LUNCH AND LEARN SPEAKER SERIES
Explore Houston’s History with a historical expert while enjoying your brown bag or ordered lunch from Tres Market Foods. This series of speakers is generously underwritten in part by The Summerlee Foundation.
Thursday, January 16, 2025: Andrew “Dru” Sanders, "Texas in the International Civil War"
February 20, 2025: Dr. Caleb McDaniel Black History Month: “Captain’s Story: Slavery and Freedom in the Archives of The Heritage Society and Rice University”
March 20, 2025: Dr. Karen Kossie-Chernyshev, Professor of History atTSU and Founding Director, SWATH “Women’s History Month: Black Women’s Empowerment through Education”
April 17, 2025: Suzanne Simpson, "Wild Houston: A Natural History of the City”
May 15, 2025: Author Dr. Jeremy Pedigo for “The Life and Politics of United States Senator Sam Houston”.
May 16, 2025: Samuel Collins, The Birthplace of Juneteenth (Evening event, wine & cheese reception)
June 20, 2025: Bryanna Jenkins, LGBTQIA History Month (Evening event, wine & cheese reception) Click HERE for Programs for Adults
August 21, 2025: The History of Mah Jongg by Linda Freedman Block
September 18, 2025: Dr. Samantha Rodriguez, Hispanic Heritage Month- “Brown and Black Place-Making: Forging Race and Gender Power in Houston”
If you can’t attend in person, purchase a YouTube video of the program for $5 HERE. You will receive an email with the program the night of the program.
AUGUST
Mah Jongg has journeyed from its origins as a Chinese pastime to becoming a lively cultural fixture across Texas. The game’s evolution mirrors the state’s blend of tradition and innovation, adding a vibrant chapter in Jewish culture.
The Heritage Society will host guest speaker Linda Freedman Block at a Lunch and Learn event on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, at noon at the Albert & Ethel Herzstein Museum Gallery at 1100 Bagby Street in Houston. Block, a longtime Hadassah leader and Jewish educator, will discuss the history and culture of the game. The organization plans to offer Mah Jongg socials in fall 2025.
Mah Jongg likely began in 14th-century China as a card game before evolving into the familiar tile-based version. Early Chinese immigrants and travelers introduced it to America, and innovators such as Joseph P. Babcock adapted its rules for Western audiences. In Texas, Mah Jongg took root in immigrant homes and community centers, creating shared spaces for conversation and camaraderie.
Jewish communities embraced Mah Jongg in the 1920s and ’30s, founding the National Mah Jongg League in 1937. In Texas, Jewish women and families have long found the game to be more than a pastime—it fosters intergenerational bonds and serves as a social and fundraising staple. Publications such as My Jewish Learning and the Texas Jewish Post have documented these traditions, including creative adaptations like the “Menschie Mahjong” set, which incorporates Jewish symbols such as dreidels and the phrase “L’dor V’dor” (from generation to generation).
The game has recently surged in popularity across Texas, especially in Houston, with classrooms and community centers using Mah Jongg to promote mental agility and social connections. Enthusiasts, from students to longtime players, appreciate its ties to Chinese, Jewish, and American traditions.
Speaker’s Biography
Block has been a Hadassah leader for 40 years. She is a former president of the Houston Chapter and Greater Southwest Region, a certified national trainer, and the current Keepers of the Gate chair for Hadassah.
She brings enthusiasm and humor to everything she does. A passionate advocate for Jewish education, she has recruited more than 500 life members to Hadassah. From 1978 to 1994, she co-edited and published Noah’s Ark - A Newspaper for Jewish Children, which appeared as a supplement in Jewish publications nationwide, including the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
Fundraising is one of her favorite pursuits, and she has dedicated countless hours to volunteering—and playing Mah Jongg! She has taught more than 640 people to play, won or placed in 10 national tournaments, and is hosting her 32nd annual Mah Jongg tournament benefitting Hadassah in October 2025.
She and her husband, Nelson, have three sons, three daughters-in-law, and nine grandchildren under the age of 10. Two of their sons live in Israel, and four of their grandchildren were born at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. Block has visited Israel 36 times.
PAST EVENTS
Description: This presentation places Civil War–era Texas in an international perspective. Arguing that trade was the central point of contention in Civil War Texas, the presentation looks to the nexus of that trade, Matamoros, where merchants from Mexico, the US, and Europe competed and collaborated to reap the benefits of wartime border commerce. While distant federal governments found it difficult to exercise their goals on the border, wealthy merchant capitalists successfully juggled the realities of war to profitably participate in the Atlantic trade in cotton grown by enslaved people. For these merchants, loyalty and identity were fluid and contingent on circumstance, and they took advantage of their evolving postures toward different governments. While capitalism generally rests on trust, this one was built on precariousness. The merchant class of Matamoros learned how to thrive in the space between competing legal systems by engaging in shady commerce and seeking state compensation when their bets failed. o About the Speaker: Dru Sanders is a PhD candidate at Rice University. He completed a bachelor’s degree at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and a master’s degree at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. Before coming to Rice, he taught at the Windward School in White Plains, New York. His research interests include the nineteenth century US, slavery and capitalism, the US-Mexico borderlands, and the Civil War in an international context.
1100 Bagby Street, Museum Gallery. Free Parking at 212 Dallas
Members attend Lunch and Learns for free! Lunches from Tres Market Foods are additional. Membership information here- https://www.heritagesociety.org/membership-join
