August 27 - 28, 2020 Welcome to the 2020 Conference on Texas: on Revitalize Its Downtown Center

Presented by Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation

August 27 - 28, 2020 Welcome to the 2020 Conference on Texas: On revitalize its downtown center. His bold steps Resilience Past, Present, and Future presented will forever change the trajectory of San Antonio. by the Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foun- Thank you to the Elizabeth Huth Coates Charita- dation. ble Foundation as Conference on Texas present- Coincidentally, we chose this topic last year but ing sponsor. Thanks also to Veltri and Velasquez it is ever so much more relevant now. This has Wealth Management of Wells Fargo Advisors, been a frightening six months. The pandemic Humanities Texas, the Summerlee Foundation era has refocused all of us, particularly muse- and Jefferson Bank. ums. We have heard from colleagues that 30 For the Texas Trailblazers Award, we thank percent of museums will not re-open. Like the speaker sponsor Valero, scholarship sponsor Witte, museums are not replaceable. Museums The Tex Elliott Family, and magazine sponsor are the repositories, the reminders of cultur- Texas Monthly. As we pivoted from an in-person al heritage. We stand on the past to build the event to remote viewing, we are incredibly grate- future, and without museums, the evidence of ful to all who continue to support the Witte. long ago would be lost. With your support, the Witte is open today and 9th Annual Texas Trailblazers Awards The Witte Museum’s mission is to inspire people considered a safe haven for multi-generational in partnership with Texas Monthly to shape the future of Texas through transforma- families. How the Witte will be forever is a daily tive and relevant experiences in nature, science challenge, and we are not alone. Your presence and culture. The conference underscores this reassures us and will no doubt feed us as we mission: On Resilience: Past, Present and Future continue the work of the Witte. reveals critical periods in Texas history, current events and future considerations. For example, Dr. Larry Schlesinger, of the Texas Biomedical - Marise McDermott Institute provides context for the pandemic era: President & CEO

Pandemics and Covid-19: What We May Expect in the Future and Dr. Gerald Poyo, Historian at St. Mary’s University, provides an intellectual frame for shaping the future by acknowledging resilience of the past: Bravery and Resilience: The Fabric of Our Experience. Keynote Speaker Tom Luce brings his insights into the future of Texas through the lens of the Texas 2036 organization. But as a side note, the Conference will also serve to memorialize what it is about the Witte that keeps you and the communities you represent emotionally invested in its future, particularly as a place for complex and difficult moments in our community memory. We seek from you how we can be sure we are meeting the community’s needs and desires. This year we are proud to present the Texas Trailblazers Award to forward-thinking Graham Weston. Graham is known for his outstanding leadership in bringing innovation and jobs to San Antonio, as well as his superior efforts to Join us Online and Remote for Conference on Texas: On Resilience Past, Present, and Future Featuring: Texas Trailblazers Awards August 27 - 28, 2020 Presented By Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation

Schedule: Day 1 - August 27

9th Annual Texas Trailblazers Awards in partnership with Texas Monthly

Session 1 | 11:30 a.m Witte Forever: Case for Museums in Pandemic Era A case and a conversation, live remote, between Marise McDermott, President and CEO, Witte Museum and Laura L. Lott, President and CEO, American Alliance of Museums

Award and Program 12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Dirk Elmendorf, Chair, Witte Board of Trustees, Presents the Texas Trailblazer of the Year Graham Weston for his pioneering work to revitalize San Antonio’s downtown ensuring the City’s place on the digital map with Rackspace and solidifying San Antonio’s place as a City of the Future Featuring Keynote Speaker – Tom Luce, Founder of Texas 2036 Introduced by Dan Goodgame, Texas Monthly

Session 2 | 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Pandemics and COVID-19: What We May Expect in the Future Dr. Larry Schlesinger, Texas Biomedical Institute Moderator: The Hon. Joe R. Straus

Session 3 | 2:45 – 3:15 p.m. Resilience: The Fabric of Our Experience Gerald Poyo, St. Mary’s University

Session 4 | 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. The Courage to Grow Old Tracy Goss, Leadership Center for Re-Invention

