Ney created iconic Texas figurative sculptures, while forging the young state’s intellectual underpinnings. Her salons, modeled after those she enjoyed in Berlin but held outdoors, became highly influential, a nexus for intellectual and political engagement in formative Austin.
The end of the 19th century saw the birth of numerous women's lineage organizations in the United States. We will explore the early history of all of these organizations and the ways in which their efforts shaped and continue to influence the field of historic preservation.
Filmmaker Jeff Kerr leads us on an entertaining look at Austin’s first streetlighting system that carried the city into the modern age.
The financial crash of 1893 created suffering throughout the United States. It also motivated fundamental changes in American politics and economy. Jeremi Suri, PhD, discuss the sources of the crash and its consequences.
Dr. Edmund T. Gordon sheds new light on Black influences on the founding of the University of Texas.
Bird’s eye views of Texas cities and towns became very popular in the decades after the Civil War. They were often commissioned as advertisements to promote new towns and/or to document they tremendous growth of these places between 1870 and 1900.
Elyssa McCuistion presents the life of William Porter (O’ Henry) —from reticent country boy to dashing man-about-town, from pharmacist to bookkeeper to musician to artist.
Karen Pope takes us back in time to discover how the Exhibition in Philadelphia connected to the young state of Texas.
This lecture will ground Homer in his early career to then explore the ways in which his work shed light on a fractured nation coming to grips with a new modern world in the years that followed the Civil War.
The Shankleville Historical Society was organized in 1988, and immediately began taking steps to formalize the community’s “origin story” into a vehicle for education and cultural programs that have broadened the story of Texas.
Walter Buenger takes us on a ride through Texas rail history to illuminate the challenges faced in bringing rail travel to the state as well as the economic and cultural impact of the rail lines as they expanded through the 1870s and 1880s.
Sarah Bird shares her 40-year journey with Cathay Williams--the only woman to serve with the legendary Buffalo Soldiers.
Discover the build up and ramifications of the Buffalo War.
Join us for an exploration of New Orleans, both its antebellum architectural history and the legacy of that history in the years following the end of the United States Civil War.
This performance lecture by Ev Lunning, Francesca Christian and Friends, explores the intertwining of the British writer’s career with the story of Texas from 1845-1855.
Learn the origins of two well known Texas Anthems, “The Yellow Rose” and “The Eyes”.
Discover how Sam Houston fought for unity in a divisive world.
Discover how art shaped the memorialization of the Battle of the Nieces
Join us for an afternoon conversation and performance with Dr. Ted Gordon and Ms. Jennifer Cumberbatch. Dr. Gordon will speak about the important role the institution of slavery played in the birth and growth of Austin and the realities of everyday life for the enslaved through the lens of two buildings practically adjacent to each other and built within a dozen years of each other. Gordon will use the Neill-Cochran House and the God Start building, to talk about the contradiction between the importance and skill of Black skilled labor in early Austin and the debased social status of Blacks as enslaved and forepersons. Gordon will also talk about how skills practiced in slavery could also be the basis for freed black people to construct their own lives in freedom. Ms. Cumberbatch will bring to life the memories of formerly enslaved Austinites and their families through a one-woman performance drawn from oral histories recorded during the 1930s through WPA funding.
Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch is a pastor, counselor, actress and playwright from Austin, the owner and founder of JR Cumberbatch Productions, and Cumberbatch Confections. Jennifer is sent out from Agape Christian Ministries, where she was an associate pastor, to found and establish Full Measure Ministries. She has written, starred in, staged and produced several productions, in Austin and throughout Texas. She has starred in her one woman show “R3: Real Life, Real Women, Real Stories”, “and performed as “Sadie” Delany in “Having our Say, the Delany Sisters First 100 Years”, and Sally Burditt in “The Bluebellies in Austin: Readings from the Travis Country Slave Narratives”. Jennifer worked with and was directed by the late and venerable Boyd Vance, founder and artistic director of the now defunct Pro Arts Collective. The Boyd Vance Theater at Austin’s Carver museum is named after this great artist and visionary and is the inspiration for Jennifer’s Production Company and passion to tell the stories of African Americans, Black people and all peoples with authenticity and depth in the context of the American landscape. A graduate of Brown University and Austin’s Seminary of the Southwest, Jennifer also preaches, teaches, leads retreats, and is a vocalist and published writer.
Edmund T. Gordon is the founding chair of the African and African Diaspora Studies Department, Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies and Anthropology of the African Diaspora, and Vice Provost for Diversity at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Gordon is also the former Associate Vice President of Thematic Initiatives and Community Engagement of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement as well as former Director of the Center for African and African American Studies at The University of Texas. His teaching and research interests include Culture and power in the African Diaspora, gender studies (particularly Black males), critical race theory, race education, and the racial economy of space and resources. His publications include Disparate Diasporas: Identity and Politics in an African-Nicaraguan Community, 1998 UT Press. Dr. Gordon received his Doctorate in Social Anthropology from Stanford University and his Master’s of Arts from Stanford University in Anthropology and Master’s degree in Marine Sciences from theUniversity of Miami.
