The decedents of Felix A. Fraga and Angela Zamarron became business owners, judges, and elected officials, all well known in the East End and the larger Houston area. Growing up, I had heard bits and pieces of our family’s history, but some of the stories seemed to be hearsay. It became my mission to paint […]
The extermination of six million Jews during World War II was a horrific event that will be remembered forever. In the city of Houston stands a distinguished building that has engraved within its walls the memories and stories of some of the survivors. The Holocaust Museum Houston’s mission is to remember those who perished in […]
From hip-hop music’s earliest days, Houston has contributed greatly to the genre’s development. In the 1990s Houston icon DJ Screw gave us “chopped and screwed,” arguably the city’s most notable contribution, but Houston can claim many others. A handful of Houston-area rappers, like Geto Boys, Bun B and Pimp C of UGK, and Paul Wall, […]
As the Center for Public History celebrates thirty years at the University of Houston, director Marty Melosi looks back at the journy.
By Sidonie Sturrock Sometimes the quest to find historical information becomes a story in itself, revealing a different history than expected. My research on Houston’s Quality Hill neighborhood began thanks to hints left in unlikely places: two turn-of-the-twentieth-century houses next to Minute Maid Park downtown (a strange juxtaposition visible from Highway 59) and the words “Quality Hill” and “Houston’s […]
Nestled in the middle of an industrial neighborhood where many awake to the vigorous hustle and bustle of everyday life lies an area where thirty-five, and possibly many more, black Houstonians share their final resting place. Situated by a bayou that is lined with trash and home to squirrels, birds, rabbits, snakes, and herons, this […]
Leland dedicated his political career to caring for his fellow man at home and abroad, demonstrating the importance of helping those in need. In the process, he left a legacy of humanitarianism that remains a model for us today.
Space Center Houston plans to open the exhibit in the summer of 2015 that will feature the mock-up shuttle Independence sitting atop the Boeing 747, in the “ferry position.” Visitors here will have a far more tangible, hands-on educational experience than those who visit sites housing the formerly active shuttles. They can explore the insides […]
Graffiti. This disruptive, colorful, and self-boasting style of popular art has permeated walls for centuries, including in Houston. Modern graffiti has been around since the 1960s when gangs or “crews” created social order with preservation of writing and began spray painting names and messages on walls, as expressions of protest, violence, or leisure. Undoubtedly graffiti […]
One of Houston’s most important literary figures was the late writer and novelist Donald Barthelme (1931–1989). But for many years Barthelme labored in the shadow of his better-known father, Donald Barthelme, Sr. (1907–1996), a nationally prominent architect.
Follow