1 Day 2 - August 28

Session 5 | 9:30 a.m. Inspiring Texas Land Stewards Helen Holdsworth

Session 6 | 9:45 – 10:45 a.m. Panel A Panel B Mexican Journalists in Texas and Raise Your Chins and Face the Fight: Cross-Border Journalism Today The Rest of the Woman Suffrage Emilio Zamora, Cecilia Ballí Story in Texas Nancy Baker Jones Moderator: Ricardo Romo Moderator: Catherine Clinton Sponsored by the William and Salomé Scanlan Foundation

Session 7 | 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Panel A Panel B Will Hogg and Mental Hygiene: Brawling Politics: Texans Fight The Transformation from Insane for Control in the Era of the Klan Asylums to Centers for Wellness Jessica Brannon –Wranosky and Bill Bush,Talli Dolge Katherine Kuehler Walters Moderator: Mike Molak Moderator: Dolph Briscoe, IV Sponsored by PlainsCapital Bank

Session 8 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Featuring: Texas Liberators of the German War Camps 1945 Aliza Wong, Ella Gunn, and Steven Rosenblatt Moderator: Ed Westermann Sponsored by Veltri and Velasquez Wealth Management of Wells Fargo

Session 9 | 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Panel A Panel B Renegade Border Radio Anthony F. Lucas and Spindletop: to Social Media Savant Oil Drilling and Gene Fowler, Magaly Chocano Breathtaking Change in Texas Jo Ann Stiles and Stephanie Moreno Moderator: Brandon Seale

Session 10 | 2:45 – 3:45 p.m. Panel A Panel B Overcoming Crushing Texas Justice: Border Tequileros and Home The Goree Girl Bands at Huntsville Brewers: Prohibition in Texas George Díaz, Joseph Locke and Radio Caroline Gnagy Moderator: Harry Schuhmacher Moderator: Mary Margaret McAllen

2 Texas Trailblazers Award He stayed focused on technology through the To Graham M. Weston presented by years and founded the Open Cloud Institute at Dirk Elmendorf, Chair, Witte Board of Trustees the University of Texas at San Antonio, an initiative to develop degree programs in cloud com- puting and big data. He has also established Graham M. Weston is a prominent figure in San the Open Cloud Academy, which is approved Antonio business and real estate circles. He is by the Texas Workforce Commission. The Acad- owner of Weston Properties, with its flagship emy is a full-time, 9-week, cyber-security boot Weston Centre the premier office space in San camp in San Antonio where students are able to Antonio since 1992. He also co-founded Weston achieve industry-recognized certifications and Urban, which is focused on redevelopment of gain hands-on experience. The goal is to devel- commercial properties in downtown San An- op technical talent and enhance technical career tonio, and committed to forging a downtown opportunities in Texas. He recently donated $15 district dedicated to residential living and entre- million to the University of Texas at San Anto- preneurial activity in the downtown area. Weston nio to establish a School of Data Science and Urban has acquired the Rand Building on National Security Collaboration Center in down- Houston Street, which now houses Geekdom, town San Antonio. and several other historic downtown buildings, including the landmark Milam Building on Travis Graham Weston has been broadly recognized Street. for his contributions to the business community in San Antonio as well as for his role in city Graham is perhaps best known for his role pro- planning endeavors as a tri-chair on Mayor viding seed capital and later management ex- Castro’s SA2020 committee. He was inducted pertise to the startup tech company, Rackspace, into the San Antonio Business Hall of Fame in where he was chief executive officer until 2006, 2011. In 2014, Graham was the recipient of the when he became Chairman. As a managed Babson College and Academy of Distinguished hosting company, it grew rapidly in the early Entrepreneurs Award, in Boston, Massachu- 2000s, and under his guidance, went public in setts. He was recognized as a Distinguished 2008, trading on the New York Stock Exchange Alumni at Texas A&M University in 2018. He was before going private in 2016, when Apollo Global also inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Management purchased the company. Rack- Fame in 2019. He was commended by the City space’s success brought with it a number of of San Antonio for his role creating shelters to initiatives designed to attract more technology help victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He investment and job opportunities in San Antonio. served on the Board of Regents at Texas Luther- Graham Weston established Geekdom in 2011 an University and is currently a board member to accelerate the tech startup community in San at Frost. He earned a BS from Texas A&M Uni- Antonio and provided much needed workspace versity. Today, Graham Weston is highly focused and a collaborative environment for young entre- on his long-term goal of building a technology preneurs. Today it has 1,600 members. district supported by a vibrant urban downtown community.

