I hacked together an iPhone shortcut that helps when I hit certain paywalls. The use case: I’m on the page for a journal article that the Rice library should have access to, but it’s saying I don’t. Rice’s library uses EZProxy , so what I need to do is modify the URL slightly in order to trigger logging in to my institution’s access. Now I just “share” the page with my shortcut, and it opens the…
More of the exhibit at the Levi Jordan site. Proud to see the work of Rice students, led by mentors including Daniel Domingues da Silva and Molly Morgan, featured here.
I spent the morning attending a meeting of the Texas Consortium of Universities and Colleges Studying Slavery and Race, and visiting the Levi Jordan Plantation Historic Site . There I was also able to see an exhibit created by Rice students on the trafficking of enslaved people to Texas.
My new progressive lenses are in a frame called Hayden. It will probably take a couple weeks to get used to reading everything as emplotment.
The Organization of American Historians has alerted members that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) plans to close two regional branches in Chicago and San Bruno, California. I agree entirely with the OAH that this would be a disastrous decision, one “driven by chronic underfunding, not archival need.” And I also can attest personally to the value of staff…
Still gathering my thoughts for this Saturday’s session honoring Jim Stewart at #SHEAR2026.
I’ll be at #SHEAR2026 in Philadelphia this Saturday to chair a hybrid roundtable session honoring the late James Brewer Stewart. In preparation, I have had the pleasant task of going back through some of Jim’s scholarship, to which I and so many other historians of abolitionism have been indebted over the years. I had forgotten that my copy of his great biography of William Lloyd…
I submitted a public comment on the OMB’s proposed changes to federal grant-making procedures, indicating my agreement with the warnings of the American Historical Association about the revisions. Here’s what I said: As a professional historian, I have direct, personal experience with the federal grant-making process for humanities research, and I have observed how vital independent…
The full June 2026 issue of the open-access Journal of Texas History is out now from the Alliance for Texas History. It includes my article on “The First Juneteenth: Black Churches, Reconstruction Politics, and the Houston Origins of June 19 Celebrations.”
Summer is sometimes for throwing together what Robin Sloan calls home-cooked apps , like a simple page that just lets me search the stacks of my university library the way God intended.
For many years, I have shared with my U.S. history students the letters of Hawkins Wilson . Born into slavery, Wilson had been sold away from his family in Virginia as a child, eventually ending up in Texas. It was from there, on May 11, 1867, in Galveston, that Wilson composed a moving letter to an agent of the Freedmen’s Bureau, seeking information about his long-lost relatives in Caroline…
My family made me a Father’s Day playlist of random earworms I woke up singing over the last year. From the Marx Brothers to Mavis Staples, it’s quite a journey (but no Journey).
As part of this morning’s ceremony, four historical markers of lynchings in Harris County were unveiled in downtown Houston. In the background stands the county jail. These markers are part of EJI’s Community Remembrance Project .
Powerful ceremony this morning in Harris County for the unveiling of design plans for Remembrance Park in Houston.
I spoke with “Houston Matters” this morning about the Houston origins of Juneteenth. Watch on YouTube …
My essay in the Houston Chronicle shares my new research on the first anniversary of June 19 in Houston and the lessons of Juneteenth for today. Read here or use the gift link .
The peace lily at my office is blooming this week. This may be the longest I’ve managed to keep an indoor plant alive! I give it an old “Borders Books and Music” travel mug full of water, every Monday.
Rice News has a story about my new research into Houston’s inaugural celebration of Juneteenth.
Updated some notes in my open research notebook: Arlington House , Juneteenth , Refugeed Slaves .
On June 19, 1866, Black Texans marked the first anniversary of Juneteenth. But where and how was that day first publicly celebrated? My new article, “The First Juneteenth,” explores those questions and finds some surprising answers in Houston. Read more …
Nearly 9 years since Hurricane Harvey, we still occasionally get submissions to the Harvey Memories Project . Yesterday another story came in, and the Contribution form remains open.
I’ve uploaded a PDF version of my new post on the history of Arlington House to Rice’s Research Repository. DOI: 10.25611/3KFS-1A94
Grateful to have a write-up by Katharine Shilcutt for Rice’s research magazine about SSSFRU .
NEW POST: How “Arlington House” Became “The Robert E. Lee Memorial.” Read more …
Today I’m at the annual conference of the Alliance for Texas History , which is off to a great start!