Members: You are invited to an exclusive event about President John F. Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and the 60th Anniversary of their visit to Houston with LULAC. RSVP to info@heritagesociety.org. Need to renew your membership or join to be invited to special events? Please click here: https://www.heritagesociety.org/membership-join.

Thank you to our platinum sponsor Constellation Energy.

JUNETEENTH SPEAKER SERIES PROGRAM

Saturday, June 17, 2023    11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Join us for our second annual Juneteenth educational program experience “From Plantation to Emancipation”. This year, our program is free to the public thanks to our sponsors at Constellation Energy.

Special Guests: Georgia Nolan, Past Texas State President, Chairperson NACW and Past President of Houston; Trinity United Methodist Church; Rae Bryant of the Houston Suffragists Project; Descendants of the Reverend Jack Yates and Members of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church

SPEAKERS

Opening by vocalist Sheryl Brady, Member of NACW

• Brady researched music that was sung by the NACW members in the early part of the 20th century

Dr. Donald Williams recites the Emancipation Proclamation, General Order No. 3

• Union General Gordon Granger and his troops traveled to Galveston, Texas to announce General Order No. 3 on June 19th, 1865.  Williams is a Texas historian, veteran, and THS board member who performs poetry for organizations

Welcome and Juneteenth Introduction by Martha Whiting-Goddard, great granddaughter of Jack Yates

• Whiting-Goddard is a THS board member who helped relocate the 1870 Jack Yates House to Sam Houston Park, wrote our Black History Tour Program and headed our UNESCO historic house designation project

175th Anniversary of Trinity UMC Church by Anita Lee-Punch, TUMC Historian

• Lee-Punch will be sharing how Trinity was formed in 1848 by enslaved men. It has been located at Live Oak and Holman streets in Third Ward since 1951.

B.H. Grimes of the Ancient Order of Pilgrims by Dr. Kevin J. Williams, descendant of Buchanan H. Grimes

• The Ancient Order of Pilgrims was established in Houston in 1882 to address economic issues faced by the city's African-American population during the difficult years following the period of Reconstruction.

The Pilgrim Temple Memorabilia Collection by Cheryle Cavitt, daughter of Roscoe A. Cavitt, the former Executive Secretary of National Negro Chamber of Commerce

• In 1926 the fraternal organization of The Ancient Order of Pilgrims erected a headquarters building called the Pilgrim Temple. The structure is long-gone from the corner across from THS, but an historic marker for the organization has been placed in Sam Houston Park.

The Reverend Jack Yates House by Devaron Yates, descendant of Jack Yates

• Yates, a preservationist, will share an architectural review of the 1870 Jack Yates House that was originally located at 1318 Andrews Street in Freedmen's Town and now in Sam Houston Park.  Reader’s Digest has named the house the most famous house in Texas for two years in a row.

The UNESCO Slave Route Project and Slavery Migration Studies by Summer Perritt of Rice University

• Perritt will share segments of her dissertation on the migration of Black Americans to the U.S. South in the post-civil rights era and her primary research interests include Black southern identity, Black culture, slavery, and memory.

Video about Willie Blount, first graduate of a Texas law school

• Very little was known about this female trailblazer until now.

Celebrate Women’s History Month and Texas History Month with a wine reception, presentation, and book signing about Texas Governor Ann Richards

co-hosted by:
Margaret Justus, Richards’ former press secretary

6 PM, Tuesday, March 28

The Heritage Society, 1100 Bagby Street, Houston, TX 77002

Free to THS Members, $10 for Non Members

Margaret Justus is an Austin communications consultant and a former television news journalist who grew up in Kansas City and has lived in Texas for more than 34 years—20 years in Austin and 14 years in Houston.  Justus served as Ann Richards’ deputy press secretary and is on the Advisory Council of The Heritage Society!

Justus founded the Ann Richards Legacy Project in 2021, a nonprofit that created and displayed 300 Ann Richards street banners in major Texas cities across the state. The banners honored the 30th anniversary of the inauguration of Ann Richards. 

Justus then collaborated with philanthropists Lynne Dobson and Greg Wooldridge to publish The One Ann Only: Wit and Wisdom from Texas Governor Ann Richards.

One of the most unforgettable politicians in American history, Dorothy Ann Willis Richards (1933–2006) was the first woman to be elected, in her own right, governor of Texas; she served from 1991 to 1995. Richards transformed the state government to resemble the diverse population of Texas, appointing a record number of women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ community members to Texas boards and state agencies.

Governor Richards was known as much for her humor as for her politics. Her witty one-liners, shrewdly delivered with a thick Waco accent, could bring down the house. Add in her striking appearance—big white hair and turquoise eyes—and her presence left an indelible impression.

With a thoughtful foreword by award-winning novelist Sarah Bird, The One Ann Only presents Ann’s famous witticisms alongside striking images throughout her life and political career by Texas photographers. This little book can serve as a Texas-sized inspiration to everyone, especially current and future public servants, teachers, parents, and people in recovery.