Texas History

Alonso Alvarez de Pineda

Alonso Álvarez de Pineda commanded a Spanish expedition that sailed in 1519 along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico looking for a water route to the Pacific Ocean. In doing so, he was the first to document information about Texas. He explored a river, which some think might have been the Rio Grande, but there is no definite proof of this. His voyage did encourage the Spanish to explore the region even though they now knew there wasn't a water route to the Pacific in this vicinity.

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

Antonio López de Santa Anna rose to power as the dictator of Mexico after leading a revolt against Mexican President Bustamante in 1832. He promised to restore the Constitution of 1824, but when he didn't fulfill his promise, war with Texas broke out. He led Mexican forces against the Texans, laid siege to the Alamo, and was finally captured at the Battle of San Jacinto. He signed the peace treaty at Velasco in 1836 which ended fighting between Mexico and Texas and called for an exchange of prisoners. Played leading role in Mexico's fight for independence from Spain in 1821 & fights to keep Texas in Mexico later on

Kay Bailey Hutchinson

Born in 1943, Kay Bailey Hutchinson became the first woman to be elected to the United States Senate from Texas in 1993. She was elected to serve out the last two years of the term of Lloyd Bentsen who had resigned to become Secretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton. She was then elected as a Republican to three, six-year terms on her own. She has become one of the most powerful women in the Senate, but plans to retire rather than run for re- election in 2012.

Lorenzo de Zavala

De Zavala played a pivotal role in Texas' battle for independence from Mexico. De Zavala served in the Mexican Congress (1822-1824), the Mexican Senate (1824-1826), Secretary of the Treasury, and minister to France. He resigned as minister due to his opposition to Santa Anna. He moved to Texas where he became active in the independence movement. As a delegate to the Convention of 1836, de Zavala signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Mary Maverick

Mary Maverick was an early pioneer who kept diaries and then published them into memoirs of her life around San Antonio. In 1842, she and her family fled San Antonio to escape the rumored approaching army of Santa Anna who still did not fully accept the independence of Texas. Upon returning after the Mexican-American War, she became a prominent member of the San Antonio Historical Society and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. She painted a watercolor sketch of the Alamo which is thought to be the first painting of the mission. In 1889 she wrote a brief account of the fall of the Alamo.

Oveta Culp Hobby

Oveta Culp Hobby was the first Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the first commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps (WAC), and the first female chairman of the board of the Houston Post. She was born in Killeen, Texas. She received her law degree from the University of Texas and later moved to Houston where she became an assistant city attorney. After she married William Hobby, a former Governor of Texas and the publisher of the Houston Post, she became executive vice-president of the paper.

Raul A. Gonzalez Jr.

Raul A. Gonzalez, Jr., was born to migrant farming parents and grew up in the Rio Grande Valley. Raul graduated from the University of Houston Law School in 1966. His judicial career began in 1978 when Governor Dolph Briscoe appointed him judge of the 103rd Judicial District. He was elected to a four-year term that next November. Before he completed this term, Governor Bill Clements appointed him to fill a vacancy as an Associate Justice on the Thirteenth Texas Court of Appeals. He was subsequently elected to the same position in 1982. Before Gonzalez' term on the Court of Appeals was complete, Governor Mark White appointed him an Associate Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, the highest civil court in Texas.

Scott Jophlin

Scott Joplin was a African American composer and pianist at the turn of the 20th century. He was born in the northeast part of Texas around 1867 and only lived to be 49. Joplin's works include 44 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. In 1976 Joplin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Treemonisha, the first grand opera by an African American. While he did not receive the acclaim while he was alive, he is considered today the "King of Ragtime."

Michael Saul Dell

Michael Saul Dell is an American business magnate and the founder and chief executive officer of Dell, Inc. He is one of the richest people in the world, with a net worth of $13.5 billion in 2010. While a pre-med student at the University of Texas at Austin, Dell started an informal business upgrading computers in room 2713 of the Dobie Center residential building. In 1992 at the age of 27, Dell became the youngest CEO to have his company ranked in Fortune magazine's list of the top 500 corporations.

