• Features
  • Reviews
  • Teaching
  • Watch & Listen
  • About

The past is never dead. It's not even past

Not Even Past

Signs of Faith

By Robert Abzug

While I was in graduate school, I made a bit of needed extra money by turning a hobby, photography, into a short and modest career as a part-time photojournalist. Since then, I continued to take photographs but have kept them in the realm of my private life, until recently when I began to post them publicly on Flickr. One ongoing project of mine has been to photograph signs of spiritual life visible on the roads and highways of America.

An image of a store-front church in Hearne, Texas

This store-front church is in Hearne, Texas.

An image of a white sign with red letters advertising a Holy Ghost Camp Meeting

A camp meeting near Port Aransas

Image of a basketball hoop from a basketball court of a church adjacent to Highway 183 between Austin and Lockhart, Texas

The basketball court of a church adjacent to Hwy 183 between Austin and Lockhart.

Image of a strip mall church in Austin, Texas

Strip mall church in Austin

This abandoned church was located in Littig, population 40, one of the first African-American towns founded in Texas after the Civil War. It was incorporated in 1883. Littig had three churches and this one was abandoned in favor of a new brick church nearby. It has burned down since this picture was taken in 1995.

Image of an old, dilapidated white church in a country setting
An image of B'nai Abraham, a synagogue in Brenham, Texas

“Jesus died 4 Thorndale,” Thorndale, Texas.

image
B’nai Abraham, a synagogue in Brenham, built 1885

An image of the ornate front facade of a synagogue in Corsicana, Texas

 A synagogue in Corsicana, built around 1898.

 For more on spiritual life in Texas see “History Revealed in a Very Small Place,” also by Robert Abzu


The views and opinions expressed in this article or video are those of the individual author(s) or presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect the policy or views of the editors at Not Even Past, the UT Department of History, the University of Texas at Austin, or the UT System Board of Regents. Not Even Past is an online public history magazine rather than a peer-reviewed academic journal. While we make efforts to ensure that factual information in articles was obtained from reliable sources, Not Even Past is not responsible for any errors or omissions.

Related posts:

NEP Faculty Feature - Dr. Daina Ramey BerryNEP Faculty Feature: Dr. Daina Ramey Berry Texas' New Social Studies Textbooks. Courtesy of Texas TribuneTexas is Adopting New History Textbooks: Maybe They Should Be Historically Accurate Rising From the Ashes: The Oklahoma Eagle and its Long Road to Preservation Introducing Planet Texas Header ImageIHS Climate in Context: Introducing Planet Texas 2050

Posted January 14, 2012 More Features, Film/Media, Research Stories, Texas, United States

Recent Posts

  • NEP’s Archive Chronicles: A Brief Guide Through Some Archives in Gaborone and Serowe, Botswana
  • Review of Hierarchies at Home: Domestic Service in Cuba from Abolition to Revolution (2022), by Anasa Hicks
  • Agency and Resistance: African and Indigenous Women’s Navigation of Economic, Legal, and Religious Structures in Colonial Spanish America
  • NEP’s Archive Chronicles: Unexpected Archives. Exploring Student Notebooks at the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire (IFAN) in Senegal
  • Review of No Place Like Nome: The Bering Strait Seen Through Its Most Storied City
NOT EVEN PAST is produced by

The Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

We are supported by the College of Liberal Arts
And our Readers

Donate
Contact

All content © 2010-present NOT EVEN PAST and the authors, unless otherwise noted

Sign up to receive our MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Teaching
  • Watch & Listen
  • About