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- Kenneth Muckelroy, MM(67), EdD(74) on Letter from the Editor: Confronting Jim Crow
- Richard Thompson on Illinois Jacquet: Integrating Houston Jazz Audiences
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Blue Bell: The Cream Rises to the Top
104 years, eight managers, and one family turned a [...]
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Sonny Look: A Humble Showman
I will never forget the first time I saw Sonny Loo [...]
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Food for the Body, Food for the Spirit: Irma Galvan and her Award-winning Mexican Restaurant, Irma’s
In the 1940s, young Irma González Galvan moved wi [...]
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Ideal Housewives: Home Economics at the University of Houston
The Home Economics Department at the University of [...]
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The Raw Truth: A Conversation with Cheryl Pradia and Ezell Wilson
For a few years in the mid-2000s, S.H.A.P.E. Commu [...]
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Eat Fresh, Eat Local: A History of Urban Gardening and Food Education
There is a movement that places importance on know [...]
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Annette Finnigan: Building an Enlightened Community
Annette Finnigan—energetic suffrage leader, astu [...]
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“Any day above ground is a good one.” A Conversation with the National Museum of Funeral History’s Director, Genevieve Keeney
Robert L. Waltrip founded the National Museum of F [...]
Food for the Body, Food for the Spirit: Irma Galvan and her Award-winning Mexican Restaurant, Irma’s
In the 1940s, young Irma González Galvan moved with her family from Brownsville, Texas to Houston’s Second Ward. As children, Irma's brothers shined shoes, while Irma and her sister worked at their school cafeteria and neighboring bakeries in order to help their mother. These early experiences, combined with later work in retail, and the desire to overcome personal tragedy, culminated in Galvan’s 1989 opening of her own Mexican restaurant, Irma’s. ...
Read MoreThe Raw Truth: A Conversation with Cheryl Pradia and Ezell Wilson
For a few years in the mid-2000s, S.H.A.P.E. Community Center in Houston’s Third Ward was the home to The Raw Truth Vegetarian Restaurant and Vegan Café, a local eatery that served both cooked and raw food meals to a varied clientele. One of the restaurant’s defining and unique characteristics was its raw food preparations. ...
Read MoreEat Fresh, Eat Local: A History of Urban Gardening and Food Education
There is a movement that places importance on knowing where food comes from for nutritious, environmental, and economic reasons. This trend has taken many forms, such as community gardening, schools gardens, farmers’ markets, and even restaurants that support local growers. The UH – Oral History of Houston has collected several interviews that document this endeavor. This article includes excerpts from a few of these oral histories done by UH graduate students that provide a glimpse into this growing movement. ...
Read MoreAnnette Finnigan: Building an Enlightened Community
Annette Finnigan—energetic suffrage leader, astute businesswoman, visionary philanthropist—became involved in many aspects of Houston’s development. Her contributions have had a significant impact on its citizens. Yet today few Houstonians are familiar with her name. ...
Read More“Any day above ground is a good one.” A Conversation with the National Museum of Funeral History’s Director, Genevieve Keeney
Robert L. Waltrip founded the National Museum of Funeral History in 1992 in order to “educate the public and preserve the heritage of death care.” Waltrip’s family founded the Heights Funeral Home in Houston, Texas, and Waltrip became director upon his father’s untimely death. He expanded the business, Service Corporation International, into what is today the largest funeral service corporation in the country. Having witnessed the variety of traditions, customs, and rituals that accompany funerals and the funeral industry, Waltrip felt it was important to open a museum to showcase how they have evolved over time. ...
Read MoreLetter from the Editor: Blue Bell Memories
One of my earliest memories is the regal feeling of sitting on top of a hand-cranked freezer as my dad grinded away making home-made ice cream. The anticipation that grew during the long process of mixing and cranking enhanced the enjoyment of the final product, which was much better than the cheap mellorine my mom brought home from the grocery store. Store-bought ice cream as good as home-made was unknown to me until I discovered Blue Bell sometime in my late teens. ...
Read MoreHouston: Nuestra Historia, Letter from the Editor
This issue, Houston: Nuestra Historia, focuses on the history of Mexican Americans in Houston, an often neglected area of discussion. Because Houston was not established as a Spanish colonial city, its history as one of Texas’s Mexican American communities is overlooked. ...
Read MoreLa Colonia Mexicana: Mexican Americans in Houston
By Jesus Jesse Esparza In 1836 newcomers from the United States along with their Tejano (Texas Mexicans) allies, took up arms against the Mexican government and successfully seceded from that nation. Following the Battle of San Jacinto, which ended the Texas Revolution, Texians (Anglo Texans) ordered Mexican prisoners to clean the swampland on which HoustonRead the Rest... ...
Read MoreTrailblazers in Houston’s East End: Ripley House and the Settlement Association
The turn of the twentieth century marked a period of accelerated population growth for Houston, and Houston’s Second Ward followed suit. The people who moved to Houston came from a wide array of countries and from other states. Many of these people settled into the aging housing stock located in the Second Ward. ...
Read MoreThe “Mother Church” of Mexican Catholicism in Houston
On August 18, 1912, a priest celebrated the first mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Houston’s Second Ward on the second floor of a two-story wood-frame structure located on the corner of what was then Marsh and Runnels Street. Three weeks later, on September 8, 1912, the school at Our Lady of Guadalupe opened on the first floor of the same building. These events marked the beginning of the Catholic Church’s mission to the Spanish-speaking community of Houston. ...
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