Texas Originals | Houston Public Media

Juan Seguín October 27, 1806–August 27, 1890 Texas revolutionary Juan Seguín was a politician, a soldier, a businessman, even a suspected traitor. Yet he was also a hero and an honored veteran. The contradictions of Seguín’s life illustrate how complicated loyalty was during the struggle for Texas independence—especially for Tejano citizens of the Republic.Seguín was born in San Antonio in 1806. As a young man, he formed a militia of Texians to resist President Santa Anna’s.....

BELLE STARR February 5, 1848–February 3, 1889 When Belle Starr was shot to death in 1889, a newspaper declared her to be “a most desperate woman …” Her killer was never identified. Many suspected her son, whom Belle had recently beaten for mistreating her horse.  Her unsolved murder was a fitting end to a life that was a whirlwind of violence, crime and legend.She was born Myra Maybelle Shirley in 1848 and at the age of... Read More

HARRY HUNTT RANSOM November 22, 1908–April 19, 1976 The Gutenberg Bible, completed in 1454, is the first substantial book printed with movable type.  Of the twenty-one complete copies in existence, one is on view at The University of Texas at Austin’s Harry Ransom Center.  This book—and the Center that houses it—are the proud legacy of Chancellor Harry Huntt Ransom known as “The Great Acquisitor.”Born in Galveston in 1908, Ransom came to U-T in 1935 as an... Read More

James Earl Rudder May 6, 1910– March 23, 1970 The German army considered Pointe du Hoc a perfect spot for defending the coast of France from Allied forces during World War II.  From a top its hundred-foot cliffs, German guns could reach both Omaha Beach and Utah Beach.  The Germans thought their position was secure. And it was — until June 1944, when Texan James Earl Rudder and his 2nd Ranger Battalion began to climb those cliffs.Rudder... Read More

JOHN AVERY LOMAXSeptember 23, 1867 - January 26, 1948 Folklorist John Lomax spent his life collecting songs.  According to one writer, Lomax would find the music “around chuck wagons, on levees and railroads, in the saloons, churches, and penitentiaries of the South and Southwest.”John Lomax’s life-long commitment to preserving folk song began when he first heard cowboy ballads near the Chisholm Trail in Bosque County, Texas. He graduated from The University of Texas in 1897 and later.....

 Edna Ferber (1887–1968) In the 1920s and 30s, Edna Ferber was one of the most widely read writers in America.  She won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1924 novel So Big.  Another of her novels, Showboat, became a popular musical and a hit film.  But perhaps no other work of Ferber’s is remembered as well—at least in Texas—as Giant.Published in 1952, Giant tells the story of a young Virginia woman named Leslie Lynnton who marries a... Read More

DOROTHY SCARBOROUGH (January 27, 1878–November 7, 1935) In 1925, an anonymous novel called The Wind spotlighted the West Texas town of Sweetwater.  The Wind told the tragic tale of Letty Mason, a Virginian who moves to Sweetwater during the drought-stricken 1880s. By book's end, Letty has committed murder and suicide—driven in part by the relentless West Texas wind.In 1925, Harper & Brothers first published The Wind anonymously "as a marketing gimmick," writes scholar Sylvia Grider...

ELISABET NEY (January 26, 1833–June 29, 1907) In the south foyer of the Texas State Capitol stand two life-sized statues: one of Sam Houston, the other of Stephen F. Austin.  These men helped shape the state of Texas, but their marble likenesses were shaped by the hands of Elisabet Ney—one of the state’s most talented and determined artists.Ney was born in Prussia in 1833, when ladies were expected merely to dabble in art, certainly not study... Read More

CHESTER WILLIAM NIMITZ February 24, 1885–February 20, 1966 The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 left the U.S. Navy stunned.  With American ships still smoldering in the water, Navy Secretary Frank Knox turned to a Texan, Chester Nimitz, to restore confidence in the Pacific Fleet.Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg in 1885.  He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1905 and then served in several command and staff positions, including the new Atlantic submarine.....

Ima Hogg (1882–1975) Known as the “First Lady of Texas,” Ima Hogg was born in Mineola in 1882, the only daughter of Texas governor “Big Jim” Hogg.  When oil was discovered on family property, the new found wealth was used for the public good.  They believed that since oil came from Texas land, it belonged to Texas citizens.Ima Hogg became an arts patron and a philanthropist.  She helped establish the Houston Symphony Orchestra in 1913.  She... Read More