Mister McKinney recently fulfilled one of his dreams when he rolled out the Houston History Bus. “The Houston History Bus is a truly unique and immersive experience,” R. W. McKinney explains. “We acquired a retired school bus and reconfigured it into a mobile classroom. We cut the roof off, removed the windows, and installed a […]
Author Archive | Debbie Harwell

Letter from the Editor
Pieces of History By Debbie Z. Harwell My parents were born in the early 1910s and had definite ideas about racial boundaries. Growing up in Houston I learned from an early age, “You don’t socialize with them.” Although I do not specifically remember being told to whom “them” referred, the meaning was clear. As I […]

Letter from the Editor
Rx: Public History By Debbie Z. Harwell In 2006 our late oral history director Ernesto Valdes interviewed many people about Houston’s relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina. Dr. David Persse, Public Health Authority for the City of Houston and Physician Director for Houston Emergency Medical Services (EMS), told him things turned out very differently than what […]
14.1 Houston EMS Table of Contents
Download the full pdf. Vol. 14, No. 1 (Fall 2016) Letter from the Editor by Debbie Z. Harwell 2 Pioneering Houston EMS: Answering the Call By La’Nora Jefferson, James Thornock, and Paulina De Paz 7 Houston Setting the Standard for Emergency Care By La’Nora Jefferson, James Thornock, and Paulina De Paz 15 On Call […]

Last Letter from the Editor by Joe Pratt
After forty years of teaching and thirteen years at the helm of Houston History, our editor-in-chief Joe Pratt has retired. This is the last letter from the editor he will write, but we are hopeful he will get bored with his gorgeous view of the mountains and write articles for us from time to time, sharing his wealth […]

Carolyn Farb: Fundraiser Extraordinaire
Houstonian Carolyn Farb and Bob Boudreaux, former TV news anchor now Shakespearean actor have been friends for decades. The two sat down for an interview for Houston History, offering a glimpse into Carolyn Farb’s life and contributions to the city of Houston and beyond. Below you will find the article in the magazine, the full audio interview […]

WIMS Opening Dialogues across Race, Region & Religion
On March 7, 2016, the Welcome Wilson Houston History Collaborative and Center for Public Hisotry hosted it’s second Historically Speaking panel, “Wednesdays in Mississippi: Opening Dialogues across Race, Region, and Religion Then and Now” to discuss how the 1964 project was used at the time to combat racism and how similar methods re currently being […]

Historically Speaking: Hurricanes
Houston History published by the Welcome Wilson Houston History Collaborative and the Center for Public History at the University of Houston hosted a panel to explore our region’s hurricane history and, the effort to provide relief to the thousands of people displace by Hurricane Katrina. Done as part of the Harris County Public Library’s Gulf Coast […]
Asian Americans In Houston Table of Contents
Asian Americans In Houston: A Kaleidoscope of Cultures Vol. 13, No. 1 (Fall 2016) Download PDF Letter from Editor 2 Asian Americans: Expanding Our Horizons By Edward C. M. Chen and Debbie Z. Harwell 7 An American Chinese in Houston By Edward C. M. Chen 12 From “Tom Brown” to Mykawa Road: […]
Houstonians in Action Table of Contents 12.3
Download the full pdf. Vol. 12, No. 3 (Summer 2015) Letter from the Editor by managing editor Debbie Z. Harwell 2 A Scream or a Whisper: Images of Activism By Lindsay Scovil Dove 8 The Hayes Family of Third Ward: African American Agency during the Great Migration to Houston, 1900-1941 By Bernadette Pruitt 14 A […]