Mirabeau Lamar

Mirabeau Lamar was born in Georgia. He loved to read, write poetry, and was an expert horseman. Lamar followed James Fannin to Texas in 1835 to collect historical data in order to write a history of Texas. He liked Texas and decided to stay. He enlisted in the army during the Texas Revolution and fought in the Battle of San Jacinto. He became the Vice President of the Republic of Texas and later was elected President of the Republic of Texas. He was opposed to Texas becoming part of the United States, but he later changed his mind. Lamar thought education was so important that he wanted Congress to set aside some public land for schools and universities

Moses Austin

The Panic of 1819 wiped out Moses' fortune, and in 1820, he proposed to the Spanish Governor of Texas that he to bring 300 families to Texas. At first, the plan was rejected, but finally he was given permission to settle in Texas. He returned to Missouri to get his settlers, but died before his dream could be realized. However, his son, Stephen F. Austin, followed through on Moses' plan and brought the first Anglo families to Texas. persuaded the Spanish Governor of Texas to give him a land grant in which to settle 300 families.

Roy Bedichek

After graduating from the University of Texas, he worked at several jobs teaching, writing on a newspaper, and working in business before beginning a career with the University Interscholastic League (U.I.L.) The U.I.L. is charged with providing educational extracurricular athletic, music, and academic competitions for the students of Texas. The organization is the largest of its kind in the world. Bedichek served as the director of U.I.L. for twenty-two years. 1878-1959; Graduated from University of Texas and served as U.I.L. (University Interscholastic League) director for 22 years. He also studied the Texas landscape and wrote three published books that include Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, Karankaway Country, and A History of the U.I.L.

Anson Jones

Anson Jones was born in Massachusetts and moved to Philadelphia as an adult. He became a doctor in 1826, but his medical practice was not successful. He moved to New Orleans in 1832 and became a merchant. He lived through a cholera epidemic and suffered from other problems which left him without enough money on which to live. Jones came to Texas in 1833 when Texas was part of Mexico and opened a successful medical practice in Brazoria. Favoring Texas independence from Mexico, he joined the army as a surgeon when the Texas Revolution began.

Antonio Margil de Jesus

Antonio Margil de Jesus was an early Roman Catholic missionary to Texas. After serving in Mexico and Central America, he traveled into Spanish Texas where he established several missions in East Texas by 1717.

Barbara Jordan

Barbara Jordan was born in Houston in 1936. In 1967, she became the first African American elected to the Texas Senate and in 1973 the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from a southern state. After serving three terms, she retired and became a Professor of Public Service in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. She earned national recognition during the Watergate hearings in 1974, when the House Judiciary Committee was considering the impeachment charges against President Richard Nixon.

Benjy Frances Brooks

Benjy Frances Brooks was the first woman to become a board certified pediatric surgeon in Texas.After teaching science for four years, she decided to enter medical school and specialize in pediatrics. Even though she had a rigorous teaching and surgical schedule, she continued to research congenital defects, burn treatment, spleen reparation, and the prevention of hepatitis after she began practicing. Grateful parents of one of her patients created The Benjy Brooks Foundation for Children.

James L. Farmer

Born in Marshall, Texas, James Farmer became an important leader in the civil rights movement of the 20th century. His frustration with segregation and his belief in the non-violent passive resistance ideas of Gandhi from India led him to found the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) with other students at the University of Chicago. CORE became the first protest organization in the United States founded on the concept of civil disobedience and non -violence. Farmer was its director. To protest segregation on buses in the South, CORE organized the "Freedom Rides." These non-violent protests played a part in making people aware of segregation in interstate transportation. co-founded group "core" & worked at NAACP

Fransico Hildago

Born in Spain, Francisco Hidalgo dedicated his life and work to missions among the Indians in East Texas. Ordained as a Franciscan priest, he came to the New World in 1683. Working at first in the villages around Saltillo, Mexico, Father Hidalgo came to Texas in 1691. He stayed at San Francisco de los Tejas until it had to be abandoned in 1693 and became even more determined to do mission work with the Caddo Indians. In 1711 he attempted to reestablish missions in the East Texas/Louisiana area when he sent a letter to the French governor asking for permission.

