My uncle once came across a TV show that good-naturedly poked fun at Ann Richards in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1992. To him, it seemed like a scene from a completely different era. At the time, the presi...

“We were hunted like outlaw wolves,” Sam Houston declared in his inaugural address as the first elected president of the Republic of Texas. “Our little band was driven from one hiding place to another

Air conditioning arrived in Texas in the 1920s. One of the twentieth century’s greatest inventions is as Texan as Dr Pepper and Blue Bell ice cream. And just like you

It was 1950, and the modern civil rights movement was still some four or five years away. The tragic events that unfolded on both banks of the Trinity River foreshadowed what was yet to come.

Before the Supreme Court rulings, new laws, and the movement known as “civil rights,” there were essentially two Americas: one white and one Black. White people ruled, while Black people struggled to...

Few remember Raymond Hamilton today, while nearly everyone knows his accomplices, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Their two-year crime spree from 1932 to 1934 stretched across several states.

Fort Worth was rarely at the forefront of efforts to advance women’s rights. The men who governed the city held distinctly patriarchal views toward women in the judicial system. The only role in which...

I’m no expert on many things, but when it comes to judging the quality of Texas literature, or Texana as it’s called, I’m as confident as a rider on a bucking bronco who’s still upright after...

I first heard the term “Moontower” from Matthew McConaughey. He didn’t say it directly to me. He said it to a car full of teenagers in Richard Linklater’s film Dazed and Confused. He told them there w...

Do you recognize this voice?: "My well came in, Bick. Everybody thought I had a duster? Y'all thought ole Spindletop and ole Burk Burnett was all the oil there was, didn't you?" (My well came in, Bick...

In Alaska, a popular bumper sticker reads: "Pissing Off Texans Since 1959." (Annoying Texans since 1959.) This jab, of course

Texans have a saying: “Driving across Texas isn't a trip; it's a damn career.” (Crossing Texas isn't a trip; it's a damn career.) Texas is big, no doubt about it. But it used to be much bigger. And