Juarez–Lincoln University was part of the Mexican-American education movement in Texas beginning in 1969. In that year many Latino students walked out in protest over lack of Latino history in secondary schools in Texas, Latino faculty members and related issues. This led to the start of Jacinto Treviño College in Mercedes, Texas.
In 1971 Leonard Mestes and Andre Guerrero, who has been associated with Jacinto Treviño College, left due to political differences and founded Juarez–Lincoln University in Fort Worth, Texas. It moved the next year to Austin, Texas. It became known for its high rating of faculty personnel and four-year business degree program. Originally it was located on the campus of St. Edward's University but it then moved to its own campus in 1975 when it had about 1200 students. It received national and regional accreditation from its inception in 1971 until its closure in 1991. In that year it became somewhat affiliated with Antioch University, originally Antioch College, which had a long-standing affiliation with UREHE, the Union for Research and Experimentation in Higher Education. UREHE member institutions were at the forefront of curricular and educational model delivery changes in U.S. institutions of higher learning. Amongst those changes were the recognition that adult members of society could return to college and receive college level credit for equivalent work experiences. Other variants of the traditional delivery model included the incorporation of supervised independent study and research, and competency based college level learning.