John Magruder

Born in Virginia, Magruder was appointed to the United States Military Academy and graduated fifteenth in his class. He resigned from the US Army to take a commission as Lt. Colonel in the Confederate Army. Magruder's greatest feat was the recapture of Galveston from Union forces. After the Civil War, he fled to Mexico where he served in the Emperor Maximilian's army. He later returned to Texas to make his home in Houston where he died in 1871.

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

Cabeza de Vaca was an early Spanish explorer of Texas. In 1528 Cabeza de Vaca's ship and three others were grounded on an island off the Texas coast. After being enslaved by the Mariame Indians, and serving as a merchant and medicine man, de Vaca and other survivors left the area of Galveston Island and began searching for Spanish settlements. After reaching the Pacific Coast of Mexico in 1536, he and his companions recorded their observations describing the Indians, landforms, flora, and fauna of Texas.

Michael Ellis De Bakey

DeBakey was the chancellor emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, director of The Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, and senior attending surgeon of The Methodist Hospital in Houston. As a medical student, DeBakey was responsible for developing a major component of the heart-lung machine which made open heart surgery possible. While serving in the military medical corps during World War II, he supported moving the doctors closer to the fighting to better treat the wounded. Today, mobile medical surgical units are commonplace on the front lines of combat.

Diane Gonzales Bertrand

Diane Gonzales Bertrand was born in San Antonio. She is a Hispanic writer, noted for her books for children and young adults.Her books primarily feature Mexican-American characters with the goal of presenting authentic representations of her culture and positive role models for her readers. Diane Gonzales Bertrand is a teacher of creative writing at St. Mary's University in her hometown of San Antonio, Texas.

Francis Lubbock

Francis Richard Lubbock was born in Beaufort, South Carolina in 1815 and came to Texas in 1836. During the Texas Revolution, Sam Houston appointed him comptroller. In 1857 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of the State, and in 1861 he was elected Governor. An active supporter of the government of the Confederate States of America, he joined the Confederate forces after his term as governor ended. He was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel, and served as assistant adjutant general on the staff of Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder. Lubbock also served as aid-de- camp for Jefferson Davis and was captured with him at the end of the war.

Jose Gutierrez de lara

He became an ardent supporter of Mexican Independence from Spain. When the revolution between Mexico and Spain broke out, he was sent to the Rio Grande to recruit soldiers and solicit aid from the United States. He left for Washington, D.C., with letters of introduction from John Sibley. He was received by Secretary of State James Monroe who listened to his plans for establishment of a republican government in Texas and for using Texas as a base to plan the liberation of Mexico from Spain. However, the U.S. did not send aid because it did not want to harm relations with the Spanish. He served as a provincial governor after Mexico was freed from Spain and was later honored for his work in achieving Mexican Independence.

James Addison Baker 3

He became involved in politics through his friendship with George H.W. Bush while they were both living in Houston. Bush encouraged him to get involved as a way to help with the grief he was suffering due to the death of his first wife. In both administrations his conservative views influenced the policies of the two presidents. In 1991 Baker received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his service. After he left public service, he helped found the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

J. Frank Dobie

He became the first Texas-based writer to gain national attention. Several of his books became best sellers, including Tales of Old-Time Texas, Coronado's Children, and The Longhorns. In these books, Dobie was able to capture the essence of the Southwest which was quickly disappearing as the United States became more urbanized and industrial. President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded him the nation's highest civil award, the Medal of Freedom, on September 14, 1964.

