Celebrating the history, the culture, and the people of Texas
Upcoming Events
Goodnight's Journey series: Illinois to Texas
Goodnight Ranch
Goodnight / May 24 / 11 am - 12 pm
Get a glimpse into the life of a Texas legend, Charles Goodnight and his upbringing on the Texas frontier, and what shaped him into a renowned cattleman and cowboy.
Demo Days: Battlefield Medicine
San Jacinto Museum
LaPorte / May 24 / 11am – 3 pm
During the Texas Army’s marches, disease was commonplace: measles, flu, whooping cough, mumps and dysentery. Join the San Jacinto monument to learn about the medical techniques used and real 19th century medical equipment!
Juneteenth History and It's Continued Meaning
San Antonio I June 3 I 6 – 7:30PM
The Carver Library in San Antonio’s Black History Discussion Series takes on the history of Juneteenth. How did it begin? How does it impact society today?
Lone Star Flight Museum Memorial Day
Saturday, May 24 - 26 / 9 am - 1 pm
See Vietnam War era aircraft, fly flight simulators, and meet veteran pilots of combat aircraft.
“…this worst of evils…” Slavery in Brazoria County Exhibition Opening
Levi Jordan Plantation Historic Site
Brazoria / May 31 / 10 am - 12 pm
Partnering with Freeport Historical Museum, the exhibition continues through August 31to bring attention to the impact of chattel slavery on Brazoria County from the arrival of Austin’s original 300 to the American Civil War.
Senate Bill to Alter How Colleges Teach History
Proposals Bring Political Interference to Public Understanding of Texas' Collective Past
Texas senators have voted 20 -11 to approve a bill that would drastically limit how the state’s public universities teach their students about history, race and inequality. The bill now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration.
As amended, Senate Bill 37 by Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) would require that courses cannot "require or attempt to require a student to adopt a belief that any race, sex, or ethnicity or social, political or religious belief is inherently superior to any other." It would also allow anyone to file complaints that could lead schools to lose funds.
A score of academics have complained that the bill's true intent was to intimidate them from sharing perspectives some lawmakers' disagree with. "If this is enforced, students will learn less about the world," said David Albert, a vice president for the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors. "They will learn a more rose-colored glasses view of the way society operates."
Senate Bill 37 SB 37 would also create a statewide committee to evaluate curricula at public universities. The committee would consist of three appointees from the governor, two from the lieutenant governor and two from the speaker of the House of Representatives. The bill doesn't require that any members of the committee be students, faculty or university administrators. MORE...
Documentary Focuses of Remarkable Gault Archaeology Site
Expansive attention has recently focused on the Gault Archaeological Site in Bell County. Much of the attention is due to the PBS documentary "The Stones Are Speaking” by filmmaker Olive Talley. Talley wrote, directed, and produced the film, which is now available on PBS and other streaming platforms to not only tell the story of how the prehistoric site has upended our understanding of the peopling of the Americas but also to the
solid perseverance of the University of Texas at Austin archaeologist Mike Collins who through great personal sacrifice, saved this piece of rural land for the greater good.
The prehistoric Gault site has provided extensive evidence of early human occupation in North America. It yielded over 2.6 million artifacts, including tools and projectile points, spanning from the Clovis period (13,000 years ago) to earlier evidence dating up to 20,000 years ago. One of the most notable discoveries is engraved limestone, estimated to be among the earliest known examples of art in the Americas. MORE...
LATEST TEXAS HISTORY NEWS...
South Texas Hotel One of US' Most Endangered Historic Sites
The San Juan Hotel in the Rio Grande Valley has been identified as one of 11 most endangered historic places in the United States by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP). The hotel is a state historic landmark originally built in 1920, and is now slated to be demolished for a conference center next to San Juan City Hall. Locals claim the hotel has ties to the ‘La Matanza’ period of violence in 1910-1920 arising from tensions between the United States Anglos, and Mexican rebel forces during the Mexican Revolution. MORE...
GLO pre-sales 'Texas Takes Shape,' a historical map book of Texas history
The University of Texas Press is pre-selling copies of Texas Takes Shape: A History in Maps from the General Land Office, that looks at historical mapping dating back to the sixteenth century. Compiled buy Mark Lambert, James Harkins, Brian A. Stauffer and Patrick Walsh, this new book, available July 1, 2025, offers an illuminating selection from the GLO archive: over 100 maps that tell—and sometimes obscure—the stories of European colonization, Spanish and Mexican rule, the Republic of Texas, and the modern US state. Order, at the UT Press website.
Adventure Trail Looks for Hikes, Bikes and Horses Trails to Span Texas
Testing has begun on The Cross Texas Horse, Hike and Bike Adventure Route (aka, xTx) a new adventure trail,that some are calling the Pacific Crest Trail of Texas. The trail will span 1,500 miles and extend across the state from Orange to El Paso, factoring in all the varied types of Texas’ terrain along the way. Created by renowned traveler Charles Gandy, the project is currently adding ground-proofers to prove the route and beat the funding goal of $40,000 in 2024 and could raise an additional $310,000 this year.
Hot Off The Presses
by Rachel Cockrell
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
While primarily a tale of the author's Jewish famiy's refugee immigration in the early twentieth century, a crucial element is how their journey marks the beginning of the Galveston Movement, a forgotten moment in history when ten thousand Jews fled to Texas in the leadup to World War I. The Guardian says the work provides ".. a thrilling sense of history unfolding in real time."
The Crossing: El Paso, the Southwest, and America’s Forgotten Origin Story
Mariner Books
Journalist Richard Parker has long felt his hometown of El Paso has been unfairly disregarded as an “unacknowledged cradle of American history.”
Instead of the sleepy western backwater on the Mexican border, Parker tells of a rich cross-cultural intersection of of ideas, beliefs, practices, and values.