Utah native and Hispanic affairs activist, Michael Martinez was the third Hispanic person to graduate from the University Of Utah School Of Law, and the first to practice law in Utah. He has served on many task forces and committees that have addressed discrimination in the Hispanic community, including the Small Business Administration Board, Small Business Administration Fairness Board, U.S. Senate Task force on Hispanics and the Utah Advisory Board to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. Martinez was appointed by President Reagan as Deputy General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and he served as President of the National Hispanic Bar Association. Martinez also hosted his own call-in radio show on KSL-Radio, and authored op-ed columns for both the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune.
The Michael Martinez papers contain the professional papers of this Utah attorney, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Utah State Bar, the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Utah Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the Small Business Administration Advisory Board and Fairness Board.
The original order from the creator was maintained.
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Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Donated by Michael Martinez in 2014.
Processed by Julia Huddleston in 2015.
Information on Martinez's hometown, Lark, a mining town, which was unincorporated in 1979 after the town was purchased by Kennecott Copper Mine. Martinez represented the residents in their negotiations with the copper company to relocate residents and fairly compensate residents.
In 1988 Martinez co-chaired national hearings regarding the discrimination of Hispanics by the EEOC, which lead to hearings before the U.S. Senate. He also served as Deputy General Counsel to the agency by Presidential appointment.
Copies of the Congressional Records from the EEOC library.
Martinez has been an active participant in the Utah State Bar Association. He was the first minority to sit on the Utah State Bar Commission, was the first president of the Utah Minority Bar Association, and led the commission to name minority and female attorneys as ex-officio commissioners.
White House interview schedule for position as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.
Martinez served as General Counsel and later as president to the Hispanic National Bar Association, and in that capacity gave testimony at the U.S. Senate hearings on the confirmation of Anthony Kennedy for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Martinez was a founding member of this task force.
As chair if the Utah Advisory to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, Martinez led investigations and hearings on discrimination in Utah.
Martinez was a member of this Board.
The raid on Panaderia La Diana, a small tortilla factory, was conducted by the Salt Lake City Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Association, and was the largest drug raid at the time. Martinez served as the attorney for the panaderia and the arrested patrons. There were no criminal convictions, and payments were made for false arrests.
Martinez was the host of this call-in radio show, which discussed issues facing Utahns.
Martinez was selected as an independent special prosecutor