Background
Lucy Acosta was three years old when her father was killed.
Lucy Acosta was three years old when her father was killed.
She attended Bowie High School and graduated in the top ten of her class. She then attended International Business College and graduated in 1945.
She was elected to the Texas Women"s Hall of Fame in 1987. The Acosta Humanitarian Awards were named in her honor, and have been presented every year since 1993. She was six years old when her family moved from Miami, Arizona to El Paso, Texas.
Acosta joined the (LULAC) in 1957 and helped organize LULAC"s Ladies Council #335, which was officially chartered in 1958.
Acosta and Ladies Council #335 was instrumental in garnering campaign funds, as well as campaigning for Raymond Telles, the first Mexican-American mayor of El Paso. This successful political activity caused Acosta to become much more involved in politics.
She was appointed to many committees during Telles tenure, and when future mayors came on the scene she served on committees for them as well. Acosta was appointed to the 17th District Bar Association of Law Examiners, becoming the first woman and layperson in the history of the to receive that appointment.
She also served as its executive director of Project Amistad.
She was also the first woman to be elected to the El Paso Community College Board of Trustees. And the first woman in the history of El Paso to be appointed civil service commissioner.
She is also a member of the El Paso Women Hall of Fame.