| |
| Henry
O. Flipper, The Lost Epic by C. F. Eckhardt
Henry O. Flipper, 10th
US Cavalry - Flipper was by no means the first Black ever appointed to West Point,
but he ws the first to complete four years and graduate as a commissioned officer
in the US Army... |
- Barnett,
Etta Moten
Etta
Moten Barnett by John Troesser
November 5th, 1901 - January -
2004
"Life does not owe me one thing."
"While her birth in
Weimar, Texas may have just been chance, it's her accomplishments after she left
Weimar that deserve a closer look. When she died last year of cancer (in Chicago)
at the age of 102, Etta Moten Barnett had had a rich and full life.. She is now
remembered as an actress, singer, and philanthropist ..."
- Bledsoe,
Jules
Ten
Thing you should know about Jules Bledsoe by John Troesser
Photos courtesy
The Texas Collection, Baylor University
His role as "Joe" in Jerome Kern's
Showboat made "Ol' Man River" an American classic.
- Blind
Lemon Jefferson
Blind
Lemon by Bob Bowman - Castle,
Charlie
The
Bootblack King by Bob Bowman
It has been thirty years since Charlie
Castle died, but they still talk about him in Lufkin. Charlie was a legend, a
black man who, according to many East Texans in the fifties, delivered the best
shoe shine in Texas. -
Coleman, Bessie
Air
Pioneer by Bob Bowman
In 1921 she became the only black pilot in
the world. A year later she became the first black woman to fly over American
soil. - Cuney,
Norris Wright
Norris
Cuney by Archie P. McDonald
"... Cuney technically began
life as a slave..."
Norris
Wright Cuney by Archie P. McDonald
The most remarkable African
American leader in Texas in the nineteenth century. - Ferguson,
Lee
The
50,000 Shoeshine by Bob Bowman - Flipper,
Henry O.
Henry
O. Flipper, An Epic Remaining To Be Told by C. F. Eckhardt
Perhaps
the most enigmatic figure in the annals of the American West is not Johnny Ringo
of maybe-suicide/maybe-murder or the deliberately enigmatic Mysterious Dave Mather,
but 2/LT Henry O. Flipper, 10th United States Cavalry...
- Goyens,
William
William
Goyens by Archie P. McDonald
This is the story of a free black
man who lived and thrived in Nacogdoches during the days of slavery. - Hardin,
Rufus F.
The
Rufus F. Hardin School - Educator Rufus F. Hardin
- Hopkins,
Lightnin'
A
Statue for Lightnin' by Bob Bowman - Johnson,
Jack
Heavyweight Champ Jack Johnson by Archie P. McDonald - Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Martin
Luther King, Jr. Birthday by Archie P. McDonald - Mary
of Perry, Texas
Mary,
Mary, Once of Perry by Toney Urban
Unbelievable, but true stories
connected to Perry, Texas (Falls County)
"In the late 40s and early 50s,
there was a Black lady named Mary (last name unknown), that would arrive out in
the countryside near Perry, Texas and dispense some incredibly amazing medicine
and conversation....."
- McCullough,
Samuel
Samuel
McCullough Cartoon by Roger T. Moore
His was likely the first blood
shed in the war for independence
- Miller,
Doris
Doris
Miller: Hero by Archie P. McDonald
African American hero of WWII
- Montague,
Nathaniel
The
Magnificent Montague by Bill Cherry
"He’s probably one of
the most important contributors to American black culture that has ever lived.
Someone you should know about..."
- Old
Sock" Shicole Dickenson
Former
slave's death in 1889 attracted rare news coverage by W. T. Block
In February 1889, Beaumont Enterprise published an obituary about a Black
centenarian, nicknamed "Old Sock," in an age when Black obituaries were usually
printed only in Negro newspapers...
- Pickett,
Bill
Never
another like Bill Pickett by Clay Coppedge
Bill Pickett invented
the practice of what we know as bulldogging, or steer wrestling.... - Seminole
Scouts
The
Whirlwind Lt. John Lapham Bullis and the Seminole Negro Scouts by C. F.
Eckhardt
"One of the least-known heroes of the Texas frontier was
a man known to his followers as The Whirlwind and to his enemies as The Thunderbolt.....
John Bullis didn't do it all alone. He had a lot of help. The help, mostly, was
the Seminole Negro scouts. What became of them?..."
