DONNA MOBLEY

1941-1994

Reminiscences & Accomplishments

A Guide to the Steve Russell and

Donna Mobley Papers, 1959-1992

BRISCO CENTER FOR AMERICAN HISTORY

University of Texas at Austin

Descriptive Summary

Creator: Russell, Steve, and Mobley, Donna, 19411994

Title: Russell, Steve, and Mobley, Donna, Papers

Dates: 19591992

Abstract: Comprised of correspondence, newspaper clippings, meeting minutes, teaching materials, campaign brochures, printed materials, and notes.

The Steve Russell and Donna Mobley Papers, 19591992, document Russell’s career as a lawyer, activist, and trial court judge and his wife Donna Mobley’s

career as a union organizer and activist.

Biographical Notes

Born in Bristow, Oklahoma, Steve Russell, a member of the Cherokee Nation, completed both his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Texas at Austin in 1972 and 1975, respectively. In addition to serving in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, Russell was a trial court judge in Austin, Texas, from 1978 to 1994. Having taught as a professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Indiana University, Bloomington, Russell has researched legal and social issues of Native American communities and transnational corporate crime.

Russell’s wife Donna Mobley (19411994) received her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin. A civil rights activist and union organizer in New York City, Mobley worked for the AFLCIO. She also taught Trade Union Women’s Studies courses at Cornell University’s New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Donna Mobley’s Papers include her materials as a union organizer and activist. Newspaper clippings, printed materials relating to Mobley’s concern for women’s rights issues, women’s labor issues, workshops, and unions, and shed light on her involvement in the AFLCIO, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, the Manhattan Women’s Political Caucus, and other nonprofit organizations in New York City and Austin, Texas.

Donna also wrote articles concerning the Texas Farm Worker’s Strike for The Rag, Austin’s underground newspaper.

Items included pertain to Mobley’s work at Cornell University’s State School of Industrial and Labor Relations include teaching materials on course development and teaching techniques, while correspondence discusses Mobley’s move from New York to Texas. In addition, the collection contains Mobley’s meeting minutes from the Ethics

Review Commission in Austin.

Donna Mobley worked as the Assistant Education Director for the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. During her time in Texas, Mobley served as the Executive Director of Common Cause, the Public Servant Standards of Conduct Advisory Committee, and the Central Texas Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. She was the Election Administrator for the Travis County Democratic Party (19831984).

Source:

Preferred Citation

Steve Russell and Donna Mobley Papers, 19591992,

Dolph Briscoe

Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

Processing Information

Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with

funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission

(NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s "History Revealed: Bringing

Collections to Light" project, 20092011.

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