Books
July 14, 2022
Has Texas Finally Found Its William Faulkner?
With her stunning debut novel, ‘Perish,’ LaToya Watkins draws on her family’s deep roots in West Texas.
Black History
Sports
April 15, 2022
The 1950s Louisiana Law That Stalled Racial Progress in Texas Baseball
A decade after Jackie Robinson integrated MLB, Black Texas League players found themselves banned from competing at road games in Shreveport.
Being Texan
December 6, 2021
An East Texas Freedom Colony Looks to the Future—and Reckons With Its Losses
The Upshaw family has preserved their history and traditions since the 1870s. Now, amid deaths and other departures, family members worry for their land’s legacy.
By
Cat Cardenas
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Film & TV
November 3, 2021
‘The Harder They Fall’ Is a Fun, Stylish Revisionist Western
Dallas-raised actor Jonathan Majors leads a star-studded cast as outlaw Nat Love seeking revenge.
Texas History
October 29, 2021
Houston’s First Black Cemetery Was Neglected For Decades. One Group Is Leading Its Rejuvenation.
Olivewood Cemetery is the resting ground of many Houston trailblazers and an important piece of the history of the African diaspora.
Sports
September 14, 2021
For Texas’s Black Roller Skaters, Life Is Good on the Wood
Joining a tradition with roots in the 1960s, today’s skaters blend styles from across the U.S.—and have a lot of fun doing it.
Music
September 14, 2021
Houston’s Legendary SugarHill Recording Studios Turns Eighty
The oldest studio in Texas has recorded everyone from Lightnin’ Hopkins and George Jones to Beyoncé and Travis Scott—and it’s still making hits.
Books
August 26, 2021
An Incendiary History of Civil Rights in Dallas Gets a Timely Reissue
First published in 1987, ‘The Accommodation’ still resonates today.
Books
August 25, 2021
A Joyful New Read Celebrates Galveston’s Bygone Black-Owned Restaurants
Part historical text, part recipe book, ‘Lost Restaurants’ memorializes the self-made entrepreneurs who uplifted the island during its years of segregation.
Art
July 15, 2021
Houston Artist Jamal Cyrus’s Playful, Subversive Vision of Black History
His works incorporate redacted FBI documents, vintage records, and a saxophone deep-fried like a chicken wing.
Film & TV
July 3, 2021
‘The Harder They Fall’ Is About to Bring New Excitement to the Old-school Western
Starring North Texas's Jonathan Majors and featuring folk hero Bass Reeves, the film promises to let Black cowboys have fun for once.
Texas History
June 22, 2021
The Resurrection of Bass Reeves
His almost superhuman exploits made him one of the West's most feared lawmen. Today, the legendary deputy U.S. marshal is widely believed to be the real Lone Ranger. But his true legacy is even greater.
Books
May 11, 2021
Annette Gordon-Reed Explores the Tangled Meaning of Juneteenth
In her new book ‘On Juneteenth,’ the Pulitzer Prize–winning historian takes on the Texas holiday that has gone national.
Style & Design
March 18, 2021
John S. Chase’s Extraordinary Modernist Home Helped Shape Houston’s Political and Architectural History
The trailblazing architect designed, among many other buildings, a fabulous house where he and his family hosted the likes of Muhammad Ali and Ann Richards.
Texas History
October 22, 2020
How One State History Textbook Erases the Stories of Black and Hispanic Texans
The version of Texas history I learned in school was woefully incomplete. And, according to two historians, this 2016 textbook is, too.
Sports
July 28, 2020
Thirty Years Ago, UT Student Athletes Fought for Racial Justice
In 1990, Longhorn student athletes marched through campus united against racism. Their movement continues through players still calling for change today.
Being Texan
June 18, 2020
Essay: Celebrating Juneteenth in 2020 Is an Act of Resistance
I’ve always observed Juneteenth, but this year the stakes feel higher than ever.
Texas History
February 29, 2020
In Praise of Bessie Coleman, Trailblazing Black Texan Pilot
Coleman’s extraordinary life and career deserves to be celebrated in the canon of U.S. history.
Texas History
June 19, 2019
Why This Mexican Village Celebrates Juneteenth
Descendants of slaves who escaped across the southern border observe Texas’s emancipation holiday with their own unique traditions.
By
Wes Ferguson
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Music
March 13, 2019
Solange’s ‘When I Get Home’ Pays Homage to the Black Rural South
The album honors black culture in Houston, but also looks beyond it to the traditions of rural Texas.
Art
January 29, 2019
Telling the Story of a Texas Freedom Colony Through Decades of Photos
‘The Upshaws of County Line,’ a new book and exhibit currently at the Museum of the Big Bend, chronicles a safe haven established by African American Texans.
By
Cat Cardenas
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Art
May 31, 1997
Captions and Comments
Left: Untitled, 1993. Right: Beware, 1994. The old stereotypes have only been repackaged, Charles says. Right: Clockwise from top left, four paintings from the Liberty Bros. Permanent Daily Circus series: Blue Period, 1995, Oop’s, 1995, Desperados Leap for Life, 1996, and Smiles, 1996. “I’m trying to be as honest as
Texas History
May 31, 1997
The First Protester
How a man named Eldrewey Stearns began the fight for civil rights in Houston.
Politics & Policy
February 1, 1997
Fratricidal Black Politics
The Houston mayoral election doesn’t occur until November, but the race to succeed Bob Lanier is already the talk of the town. Three blacks would like to be Houston’s first black mayor, and many blacks—among them Houston Chronicle editorial writer James T. Campbell—think that’s two too many. Former top cop
Texas History
February 1, 1997
Bill Pickett
What was Bill Pickett’s nickname, and how did he wrestle steers to the ground?
Being Texan
April 30, 1994
Black Like Them
During the days of segregation, a young graduate of all-white Rice University managed to become a professor at all-black Texas Southern University.
Politics & Policy
July 1, 1980
Why I Turned In Lee Otis Johnson
When black militant Lee Otis Johnson got out of prison his old friends welcomed him with open arms. Later, some of them wished they hadn’t.