-
Smith, George
The
Rufus F. Hardin School Founder
- Steele,
Alfonso (Alphonso)
Alfonso
(Alphonso) Steele - last Texas survivor of the battle of San Jacinto - Thergood
Thergood's
Pine by Bob Bowman
The story of a slave and the oldest pine tree
in East Texas. - Wilson,
Dooley
Casablanca’s
East Texan by Bob Bowman
Dooley Wilson played the piano player
who sang “As Time Goes By,” in the classic film Casablanca. An African-American,
Wilson was born as Arthur Wilson on April 3, 1886, in Tyler. - Former
slave recalls memories of old Lavaca County by Murray Montgomery
In 1946, a black man by the name of Tate Hicks told a local paper that he
was the oldest man in Lavaca County. Fact is, he came to Texas as a slave... - Looking
for Grandfather in Port Arthur
|
| |
Corinth
Baptist Church Cemetery by John Troesser
Black church and cemetery
in Schulenburg, Texas
For a tiny cemetery, a disporportionate number of veterans
graves. |
Related
Subjects - Juneteenth
by Archie P. McDonald
On June 19, 1865, Union
General Gordon Granger brought the full force of the United States military establishment
to Galveston and proclaimed the Civil War at an end and all wartime proclamations
by President Abraham Lincoln in effect in the Lone Star State. Part of that dealt
with the end of slavery in Texas... - Long
Hot Summers by Archie P. McDonald
Veterans of the "long hot summers"
of the summers of the 1960s, a time of racial tension, would have thought it "de
ja vu all over again" if they had remembered 1919... - Woman's
Christian Temperance Union
by Archie P. McDonald
The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was misnamed:
“temperance” means “moderation...avoiding extremes.” What the WCTU really wanted
was total abstinence from all alcohol beverages. They wanted everyone connected
with brewing, distilling, fermenting, and selling alcohol out of business and
right now... - Skull
Island on Mermentau River, A Slave Ship's Inhumanity
by W. T. Block ("Cannonball's Tales")
"Back in 1949
my Uncle Austin Sweeney of Nederland, TX who was born and reared in Grand Chenier,
LA., told me the story of a slaver captains inhumanity so bestial, that it is
difficult for the human mind to comprehend it. It was the story of 200 starving
African slaves abandoned on a marsh ridge on Mermentau River, where they were
left to die horrific deaths..." - Black
Soldiers in the Confederate Army by Murray Montgomery
"...
Not only did they fight, these soldiers distinguished themselves on the battlefield..." - Black
Cowboys by Murray Montgomery
The black cowboy has been part of
the ranching industry in Texas for a long time. They were born into slavery in
the beginning but after the Civil War they continued to work on the ranches as
free men... - How
Boogie Woogie Began by Bob Bowman
In 1939, African American historian E. Simms Campbell wrote, “Boogie Woogie piano
playing originated in the lumber and turpentine camps of Texas and in the sporting
houses of that state.”
- Juneteenth
by Archie P. McDonald
"Most East Texans who have lived here more
than at least a month of Sundays know that African Americans claim June 19, or
Juneteenth, as their own special day to celebrate freedom. ... But do you know
why June 19 is such a special day?" - Freeny
Hanging by Mike
Cox
James Washington White lost an arm fighting for the South during the
Civil War. He could have spent the rest of his life seething with bitterness,
but that’s not how it turned out.
- Scrolling
Through History by Bob Bowman
For black families, who have always
had a difficult time researching their earliest ancestors because of poor records
dealing with slaves, Murphy’s book has been widely welcomed. - KKK
from "Texas Tales" column by Mike Cox
Unsung heroes who were instrumental in putting the end to the Ku
Klux Klan in Texas - Juneteenth
by Archie P. McDonald
- Remembering
Integration by Bob Bowman
|
| Cartoons
by Roger T. Moore |
Texas
Black History Forum - Subject:
Thergood's
Pine
... I stumble across [your article] "Thergood's Pine" on the internet.
Well I have never been much of a history buff, and since I am African American,
I figured not many records existed of my family history past my grandparents.
Well needless to say, I was terrifically shocked when I read the wonderful article
written by Mr. Bowman and spoke to my father and asked him if we had any family
in the east Texas area. He said that he thought we had family in Point Blank but
the name was originally spelled "Thergood". Well the article written by Mr. Bowman
was about a slave name Collier Thergood from... you guessed it. Point Blank! I
just wanted to personally thank Mr. Bowman for sparking a renewed interest in
obtaining my family history with his article. Thank you again. ... - Eric Thiergood,
May 22, 2001
... I truly appreciate you for running that story and
casting a different light on slavery. So often as an African American, I was told
at ALL slaves where treated horribly and abused, and while grievous abuse did
occurred, I have gained some additional insight by learning about my great, great,
great, great (not quite sure how many greats yet- Im still running down that information)
grandfather.
Just so that you know about what ever happened to that
land after passing through a couple of generations, my great great (again unsure
of how many greats) was pressured to sell by some investors. He stood strong in
refusing to sell the land the family loved so much. That relative was later found
murdered on his porch and "investors" offering to purchase the land the following
day. From what I understand that land was sold for pennies on the dollar and was
later developed into quiet valuable real estate. Again thank you so very much
for the story ... - Eric Thiergood and Family, May 23, 2001 |
Books |
| Black
Churches in Texas: A Guide to Historic Congregations (The Centennial Series of
the Association of Former Students, Texas A&M, No. 85) |
|
| White
Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture (American Crossroads,
2) |
|
| Invisible
Houston: The Black Experience in Boom and Bust (Texas A & M Southwestern Studies) |
| | |
| Black
Texas Women: 150 Years of Trial and Triumph |
| | |
Recommended
Books
New Handbook of Texas |
| | | | |
