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.
Black History
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.
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 Museum of the Big Bend, chronicles a safe haven established by African American Texans.
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.