Martin De Leon

He decided to settle in Texas, he petitioned the Spanish government for the right to establish a colony in 1807 but was denied. However, after Mexico won its independence from Spain, the Mexican government finally approved his petition to form a colony in 1824. He established his colony and founded the town which is today the city of Victoria.

James Fannin

He entered the US Military Academy at West Point in 1819 and remained for just over two years. He came to Texas in 1834 and settled with his wife and two daughters at Valesco. Soon after his arrival, he became active in the cause for independence from Mexico. He participated in the Battle of Gonzales and later helped lead the Texas forces in the Battle of Concepcion. In early 1836, Fannin was stationed in Goliad with 400 soldiers. He received orders from Sam Houston on March 14 to retreat to Victoria. Partly through indecision and partly due to circumstances, Fannin delayed the retreat for five days. Due to the delay, Fannin and his troops were captured by General Urrea at Goliad on March 20 and executed on the orders of Santa Anna seven days later. "Remember Goliad" became a Texas battle cry along with "Remember the Alamo."

Ronnie Walter Cunningham

He is a retired American astronaut. After serving in the military, NASA named him to the third group of astronauts. He served in the astronaut program until 1971. In 1968, he was a crew member of the first manned Apollo mission, known as Apollo 7. On the 11-day Apollo mission, Cunningham performed a myriad of duties

Green Dewitt

He later became an Empresario in Texas when he was awarded a grant in 1825. He was allowed to bring 400 colonists to settle at Gonzales on the Guadalupe River. Because of the success of his settlement, DeWitt is considered the second most influential Empresario after Stephen F. Austin. He was often at odds with Martin De Léon as his colonial grant was nearby. He made peace with all of the Indians in the area except for the Comanche. He spent most of his own money on the colony and suffered greatly when the Mexican government tried to limit the number of colonists coming into Texas.

Stephen F. Austin

He recruited families in 1821, and within four years, he brought nearly three hundred families to his colony. When Mexico achieved independence from Spain, Austin was at first pleased with Santa Anna's leadership. However, as Santa Anna assumed more and more control and limited the freedom of Texans, Austin went to Mexico to discuss the matter. There he was imprisoned for treason. When he was released, he went back to Texas to support independence. In 1836, Texas gained its independence from Mexico and became an independent nation. Austin lost a bid to become the first President of Texas to Sam Houston, and instead he became Secretary of State. Austin died in December, 1836 from pneumonia soon after his election. this man led 300 American families to settle in the Texas territory on land that his father had acquired

Horton Foote

He was known for a writing style that captured the true essence of the characters in the work. He wrote the screenplay for such classic pieces as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Trip To Bountiful, and Tender Mercies. Foote was awarded an Academy Award for the screenplays of both To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies. He won a Pulitzer Prize for The Young Man from Atlanta as well as the National Medal of Arts conferred by President Bill Clinton in 2000.

Hector P. Garcia

Hector Garcia moved to Texas as a young man when his family fled unrest in Mexico. He attended the University of Texas and later earned his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston, Texas. He served in the Medical Corps during World War II where he was stationed in the European theater. The discrimination against Mexican Americans that he witnessed during the war led him to found the American GI Forum. The original focus of this organization was to increase veterans' benefits for Mexican Americans, but later the Forum worked to improve education, public housing, etc.

Henry B. Gonzalez

Henry B. González was born in 1916 in San Antonio to Mexican immigrant parents. He became one of the most influential Hispanic-Americans of the 20th century due to his governmental service. In 1953, he became the first HispanicAmerican member of the San Antonio city council. In 1956, González became a member of the Texas Senate. He unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1958, but his candidacy encouraged more Hispanic-Americans to become involved in politics. In 1961 he became the first Hispanic- Texan to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives where he chaired the powerful Banking Committee from 1988 until 1999.

