Lydia Mendoza was born in Houston Heights on May 21, 1916, to parents who had fled the Mexican Revolution. Rising to fame in the 1930s in the Southwest United States, Mendoza became known as the Queen of Tejano and the first icon of Mexican American pop culture. Despite her popularity at the time, discrimination against […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 mission of Talento Bilingüe de Houston is to educate all by preserving, presenting and promoting Latino culture. Founded in 1977 as a small troupe known as “Teatro Bilingüe de Houston” (Bilingual Theater of Houston), this non-profit organization has evolved into a Latino Cultural Arts Center that offers a year-round series of performing arts and […]
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.
Sometimes life takes on an unexpected journey. Tatcho Mindiola, Jr., director of the Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) and associate professor of sociology at the University of Houston, started out studying to be a businessman. Fortunately for the many students whose lives he has impacted, his own life took a different turn.
Rabbi Jimmy Kessler explains that Texas began as a frontier and Rabbis were called upon to meet an incredibly diverse set of needs. He details the contributions of Galveston Rabbi Henry Cohen and Houston Rabbis Robert Kahn and Hyman Schachtel.
Timothy Wyatt tells the story behind the beautiful gold-domed cathedral that sits on Highway 59 North-Eastex Freeway. Eusebio Joaquín González, known as the Prophet Aaron, established the rapidly growing denomination of Oneness Pentecostalism in Monterey, Mexico, in1926.
Tomiko Meeks chronicles Rev. Lawson’s work at TSU and the birth of a neighborhood church that led to the formation of Wheeler Avenue Baptist.
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