Juan Jose Bocanegra (b. 1949) was born in Mexico and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas. He moved to Seattle in 1971 to earn a graduate degree in social work from the University of Washington (UW), where he helped lead a successful campaign to diversify the UW School of Social work and create its multi-ethnic practice program. Mr. Bocanegra then began a career of social activism, helping to found El Centro de la Raza in 1972, a local organization that unites communities of all races, genders, ages and classes to fight for civil and human rights both locally and globally. As of 2018, Mr. Bocanegra is a representative of El Comité, a Seattle-based social justice organization which focuses on civil, labor, and human rights.

In this image Juan Bocanegra speaks at a meeting of Seattle's 34th District Democrats during his campaign for Seattle City Council. He lost the race and continued his work as executive director of the Downtown Human Services Council.

Caption information source: https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/bocanegra.htm; http://www.elcentrodelaraza.org/what-we-do/community-and-building-development; https://elcomitewa.com/about
Caption information source: "Seattle City Council Position 4," The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 5, 1989, p. C10.
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.