torres-Lopez
She | Her | Hers

Angela Torres-Lopez is the Office Manager at the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI) in San Antonio, Texas. A native San Antonian with deep family roots in the city, Angela brings a background in technology, family and community engagement, and project coordination to her work at MACRI.
Her connection to MACRI feels deeply personal. Her maternal grandparents were active at the Guadalupe Community Center on the Westside, where her grandfather taught community members to make leather wallets and acrylic keychains, while her grandmother, Lita, taught sewing and created costumes for Rosita Fernández and other participants in Fiesta Noche del Rio, who danced when flamenco guitarist Willie “El Curro” Champion played.
Her mother and other family members also took dance classes there. Angela grew up hearing stories about her grandparents’ involvement, and she spent Holy Week visiting Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine, where her great-grandfather, a carpenter, helped build the altar.
Angela has long been fascinated by people’s stories and the details of their lives. As a child, she remembers reading newspaper obituaries and enjoyed learning where people came from and how their lives unfolded. That curiosity has stayed with her, and she is excited to be part of MACRI’s work preserving the stories and memories of Mexican American communities while reconnecting with places that hold deep meaning for her family.
Angela holds a B.S. in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics from St. Mary’s University. Her professional experience includes Southwest Research Institute, her father’s CPA practice, and several roles with the San Antonio Independent School District. For nearly two decades, she was a stay-at-home mother to her three sons, a chapter of her life that kept her deeply connected to family and her local communities. These experiences have shaped the organizational, technical, and people-centered perspective she brings to her work at MACRI.