Evolution of a Community LETTER from the EDITOR—CHANGING TIMES
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PUBLISHED BY WELCOME WILSON HOUSTON HISTORY COLLABORATIVE VOLUME 17 | NUMBER 2 | SPRING 2020 Evolution of a Community LETTER FROM THE EDITOR—CHANGING TIMES n the 1920s or 1930s, an un- Iknown artist painted this futuris- tic vision of Houston in 1980 that is at once fantasy and truth. Houston has evolved to include elevated freeways that encircle downtown as the artist anticipated, although they do not cut through the skyscrapers like a Disney monorail. Likewise, oil Debbie Z. Harwell, editor. wells are not towering over down- town, but oil companies – Humble, Gulf, Shell, Tenneco, and Pennzoil — built many of the iconic structures that defined our skyline as it evolved. The cover photo from 1987 shows Houston’s reality in the same time period. After the Civil War, Freedman’s Town in Fourth Ward evolved into a bustling black residential and business district until urban renewal and gentrification began whittling it away in the late twentieth century, despite its historic designation. In what remains of the neighbor- An artist’s vision of Houston in 1980, painting circa 1920-1930. hood, downtown still looms just a short distance away. Photo courtesy of the George Fuermann “Texas and Houston” Collection, This issue looks at ways our community has evolved in its Digital Library, University of Houston Libraries. attitudes, politics, neighborhoods, and culture. The features open with Dr. Stephen Klineberg reflecting on thirty-eight Nineteenth Amendment, the Suffrage Centennial Book years of Houston Area Surveys conducted by the Kinder Club highlights a monthly book and film selection related to Institute for Urban Research at Rice University. These sur- the fight for suffrage and women’s rights. veys have traced the shifts in our demographic makeup, how Houston has seen many changes in its 183-year history Houstonians reacted to those changes, and what they mean and will see many more. The year I was born Houston’s for education, our economy, and quality of life. The remain- population was approaching one million, but the city still ing features look at change in specific communities: Three had a small-town feel. I remember when Westheimer was a generations of the Judson Robinson family exemplify their two-lane road, and going to my cousin’s house in Memorial life-long commitments to protecting the rights and oppor- was like taking a day trip to the country. My uncle ran a tunities of African American and other marginalized com- gas station in an area that sits inside the loop today but was munities; Roxanne Quezada Chartouni’s photos of Fourth then near the end of the road on San Felipe (pronounced Ward from 1987 capture a moment in time that illustrates San Fill-UP-ee in those days). My family moved from the neighborhood’s rise, decline, and transformation; and Montrose to Westbury in 1959 and watched construction New Hope Housing has created communities for Houston’s rip through several rows of homes the length of a (city of) homeless and those lacking affordable housing to give them Bellaire neighborhood to build Interstate 610 and make our a new lease on life. commute easier; I was too young to understand the conse- The department articles, likewise, represent change over quences this “progress” inflicted on others. In the 1960s we time. The article on Kellum-Noble House reflects both saw the opening of Houston’s first indoor shopping mall at the home’s physical transition since its construction in Sharpstown, the world’s first indoor sports stadium, and 1847 as well as the city’s evolving attitudes toward histor- our first twin-screen theaters at Gulfgate, Meyerland, and ic preservation. Sakowitz played a major role in Houston Northline malls, so we no longer had to drive downtown retail over nine decades, starting downtown and expand- to see a movie. Nevertheless, Houston was still decidedly ing to the suburbs. Today its evolution is sadly evident segregated and Anglo. in the repurposing of its downtown shopping palace as a Today times have changed. We have numerous freeways, parking garage. The Planned Parenthood of Houston and buildings and neighborhoods pop up so fast it is hard to Southeast Texas Collection in the Carey Shuart Women’s keep track of their names, open-air shopping centers are Research Collection at the University of Houston Libraries trending again, our sports stadiums have retractable roofs, documents the organization’s history in providing repro- theaters with only two screens are considered “historic,” and ductive and general health care to women and men across large numbers of Houstonians embrace diversity instead of the region. Lastly, marking the 100th anniversary of the shunning it. We have come a long way — that is evolution. TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURES: 2| Tracking Houston Perceptions in Remarkable Times A Conversation with Stephen L. Klineberg VOLUME 17 • NUMBER 2 • SPRING 2020 and Debbie Z. Harwell Evolution of a Community All in the Family: The Robinson Legacy EDITORIAL STAFF 11| By Justin Thompson Joseph A. Pratt, Editor Emeritus Debbie Z. Harwell, Editor Nadia Abouzir, Intern Dani Amparo, Intern 16| A Look at Fourth Ward Houston, Texas Eva Bernal, Intern By Roxanne Quezada Chartouni Laura Bernal, Intern Ruben Castro, Oral History Intern Elora Lowe, Intern Manuel Martinez Alvarenga, Intern 22| New Hope Housing: Daisey Peña, Intern Creating Communities Kyle Perkins, Oral History Transcriptionist for Those in Need Natalya Pomeroy, Intern By Natalya Pomeroy Joaquin Tello, Intern Marsha Van Horn, Art Director DEPARTMENTS: ADVISORY BOARD Monica Perales Oscar Gutiérrez PRESERVATION Martin Melosi William Kellar Houston’s Oldest House Susan Bischoff Fred Korge 27| Gets a New Life Betty Trapp Chapman Jim Saye By Ginger Berni Barbara Eaves Anne Sloan Steven Fenberg HOUSTONIANS EDITORIAL POLICY Sakowitz: A Legend in Houston Retail Houston History is published twice a year by the Welcome 32| By Johnny Zapata Wilson Houston History Collaborative in the Center for Public History at the University of Houston. We welcome manuscripts, interviews, photographic essays, and ideas for topical issues on the history and culture of the Houston region, broadly defined. Please send cor- FROM THE ARCHIVES respondence to Houston History, University of Houston, 37| Planned Parenthood of Houston Center for Public History, 3623 Cullen Blvd., Room 320, and Southeast Texas: Providing Houston, TX 77204-3007 or email HoustonHistory@ Affordable Care and Education to uh.edu. Phone 713-743-3123. the Houston Community By Vince Lee © 2020 by the Center for Public History. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this issue or any portion of Houston’s Suffrage it is expressly prohibited without written permission of 40| Centennial Book Club the publisher. The Center for Public History disclaims By Leandra Zarnow responsibility for statements of fact and opinions of contributors. Cover Photo: Andrews Street in Houston’s Fourth Ward in the shadow of downtown, 1987. 42| HOUSTON HAPPENINGS Photo courtesy of Roxanne Quezada Chartouni. By Nadia Abouzir HOUSTON HISTORY Vol. 17 • No. 2 1 TRACKING HOUSTON PERCEPTIONS IN REMARKABLE TIMES A Conversation with Stephen L. Klineberg and Debbie Z. Harwell his year marks the thirty-ninth annual Houston Area the city’s quality-of-life attributes. He describes Prophetic TSurvey produced by the Kinder Institute for Urban City as “a book about Houston, written by the people of Research at Rice University under the direction of Dr. Houston,” including not only those in the random samples Stephen Klineberg. The survey, which comes out each spring, who participated in the annual surveys but also the has become something of a local legend, as its perspectives additional sixty interviews researchers conducted. on the changing Houston demographics and the shifts in The Kinder Houston Area Survey began as a fifteen-min- attitudes trace almost forty years of our history and growth ute telephone interview that has grown to an average as a community – both statistically and personally. length of more than twenty-five minutes. It reaches a Stephen Klineberg is himself a local legend. If Houston scientifically selected, randomly generated, representative Public Media's guest list had an equivalent for J. J. Watt or sample of one thousand adults in Harris County, with (in James Harden, it would be Stephen Klineberg, who monitors different years) additional surveys conducted in Fort Bend the city's pulse. A New York native, Klineberg received and Montgomery counties and oversamples into Houston’s his Ph.D. in sociology at Harvard and taught at Princeton Asian communities. Some questions are included every year, before coming to Rice University in the early 1970s for what others are asked every few years, when a shift in opinion or he expected to be a short stint. Over forty years later he lack of a shift would be significant to note; and additional continues to be intrigued by the city, which he sees as a questions appear periodically to explore emerging issues. sociological laboratory, observing, “Houston may be the No other city in the United States has been tracked in this most fascinating and consequential city in America. This is way over such a long period of time. where the American future is going to be worked out.” It was my privilege to sit down with Stephen Klineberg Klineberg’s book, Prophetic City: Houston on the Cusp of a – who is just as delightful as the legend you hear on the Changing America, due out this spring, examines Houston’s radio – to discuss some of the historic changes Houston has demographic shifts, its economy increasingly built on experienced and how Houstonians are responding to our technical skills and education, and the new importance of biggest challenges. Houston skyline at sunset, July 4, 2018. Photo by Ramiro Reyna Jr., courtesy of Shutterstock. 2 HOUSTON HISTORY Vol. 1 7 • No.