Denton Arthur Cooley

Houston-born Denton Cooley is considered one of the leading heart surgeons in the world. He was the first surgeon to successfully remove blood clots that had previously been inaccessible to heart surgeons.He then performed the first surgeon heart transplant in the United States at St. Luke's Hospital in Houston on May 3, 1968. He also became the first surgeon in the world to try using an artificial heart.

Howard Robard Hughes Sr.

Howard Robard Hughes, Sr. was an American entrepreneur. He was best known as the father of Howard Robard Hughes Jr. the famous aviation pioneer and film producer. However, it was Hughes, Sr. who created the fortune that Hughes, Jr. inherited when he turned 18. Hughes engaged in various business endeavors involving mining before capitalizing on the Spindletop oil discovery in Texas.

George Childress

In February, he and his uncle were chosen to attend the Convention of 1836 to discuss the pending conflict with Mexico. He and five others were chosen to draft the Declaration of Independence from Mexico. As chairman of the committee, he is acknowledged as being the principle author of the document. Wrote the Texas Declaration of Independence. The Texas Declaration of Independence was modeled after the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Edwin W. Moore

In July of 1839 Edwin Moore became commander of the Texas Navy when he was 29 years old. Moore and the Texas Navy fought during the war with Mexico for Texas Independence. He guarded the coast during the time Texas was an independent nation. From 1842 to 1844, he challenged President Sam Houston to provide funds to finance the Texas Navy. During this time, Sam Houston declared Edwin Moore and the Texas Navy to be pirates, but at the end of Houston's term, Moore swept into Galveston, and the city declared him a hero.

Jane McCallum

Jane McCallum was a leader for the women's suffrage movement in Texas. In 1915, she joined the state organization attempting to achieve the right to vote for women. Within a year, she was elected president of the organization. Through the years, she organized rallies, wrote newspaper columns, made speeches, and distributed literature for the movement. She then organized the "Petticoat Lobby," which was dedicated to the passage of laws protecting women and children. She supported Dan Moody for governor. When he was elected, he appointed her to be Secretary of State.

John Bell Hood

John Bell Hood graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1853. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and transferred to the 2nd U.S. Calvary unit in Texas. He resigned from the U.S. Army after Fort Sumter. He joined the Confederate army as a captain. In 1862 he was promoted to Brigadier General and put in command of what was known as Hood's Texas Brigade. He served with Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. His bravery was soon noted, and he was promoted to Major General. His division fought at Second Manassas (Second Bull Run), Sharpsburg (Antietam), Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. At Gettysburg, Hood was seriously wounded.

Jack Coffe Hays

John Coffee (Jack) Hays was best known as a famous Texas Ranger who formed many of the traditions associated with that group today. In 1840, Hays was appointed a captain of the Rangers. He proved himself to be a fearless fighter and a good leader of men. Often mixing Anglos, Hispanics, and Indians, his Ranger companies engaged in battles and skirmishes with the Comanche and other hostile Indian tribes. Additionally, his Rangers fought Mexican troops in the years before the Mexican American War. Hays and his Rangers were involved in important actions against the hostile Indians at Plum Creek, Cañon de Ugalde, Bandera Pass, Painted Rock, Salado, and Walker's Creek. He later moved to California where he died in 1883.

John Nance Garner

John Nance (Cactus Jack) Garner served as the thirty- second Vice President of the United States during the first and second terms of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He earned his nickname by sponsoring a bill that would have made the prickly pear cactus the state flower of Texas. The bill failed, and the bluebonnet was selected instead. Garner was elected in 1898 to the state legislature, where he served until 1902. While in the legislature, the redistricting plan after the census created a new Fifteenth Congressional District. At thirty-four, "Cactus Jack" was elected the U.S. representative for District Fifteen. He entered the Fifty- Eighth Congress as a Democrat on November 9, 1903 and eventually became Speaker of the House.