3 Tom Luce: The Future of Texas SESSION 1 Keynote Speaker Witte Forever: Case for Museums in Pandemic Era Tom Luce founded Texas 2026 in 2016. Luce’s Marise McDermott and Laura Lott life has been one of family, professional accom- plishments, public service and social entre- preneurship. Tom has been married to his life What is the role of museums in the pandemic partner, Pam, for 58 years. They have three adult era? Why sustain a museum when the commu- children, a daughter-in-law and seven grandchil- nity has so many other pressing needs? With an dren. He received his undergraduate and law de- estimated 30% of museums never to open their grees from Southern Methodist University. Tom doors again, McDermott and Lott will describe was the founding and managing partner of the the current state of museums. Without muse- Hughes and Luce law firm. He was lead attorney ums, we would lose cultural heritage, historical on multibillion mergers and litigation and was evidence, inspiration for innovation, and beauty. selected at various points in his career as one of the best attorneys in Dallas, Texas and the Marise McDermott has 30 years of experience United States. His public service in Texas was in cultural arts, currently as President and CEO distinguished by gubernatorial and legislative of the Witte Museum, since 2004. McDermott appointments to major state positions including led the $100 million campus expansion, with Chief Justice of the Supreme Court pro tempo- 174,000 square feet of change, including the re, Sunset Commission, Cancer Prevention and Mays Family Center for Exhibitions and Events, Research Institute, Texas Commission on Judi- Susan Naylor Center, Robert J. and Helen C. ciary, and Chief of Staff of the Select Committee Kleberg South Texas Heritage Center and H-E-B on Public Education. On the national level, he Body Adventure. McDermott was a TriChair of was appointed as Assistant Secretary of Educa- the Alamo Advisory Committee, founding Chair tion by President George W. Bush, confirmed by of Luminaria, Chair of the San Antonio Conven- the United States Senate and appointed to The tion and Visitors Bureau, and currently serves Library of Congress Board by the Speaker of the on the Visit San Antonio Board of Directors, U.S. House of Representatives. among other community boards. McDermott was named 2013 Executive Woman of the Year In addition to founding Texas 2036, Tom has by the San Antonio Greater Chamber of Com- founded and lead numerous other nonprofit merce, and Texas State University Liberal Arts organizations dedicated to serving the needs of Alumni of the Year in 2016, where she earned others including the Texas Business and Edu- her Masters in Fine Arts (1996). cation Coalition, Just for the Kids, Data Quality Campaign, the National Center for Educational Laura L. Lott is president and CEO of the Amer- Accountability, the National Math and Science ican Alliance of Museums, representing the Initiative and the Meadows Mental Health Policy entire scope of the museum community. After Institute. He has authored two books on im- being named the first woman to lead the orga- proving public education and has taught at the nization in 2015, Laura led the development and Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, the launch of AAM’s strategic plan which includes University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs, strategic focus on diversity, equity, accessibil- Southern Methodist University, and the Universi- ity, and inclusion; financial sustainability; and ty of Texas at Dallas. museums’ role in P-12 education. Laura raised the Alliance’s first seven-figure gift and is spear- heading an unprecedented initiative aimed at

4 increasing the diversity of nonprofit boards. ican, Association of American Physicians and American Academy of Microbiology. Prior to being CEO, as AAM’s chief operat- ing officer, Laura led the 2012 re-launch of the Alliance, including rebranding the organization and redesigning its membership and excellence SESSION 3 programs to be more inclusive, leading to 70 Resilience: The Fabric of Our Experience percent membership growth. A passionate Gerald Poyo advocate for strong and engaged boards, Laura frequently speaks about nonprofit governance, Bravery and resilience speak to the personal organizational leadership, and strategy. and emotional reservoirs needed to discern, make decisions and move on during challenging times. Weaving the fabric of any nation’s experiences are people who through their bravery and resilience persist and create. “Bravery and Re- silience: The Fabric of our Historical Experience” explores the way societies ascribe bravery and resilience and influence historical narratives. Using examples from United States and Texas history, the presentation explores how Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Amer- icans and other discriminated and oppressed citizens have persisted in a society that has resisted incorporating their historical experiences into the nation’s overall consciousness and self-image. Only in remembering and bringing everyone’s experiences of bravery and resilience to full consciousness may we begin to adjust a nation’s self-image and observe the full fabric of SESSION 2 its national history. Pandemics: Past, Present, and Future Dr. Larry Schlesinger Gerald E. Poyo is O’Connor Professor in the His- tory of Hispanic Texas and the Southwest at St. Larry S. Schlesinger, M.D., President and CEO Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas. In 1983, of Texas Biomedical Research Institute, is an he received his PhD in Latin American history internationally recognized authority in infectious from the University of Florida. His research has diseases. Prior to Texas, he served in research focused on the intersection of Latin American and educational leadership positions at Ohio and U.S. Latino history, especially on the history State University. Dr. Schlesinger is a practicing of Cuban exile communities in the United States scientist whose passion lies in the development during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, of people and programs that will revolutionize the origins of Tejano communities in colonial and healthcare for years to come. Dr. Schlesinger’s Mexican Texas, and Latino history narratives. research program focuses on tuberculosis and He is the author and editor of eight books and other airborne infections. He is a recent National numerous academic articles. His most recent Institute of Health Council member, Fellow of the books is A Latino Memoir: Identity, Family, and American Association for the Advancement of the Common Good (Houston: Arte Público Press, Science, Infectious Diseases Society of Amer- 2019).

