Andrea’s Throw Back Thursday: My Family & Houston’s Long Forgotten All-Black Rodeo Arena

I grew up going to rodeos. Yes, this little black girl went to rodeos. They were all-Black  and held in Richmond and Rosenberg. Sometimes they had a little chittlin’ circuit show associated with them, but mostly, it was just lots of Black cowboys and cowgirls doing their thing. Apparently, the lowest and highest caliber of

Section 106, Integrity, & Eligiblity Determination for African American Historic Properties

This is an attempt to protect an African American cemetery and house in Charlottesville, VA threatened by a proposed transportation project. It is an example of a recent National Register determination of eligibility for a site that originally had its integrity challenged. The National Register traditionally recognizes a property’s integrity through seven aspects or qualities: location,

Can the Doomed Astrodome Save Modernism?

“In a recent article in Architect magazine tied to the destruction of Prentice Hospital in Chicago—another travesty—my Design Observer colleague Alexandra Lange suggested the modern preservation movement was in need of a Penn Station Moment; the destruction of a monument so beloved that it would galvanize a movement to prevent future travesties. The Astrodome is

Pelham, Texas’ “Guardians of Memory” in one of the State’s Last Active Freedom Colonies

“At her kitchen table she pulls out an old map from the Navarro County Historical Society and traces her finger from one town name to the next, including several old black communities. “These communities don’t exist no more,” she says. “Babylon, no more. Bethel, no more. Round Prairie’s about gone. Porter’s Bluff, it’s gone.” From

Sensing Our Place: Reading Race & Sex in the NY Times ’12 Years a Slave Roundtable’

Excerpts from Original, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, & Rescued in 1853:  Electronic Edition. Solomon Northup (b. 1808) I came across this interesting roundtable discussion in the NY Times An Essentially American Narrative A Discussion of Steve McQueen’s Film ‘12 Years a

On the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, Remember Ft. Bend County’s Voting Rights Heroes

Fort Bend County’s little known African American history is in danger of being forgotten. Especially as it relates to struggles around voting rights in areas like Stafford and Fifth Street. The west end of the County commemorates the Terry V. Adams, which ended whites only primaries in Texas. See ceremony below: Terry v. Adams Marker