Texas Originals | Houston Public Media

Walking alongside the River Elbe, it’s easy to get the sense of Hamburg’s long history as a port. Brick warehouses date back to the mid-nineteenth century — most of those have been converted to offices or museums.“The first people were starting to trade a little bit at this crossing of these two rivers,” says Axel Mattern, CEO of the Port of Hamburg Marketing Association.  He’s pointing to a spot all but buried amongst the brickwork, where... Read More

MODY COGGIN BOATRIGHT (October 16, 1896–August 20, 1970)   Folklorist and oral history pioneer Mody Boatright was no stranger to the tall tale. Raised in a West Texas ranching family in the early decades of the twentieth century, he was descended from pioneers, cattlemen, and merchants. He grew up immersed in stories of the Texas frontier. Boatright served in World War I and earned his bachelor’s degree from what is now West Texas A&M University.... Read More

March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863 In 1861, as the Civil War loomed, Texas Governor Sam Houston watched his constituents vote to secede from the Union.  Houston could not believe that two decades of his work was about to unravel.  His loyalty to the Union was genuine and he was not willing switch his allegiance to the Confederacy.  Houston was forced out of office but not before saying “I love Texas too well to... Read More

ARTHUR JOHN “JACK” JOHNSON March 31, 1878–June 10, 1946   Jack Johnson was born in Galveston in 1878.  He went on to become the greatest boxer in the world and one of America's most famous celebrities.  Johnson won the World Colored Heavyweight Championship in 1903, but couldn’t claim the overall title because white fighters refused to face him in the ring. That changed in 1908 when Johnson beat Tommy Burns to become the first African-American... Read More

  MOLLIE EVELYN MOORE DAVIS(April 12, 1844–January 1, 1909)   Born in 1844, Mollie Evelyn Moore Davis was one of the most important Texas writers of the nineteenth century. Davis’s family moved to Texas from Alabama when she was eleven. Just five years later, The Tyler Reporter published one of her poems. In the 1870s, Davis began writing for national audiences about postbellum Texas and Louisiana. Her short fiction appeared in such magazines as Harper’s and....

Marion Koogler McNay stands next to a self-portrait of Paul Gaugin, "Portrait of the Artist with the Idol." Her home would later became the McNay Art Museum, May 1942. Image credit: The University of Texas at San Antonio: San Antonio Light Photograph Collection (MS 359: L-2953-C)   MARION KOOGLER MCNAY(February 7, 1883–April 13, 1950)   Once described as the “Gertrude Stein of San Antonio,” Marion Koogler McNay created the first museum of modern art in.....

Bessie Coleman, the first African American licensed pilot shown here on the wheel of a Curtiss JN-4 "Jennie" in her custom designed flying suit (circa 1924). Photo credit: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, photo NASM92-13721   BESSIE COLEMAN (January 26, 1892–April 30, 1926)   Born to a sharecropping family in northeast Texas in 1892, Bessie Coleman became the world’s first female African American aviator. Coleman spent her childhood in Waxahachie, Texas. After moving to.....

JANE McMANUS STORM CAZNEAUApril 6, 1807–December 10, 1878     Writer and promoter Jane McManus Storm Cazneau helped shape Texas and American history in the mid-nineteenth century. Working as a journalist in the 1840s and 50s, Cazneau campaigned tirelessly for Texas independence. Her columns in periodicals such as the New York Sun helped sway public opinion in support of Texas statehood—and America’s “manifest destiny” more generally...

Portraits of Sara DeWitt and Green DeWitt. Gonzalez County Museum. Courtesy John A. Moehring.   GREEN AND SARA DeWittFebruary 12, 1787–May 18, 1835; June 29, 1787– November 28, 1854   Among the most important Anglo settlements in Spanish Texas was DeWitt’s Colony, founded in 1825 by Green DeWitt and James Kerr along the Guadalupe River. Before coming to Texas, DeWitt fought in the War of 1812 with the Missouri militia. By 1821, DeWitt was aware... Read More

CYNTHIA ANN PARKERca. 1827–1871 Cynthia Ann Parker is the most famous Indian captive in American history.Quanah Parker, son of Cynthia Ann Parker, in full headdress. He was a Comanche chief.She was born in Illinois, around 1827. In 1833, her family moved to Texas and built Fort Parker in what is now Limestone County, east of Waco. Comanche warriors attacked the fort in 1836 and took young Cynthia Ann captive.Parker spent the next twenty-four years with the... Read More