Coach Bill Yeoman & UH Football
By Ryan Graham The greatest and most successful college football coaches are those who unlock the hidden potential in a program. Not only do they bring out the best in themselves, they also bring out the best in their assistant coaches and, most importantly, their players. From perennial “P5” powerhouses (Power 5 NCAA Division 1 […]
Eldrewey Stearns and Houston’s Student Civil Rights Movement
In the late 1950s and early 1960s young people in Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Tennessee held sit-ins that caught the eye of Texas Southern University (TSU) students in Houston
Building on Intellectual Foundations: Creating the African American Library at the Gregory School
On September 2, 2002 a group of city officials and Houston’s then-mayor, Lee P. Brown, solidified the fate of an abandoned brick building at 1300 Victor Street in Freedmen’s Town Historic District. Through a significant restoration effort, Fourth Ward’s late-1920s-era African-American elementary school, vacant since 1984, was to become a dual-purpose cultural center and research […]
Minette Boesel: Houston’s Preservation & Adaptive Reuse Advocate
By Silvia Celeste Martinez What is the current building trend in Houston? Adaptive reuse of buildings has become increasingly popular in an effort to preserve existing structures and simultaneously adapt their function to their communities’ needs. Since preservation activist Minnette Boesel wrote “Historic Preservation in Houston… a History?” which appeared in The Houston Review of […]
Progressive Programming at KUHT
By Emily Vinson The KUHT television program People are Taught to be Different had the noble aim of improving intercultural understanding, and showing viewers that people are, at their core, much the same. Against a simple stage setting, elegant dancers interpreted moments of joy and sorrow, anger, and love across cultures, as the narrator provided […]
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 […]
Pioneering Houston EMS: Answering the Call
Houston EMS personnel recall stories of an auto accident on a Houston roadway, most likely on Westheimer near its current intersection with Loop 610. Two ambulances arrived at the scene to find one person dead and another badly injured. The two men who worked for separate private companies, believed to be funeral homes, fought over […]
Houston Setting the Standard for Emergency Care
A year before the City of Houston implemented its ambulance program, a nonprofit volunteer ambulance service went to the Houston home of a five-year-old girl only to find her dead on arrival. Earlier in the day after giving the child cursory care for asthma, the staff at a local hospital sent her home, advising the […]
On Call by Choice: Life Stories of Houston EMS
The Houston Fire Department Emergency Medical Services (HFD EMS) has pioneered emergency medical protocols, leading the way for departments across the country, but behind the history are the individuals who stand ready every day of the year
Lives Saved, Heroes Made
When someone calls 9-1-1 in Houston, Houston Fire Department EMTs and paramedics respond quickly – and there is hope. This photo essay depicts just a small portion of the reunions that occur each years with emergency patients, their family, and HFD members.

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