José de Escandó

José de Escandón is known as the colonizer and first governor of the colony of Nuevo Santander. This colony extended from the Pánuco River in Mexico to the Guadalupe River in Texas. He founded over twenty towns or villas and a number of missions in the colony, including Camargo, Reynosa, Mier, and Revilla south of the Rio Grande and Laredo and Nuestra Señora de los Delores Hacienda north of the Rio Grande. For his colonization efforts, Escandón is sometimes called the "Father of the lower Rio Grande Valley." Established several large land grants along the Rio Grande

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson spent a majority of his life in public service and ended his career as President of the United States. He was born near Stonewall, Texas, and grew up in nearby Johnson City. A staunch Democrat, he served as member of the U.S. House of Representative and in the U.S. Senate, where he became the Majority Leader in 1955. He was elected Vice President in 1960 and assumed the presidency in 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated. As President, he was able to get Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Equal Opportunity Act, and funding for the space program.

Sam Houston

Sam Houston was born in Virginia, but the family later moved to Tennessee. In 1809 he ran away from home and lived with the Cherokee Indians. In 1827 he was elected governor of Tennessee. Around 1829, he came to Texas and proved invaluable as Texas worked to draft a constitution and declare independence from Mexico. Houston took command of the Texas army. He became a hero at San Jacinto where Santa Anna was defeated. Houston became the first President of the Republic of Texas. In 1845, he supported annexation of Texas by the United States, and Texas became the twenty-eighth state. He then served as a U.S. Senator from Texas and was elected Governor of Texas in 1859. He is the only person to serve as governor of two states: Texas and Tennessee.

Fray Damian

The news of LaSalle's French settlement on the Texas coast in 1685 prompted a series of Spanish expeditions whose purpose was to seek out and remove the French intruders and establish Spanish missions. Captain Alonso de León, accompanied by Fray Damián Massanet and other priests, led these expeditions. They established the first mission in the province of Texas in a village of the Nabedache Indians. For the next 40 years, the Spanish struggled to make the mission successful. Fray Damián Massanet remained to help when reinforcements and supplies arrived in August after the summer drought of 1691. More droughts brought trouble to the native tribes.

Thomas Green

Thomas Green came to Texas in time to assist in the Texas Revolution, serving at the Battle of San Jacinto. At that battle, he operated the only cannons in Sam Houston's army. After the revolution, he served in various government positions in the Texas Republic. In the Mexican American war, he helped Zachary Taylor capture Mexico City. When the Civil War broke out, he served in the Confederate army under General Sibley. In 1863, he was promoted to Brigadier General and participated in the Battle of Galveston.

James Stephen

When he was elected Governor of Texas in 1890, James Stephen Hogg was the first governor, who was actually born in the state. He was known for his populist beliefs and reforms he felt were necessary to protect the common people from giant corporations. As Texas Attorney General, Hogg pushed legislation forward to regulate railroads and to limit the development of trusts or monopolies. He felt monopolies undermined the free enterprise system. The Texas Anti-Trust Law (1888) was only the second such piece of legislation passed in the country.

Chief Bowles

When the Texans fought for their independence from Mexico, Sam Houston and William Goyens negotiated a treaty with Chief Bowles to allow the Cherokees 1.5 million acres of land in East Texas. However, after the war, the Congress of the Republic of Texas refused to ratify the treaty and declared it null and void. President Mirabeau Lamar ordered Chief Bowles and his tribe to leave Texas against the wishes of Sam Houston who maintained that the treaty was binding. Chief Bowles and his warriors fought in the last battle between the Texas Cavalry and the Cherokees on July 16, 1839, when he was killed. -Cherokee leader and friend of Sam Housto

William Goyens

William Goyens was born in North Carolina and came to Nacogdoches, Texas in 1820. His father was a free mulatto, and his mother was white. Even though he was never a slave, he did suffer problems when he was thought to be a runaway slave. Thomas Rusk and Charles Stanfield Taylor, both signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, represented him in court over this issue. He is given credit for helping negotiate a treaty with Sam Houston that kept the Cherokees friendly and from getting involved with the conflict between the Texans and the Mexicans in the war for independence.