Texas Originals | Houston Public Media

Portrait of Moses Austin made before his death in 1821. Image courtesy the Brazoria County Historical Museum. MOSES AUSTIN October 4, 1761–June 10, 1821   Moses Austin, the patriarch of Anglo settlement in Texas, died before his colonial dream became a reality. Austin was born in Connecticut in 1761. As a young man, he opened dry goods stores in Philadelphia and Richmond. After winning the contract to roof the new Virginia capitol, Austin acquired the... Read More

Portrait of Winifred Sanford. Image courtesy of The Wittliff Collections, Alkek Library, Texas State University, San Marcos. WINIFRED SANFORD (March 16, 1890–March 24, 1983) In the 1920s, writer Winifred Sanford’s stories of the Texas oil boom captured the anxieties of a state on the verge of modernization. Born in Minnesota, Sanford moved to Wichita Falls in 1920, as her husband sought his fortune in the new oilfields of North Texas. At first, Sanford found the... Read More

CHIEF BOWL ca. 1756–July 16, 1839 Cherokee leader Chief Bowl, also known as “Bowles” and “Duwali,” was born in North Carolina around 1756 to a Scottish father and a Cherokee mother. In the early nineteenth century, Bowl led the first large Cherokee emigration west of the Mississippi River—to Missouri, then Arkansas, and finally to the Mexican province of Texas. There, in a settlement near Nacogdoches, Bowl headed an alliance of Cherokee villages.Bowl helped Mexico defeat Anglo.....

 LORENZO DE ZAVALA October 3, 1788–November 15, 1836 Born in Yucatan in 1788, Lorenzo de Zavala dedicated much of his life to fighting oppression.  That was certainly true when his former ally, Santa Anna, established a centralized regime suppressing Mexican Federalism.  Zavala did the only thing he could to weaken the leader’s iron grip: he helped bring about the Texas Revolution.Zavala’s political experience and reputation as a principled fighter made him an ideal ally for the.....

Clara Driscoll April 2, 1881 – July 17, 1945"Remember the Alamo" was the rallying cry at the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto.  However by 1903, the neglected Alamo was nearly torn down and replaced by a hotel.  The state had already purchased the church, but refused to pay for the rest of the grounds where most of the famous battle occurred. At that point, 22-year-old Clara Driscoll, whose grandfather had fought in the battle of San... Read More

STEPHEN FULLER AUSTIN November 3, 1793 – December 27, 1836 Stephen F. Austin wrote, "I have learned patience in the hard School of an Empresario." That was six years after Austin brought his first settlers to Texas. Colonizing Texas would become his life's work, but without his patience and years of sacrifice, Texas as we know it today might not exist. Austin came to Texas in 1821 to continue his father's work. Moses Austin received... Read More

 ANGELINA EBERLY (July 2, 1798–August 15, 1860)On Austin’s Congress Avenue stands a striking bronze sculpture of a woman firing a Howitzer cannon.  That woman is Angelina Eberly, the heroine of the little-known, but distinctly Texan, Archive War of 1842.Eberly was born in Tennessee in 1798 and came to Texas as a young woman.  By 1839 she was widowed and running a boarding house in Austin.  That year, the Texas Congress moved the Republic’s capital from... Read More

April 13, 1924–January 25, 2001 With a bent back and powerful hands, an African American man figures prominently in a large mural in Houston's Blue Triangle YWCA.  To his left, Harriet Tubman leads weary slaves to freedom.  To his right, Sojourner Truth stands while children march proudly into a schoolhouse. Dedicated in 1953, this mural titled “The Contribution of Negro Women to American Life and Education” was a milestone in the career of artist John.....

July 11, 1907—January 29, 2001 A mural in the El Paso Federal Court House named “Pass of the North,” typifies the work of Texas artist Tom Lea.  Larger-than-life figures representing El Paso's many inhabitants—a Mexican vaquero, a Conquistador, Apache Indians, and pioneers—all range across the courthouse wall.  Behind them, stark desert light illuminates a mountain range, while storm clouds sweep threaten in the distance...

    Barbara Jordan (1936-1996) In July 1974, as the Watergate hearings took place, one voice stood out expressing faith in American ideals.  That voice — deep, measured, and unmistakable — belonged to Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan.   “My faith in the Constitution is whole,” Jordan declared, “it is complete, it is total...