
Houston Museum of African American Culture
By Morgan E. Thomas John Guess, Jr. cuts the ribbon at the opening of the Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC) in 2012. Photo courtesy of HMAAC. On the corner of Caroline and Wentworth Streets, a newspaper box stands near the doorway of a white building. Upon closer inspection, the box features an article […]

The Store That Does More: H-E-B in Houston, Texas
By Miles Bednorz This Mi Tienda, located in Pasadena, Texas, provides customers in the majority Hispanic area with traditional ingredients not sold at other H-E-B stores. Photo courtesy of Miles Bednorz. Begun as a small grocery, staffed by family members in Kerrville, Texas, H-E-B has grown into a massive company, operating more than four hundred […]

Houston’s East End: Past in the Present
By Marie-Theresa Hernández The plane, with the name “Tommy Joe” painted on its nose, is in the front yard of a private home on Navigation Boulevard. I wish Tommy Joe was still around to tell us stories about the plane in action. Photo by Golnar Makvandi. In spring 2021, in the middle of the COVID pandemic, […]
Table of Contents 19.2 Community Engagement
Download the full pdf here 19.2 Letter from the Editor, Debbie Z. Harwell 2Dr. Sue Garrison: The Inspiration Behind Generations of Educators and LeadersBy Debbie Z. Harwell8Latino cARTographies: Mapping the Past, Present, and Future of Houston’s Latino Visual ArtBy Pamela Anne Quiroz and Juana Guzman14Establishing the University of Houston: “May We All Cherish This School Always” By Grace Conroy17Shakespeare For All: The Spirit of the Houston Shakespeare FestivalBy Andrew Tello22From the ArchivesDr. Richard I. Evans […]

Houston History Launch Events
Click here to link to our past launch events sponsored by the UH Center for Public History Lecture Series.

19.1 San Jose Clinic: Forever Healing – Letter from Editor
We are honored to have partnered with the San José Clinic to tell the story of their first 100 years providing healthcare to Houston’s underserved. Please see the joint letter introducing this issue from Houston History editor, Debbie Harwell, and San José Clinic President and CEO, Maureen Sanders.

Founding of San José Clinic
Malnourishment and disease from Mexican Americans and Mexican’s impoverished communities in 1922 led to high infant morality rate and mothers’ lacking adequate knowledge about childcare. To combat these concerns, Msgr. George T. Walsh enlisted the help of Katherine Carroll and Theodora Kendall to establish a free clinic for the Mexican and Mexican American community in […]

The Catholic Church and San José Clinic
By Miles Bednorz Emerging from the rapidly growing congregation of St. Vincent’s Catholic Church, Annunciation Church became Houston’s second Catholic Church when it was dedicated in 1871 and is the oldest existing church building in Houston. The Catholic Church has always been the foundation of the San José Clinic. Catholic groups and institutions like the Archdiocese […]

San José Clinic in Houston’s Medical Mecca
The San José Clinic’s activities foreshadowed future successes for the clinic, changing tens of thousands of lives, as it took advantage of advancing medical technology, expanding community partnerships, and twice moving to new and larger facilities in the decades to come.

Treating Patients from Head to Toe
By Grace Conroy, Caitlyn Jones, and Debbie Z. Harwell The local Sembradores de Amistad chapter held a fundraiser in 1970 to provide glasses for San José Clinic patients. Club president, Virginia “Vergie” Treviño, left, and fundraising chair Mrs. Roy Molina, right, walk with Beatrice Moreno proudly wearing her new glasses. Photo courtesy of the […]