Today, we celebrate Juneteenth, a day set apart to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved persons in Texas following the end of the Civil War. On June 18, 2005, Representative Chet Edwards visited Cleburne, a small city in Johnson County, to speak at their Juneteenth Festival. His speech, titled “The Story of the Emancipation Proclamation” traced the path of freedom for…
Category: BCPM at Poage Library
(BCPM) School Desegregation vs. School Integration
This blog post was written by Isaiah Horne, a recent MA graduate of the History Department. Read Isaiah’s previous related blog post on “School Choice:” Its Origins and Long History here. In the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that racial segregation was unconstitutional and “inherently unequal,” thus ushering in a new era…
(BCPM) Family, Politics, and Religion, Oh My!
Hello there! My name is Isaiah Horne. I am a second-year master’s student in the Baylor History Department. Throughout my tenure at Baylor, I have researched the process of school desegregation in Texas. As a result, I spent countless hours, in my first year, at the W. R. Poage Legislative Library. Amid the research process, I fell in love with…
(BCPM) Opening McLennan County Commissioner Lester Gibson’s Papers
This blog post was written by former undergraduate student Alexis Reese and Processing Archivist Thomas DeShong. Earlier in the spring semester, the Baylor Collections of Political Materials (BCPM) finished the processing of the Lester Gibson papers and opened the collection for research. This was the culmination of several years of labor in assistance with the Lester Gibson family and the…
(BCPM) A Brief History of Anti-Violence Activism in the State of Texas
This blog post was composed by Aaron Ramos, master’s student in the History Department. At Baylor University, graduate students in the History Department must enroll in HIS 5370: Advanced Research and Writing. The goal of the course is to provide students with an introduction to researching in archives, the bread and butter of the historian’s craft. This spring, our professor…
“School Choice:” Its Origins and Long History
This blog post was written by Isaiah Horne, master’s student in the History Department The 1950s and 1960s was an era defined by change, turmoil, and new forms of expression and art. This period of unprecedented economic growth, racial turmoil, international conflict and war, movements for civil rights and independence, the blooming of television, the explosion of Beetlemania, and the…
(BCPM) Taiwan-China Relations Through the Eyes of the Lone Star State
This blog post was written by Aaron Ramos, master’s student in the History Department. 2024 will be an eventful year in the realm of politics. Voters from over 64 countries are scheduled to head to the polls, and their votes will have lasting impacts for years to come. Of particular interest to the folks in Washington, D.C. is the outcome…
(BCPM) Comic Book Banning in the United States: Days of Future Past
This blog post was composed by Aaron Ramos, master’s student in the History Department. The 1950s often evoke images of nostalgia for simpler times in American life. This longing is illustrated through the popularity of the 1950s Americana aesthetic which situates the ideal life amid white suburban spaces where the nuclear family reigns and the American economy booms. However, any…
(BCPM) “The Eagles Are Coming!” The Long Battle Between Texan Mohair Ranchers and the Golden Eagle
This blog post was composed by Aaron Ramos, master’s student in the History Department. The W. R. Poage Legislative Library houses extensive amounts of correspondence between U.S. and state officials and the everyday folks they represent. While isolated letters may not offer much on their own, they create a window into the past that can give us an idea of…
(BCPM) Bob Darden’s Editorial Cartoon Collection Processed at the Poage Library
This blog post was composed by Kristina Benham, a former Ph.D. Candidate graduate assistant and current Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in the History Department. Over the past several years, Professor Emeritus Robert Darden has donated original works of art by editorial cartoonists to the Baylor Collections of Political Materials at the W. R. Poage Legislative Library. Many of these works were…