Adelfa Botello Callejo

Adelfa Botello Callejo (June 10, 1923 – January 25, 2014) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist of Mexican descent. She was a recipient of the Mexican government's Ohtli award, the Dallas Bar Association's Martin Luther King Jr. Justice Award, the League of United Latin American Citizens Hispanic Entrepreneurship Award, the Mexican American Bar Association of Texas Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Sandra Day O'Connor Award.

Biography The daughter of Felix Botello and Guadalupe Guerra, she was born Adelfa Botello in Millett, Texas and was educated at Cotulla High School. Her father was born in Mexico; her mother, also of Mexican descent, was born in Texas. Callejo moved to Dallas in 1939 with her family and began taking night classes at Southern Methodist University (SMU). Near the end of World War II, she moved to California to help her brother after he was wounded in the war. There she began an import-export business and met William "Bill" F. Callejo; the couple were married in Dallas around 1946. She resumed her night classes at SMU, completing a law degree in 1961, the first Hispanic woman to graduate in law from SMU's Dedman School of Law. She opened her own law office, becoming the first Mexican American woman to practice law in Dallas. After her husband completed a law degree, they established the law firm of Callejo and Callejo.

Awards and honors She received the Ohtli award from the Mexican government. In 2012, she was named a Texas Legal Legend by the State Bar of Texas. She also received the Dallas Bar Association's Martin Luther King Jr. Justice Award, the League of United Latin American Citizens Hispanic Entrepreneurship Award, the Mexican American Bar Association of Texas Lifetime Achievement Award and the Sandra Day O'Connor Award. Adelfa Botello Callejo Elementary school in Dallas was named in her honour.