The Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s was essentially a grassroots community insurrection and rebellion against a stifling racism and oppression that strangled the Latino and Black communities of Houston and Texas in that time, and a determination to fight and defeat it. We sought to bring the Mexican American out of second-class citizenship […]
Archive | Politics
House Special: Mexican Food & Houston Politics
By Mikaela Garza Selley From their beginnings, restaurants have served as more than just places to eat; people use restaurants as social centers and community landmarks. This is especially true in ethnic neighborhoods, where minority entrepreneurs have historically used their establishments to engage in civic activism. Doneraki Authentic Mexican Restaurant, Merida Mexican Café, Villa Arcos […]
Finding A Way: Developing the Center for Mexican American Studies at UH
The impetus for the Mexican American Studies Program at the University of Houston came from the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO), a student group that began pressuring the University to establish Mexican American Studies in 1970. In the spring of 1971, a committee of faculty and MAYO representatives developed a proposal and the program became […]
The Fight for Bilingual Education in Houston: An Insider’s Perspective
During the 1990s, conservative forces in the country initiated a campaign to eliminate or replace state and local bilingual education policies with English only ones. Proponents of bilingual education challenged these efforts in policy-making arenas, in the courts, and in the streets.
When There Were Wards: A Series
Our series “When There Were Wards” will appear over three issues of the print magazine tracing the history of Houston’s ward system and featuring highlights on each of the six wards.
We’re Sticking by Our Union: The Battle for Baytown
Between June 1942, and November 1943, Baytown, Texas, became the backdrop to one of the most dramatic labor confrontations to rock the upper Texas Gulf Coast during World War II.
Freedman’s Town: A Lesson in the Failure of Historic Preservation
The struggle to preserve the history of Freedmen’s Town in Houston, Texas is entangled in the questionable systems of urban renewal and development, which inevitably work to displace many of the poor African American residents from the community.
Letter from the Editor – Civic Leadership
Click here to view the pdf.
William Holland: A Mighty Lion at Yates
In 1958, Jack Yates High School moved from its original location at 2610 Elgin Street in the Third Ward to its current location at 3703 Sampson, just a short distance away. It should have been an improvement—modern building, larger facility—but instead it marked a reversal from the school’s position as a central, guiding force for […]
The KKK in Houston and Harris County, 1920-1925
On the evening of November 27, 1920, some two hundred mysterious figures threaded their way behind a torch bearer through the downtown streets of Houston. A hush fell over thousands of onlookers as the hooded figures silently “passed like specters from another world.” The second Ku Klux Klan had arrived.