by Jesse Ritner Fredericksburg is a small town in central Texas. Known for its wineries, beer halls, and its World War II museum, it is now often overshadowed by the urban hubs of San Antonio and Austin, both within a two-hour drive of town. Yet, in 1847 Fredericksburg was a point of serious contention for […]
The Tiger
By Nathan Stone My mother’s father was a Presbyterian gentleman, one of the early Houstonians bent on making blue-collar Houston into a more respectable place. That was back in the 1920s. He had come down from Kentucky with his actress wife, my Irish Catholic grandmother, to start an advertising business in one of the classic […]
Peace Came in the Form of a Woman by Juliana Barr (2007)
by Justin Heath “A legion of horribles, hundreds in number, half naked or clad in costumes attic or biblical or wardrobed out of a fevered dream with the skins of animals and silk finery and pieces of uniform still tracked with the blood of prior owners…all howl(ed) in a barbarous tongue…riding down upon (the posse) […]
Hatton Sumners and the Retirement of Supreme Court Justices
We are especially pleased to post this essay by a long-time supporter of the UT Austin Department of History. Josiah M. Daniel III, of counsel at the international law firm Vinson & Elkins, LLP, received his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law in 1978 and his master’s degree in History from UT in 1986. In […]
Seeds of Empire, By Andrew Torget (2015)
By Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra Andrew Torget’s Seeds of Empire places the early history of nineteenth-century Texas squarely within the political economy of slavery, cotton, and geopolitics. Torget shows that Spanish Texas had become an utterly dysfunctional polity. A royalist bloody response to the creation of autonomous creole juntas almost led to the annihilation of the Tejano […]
The Blemished Archive: How Documents Get Saved
By Chris Babits In a May 2016 podcast for the Journal of American History, Yael A. Sternhell said, “For the great majority of [historians], when we walk into an archive, we have this illusion that this is where historical knowledge lies. Raw primary sources. Untainted. Unblemished. Just waiting for us to pick them up and […]
History Revealed in a Very Small Place
Our family knew Luling as a town one passed through quickly on trips from Austin to the Gulf coast, noticing only banners for the next “watermelon thump” and gaily decorated oil pump jacks. Recently it became my unlikely entry point into a visual appreciation of Texas Jewish history and more.
Sanctuary Austin: 1980s and Today
Edward Shore revisits the history of the Sanctuary Movement in Austin and the legacy of Casa Marianella, an emergency shelter for refugees and asylum seekers in East Austin. Since 1986, Casa has sheltered more than six thousand refugees, assisting many to secure housing, jobs, language classes, and support. The article appeals to UT historians to get involved in defending Austin’s refugee and immigrant community.
Another Perspective on the Texas Textbook Controversy
by Christopher Babits Recently, the Texas State Board of Education faced a firestorm of protest, from conservatives and liberals alike, over the statewide adoption of textbooks for teaching history. On November 21, 2014, the Board approved the use of 89 social studies textbooks. This vote was the culmination of a long and contentious debate about […]
The Texas City Disaster: The Worst Industrial Accident in U.S. History
Evan Knapp Rockport-Fulton Middle School Junior Division Individual Exhibit Read Evan’s Process Paper On April 16, 1947 a fertilizer and oil fire triggered a massive explosion in the Port of Texas City, killing 581 people. Later dubbed the Texas City Disaster, this event remains the worst industrial accident in American history. Rockport-Fulton Middle School student […]