Download the full pdf. Vol. 13, No. (Summer 2016) Letter from the Editor by retiring Editor-in-Chief Joseph A. Pratt 2 Carolyn Farb: Fundraiser Extraordinaire A Conversation with Carolyn Farb and Bob Boudreaux 10 Los La Rottas de Houston: A Colombian Family’s Immigration Story By Alex La Rotta 15 Binding People Together in The Church of Jesus Christ […]
Archive | Women
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 […]
Voices Breaking Boundaries
In a world full of customs offices and immigration departments, where borders and national identities play powerful roles, thousands of individuals experience similar crises and conflicts, and joys and frustrations, no matter where they live around the globe. Although the commonality of these experiences often goes unrecognized by politicians and policy-makers, the Houston-based non-profit organization […]
North America Taiwanese Women’s Association
Not content with the status quo and lacking an organization to represent them, a small group of thirty Taiwanese women from the United States and Canada formed what became the North America Taiwanese Women’s Association (NATWA) in March of 1988. A non-profit run primarily by volunteers, NATWA created a nongovernmental organization to address major issues […]
A Scream or a Whisper: Images of Activism in Houston
Activism takes many forms. Although most easily recognized by the sights and sounds of protestors marching down the street carrying signs, activism is also demonstrated quietly through the comforting voice that calms a stray animal or in a roadside memorial communicating awareness for road safety. The people behind these social movements, regardless of the voracity […]
A Life of Activism: Maria Jimenez
In May 1957, Maria Jimenez arrived in Houston, having just left her native Coahuila in Mexico to reunite with her father. Her family settled in a small Magnolia Park home near Maria’s school, Franklin Elementary. There, as a first grader, she experienced her first dose of anti-Mexican sentiments. Within the halls, classrooms, and playgrounds, school […]
Houston Pilots: Guardians of the Waterway
Houston is often called the city that built the port that built the city. The measure of success, however, should not be in the building of what has become the nation’s largest inland port but rather in the hundreds of thousands of ships the Houston Pilots have quietly and safely guided along the channel over […]
Blue-Water Ships, Brown-Water Bayou: Wartime Construction 1941-1945
Long before its formal entry into the Second World War in December 1941, the United States was actively supporting Great Britain and its allies in the struggle against Germany through the Lend-Lease program and other efforts. Part of this assistance was the U.S. Maritime Commission’s decision in late 1940 to accept a contract to build […]
MacGregor Park, A Gift to Houston
When people hear the name MacGregor Park they likely think of two notable Houstonians: Henry F. MacGregor, a businessman and philanthropist who helped shape Houston’s development in the first quarter of the twentieth century whose family donated the land for the park in his honor, and Olympian Zina Garrison, who became a world champion tennis […]
The Life and Legacy of Overseer R. L. Braziel
On November 9, 2005, Ruby Lee Braziel, my grandmother, suffered a mild stroke in her home and was rushed to Houston’s St. Luke’s Hospital. When I returned home from school, my father, Darwin Allen Sr., told me what had happened – sad news that any grandson would hate to hear.

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