5 SESSION 4 August 28, 2020 - Day 2 The Courage to Grow Old SESSION 5 Tracy Goss Inspiring Texas Land Stewards At a certain age, when you are losing your con- Helen Holdsworth temporaries, your own mortality comes into question. At that point, you have choices to The Witte Museum inspires people to shape the make, to keep growing or just get old. The day future of Texas through relevant and transforma- you say “the best days of my life are behind tive experiences in nature, science and culture. me,” you have become old. The alternative is to Stewarding natural resources is important to keep growing, to invent a future that is bigger the future of Texas. The McLean Family Texas than you or your lifetime whether you are 55 or Wild Gallery stands as a testament to healthy 95 – a future that is worth giving the rest of your habitats stewarded by Texans all over the state. life in service to - a future that gets you out of The Witte’s K-12 student programming within bed every morning, knowing you are making the Texas Wild Gallery and the East Foundation a difference. The practice that provides the Land Stewardship Lab inspires students to be courage to engage with the challenging circum- land stewards in their own backyard. The Land stances of “growing” old is resilience — it is a Stewardship Ambassadors, a partnership pro- muscle that does not get stronger on its own – it gram of the Witte and the East Foundation for must be built and one must choose to build it. high school students, takes a deeper dive into the public benefits of land stewardship. “Growing” old as opposed to “getting” old is a matter of the courage to choose. Helen Holdsworth currently serves as Chief of Engagement for the Witte Museum. She was Tracy Goss is an internationally recognized the Curator for the McLean Family Texas Wild consultant, author, and lecturer and the world’s Gallery and served on the team which designed leading authority on Executive Re-Invention. Her and installed the gallery when the New Witte award winning book, The Last Word On Power: opened in 2017. Holdsworth was the Director of Executive Re-Invention for Leaders Who Must Education Legacy for the Texas Wildlife Associ- Make the Impossible Happen, is a must-read for ation. Holdsworth has been involved in informal corporate executives and any leader who must education and youth leadership development acquire the power to go beyond continuous centered on natural resources and land stew- improvement and make the impossible a reality. ardship for 20 years. Holdsworth holds a M.S. in Tracy asserts “Whatever is impossible in your in- Environment Science from UTSA. dustry today, someone will make possible tomor- row and change that world – the only question is will it be you or a competitor.” Goss is Pres- ident of Goss Reid Associates, a management consulting firm based in Austin, Texas and New York City, which she founded with Sheila Reid. They specialize in working with chief executive officers and their senior management teams worldwide to personally and professionally acquire the Freedom, Capacity and Ability to live and lead an extraordinary life regardless of the circumstances, and to “re-invent” themselves and their organizations to design and lead their industry into an “impossible future.”

6 ed States, Texas, and oral history, and focuses on the transnational Mexican community of the twentieth century. Zamora has prepared or col- laborated in the production of ten monographs: three single-authored books, a translated and edited WWI diary, three co-edited anthologies, a co-edited eBook and two Texas history texts. He has received seven best-book awards, a best-article prize and a Fulbright García-Robles fellowship. Zamora has earned at least twenty additional recognitions, honors and awards for his scholarly and community engagement work. He is a lifetime member of the Texas Institute of Letters, a lifetime Fellow with the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), a member of the Board of TSHA and past President of the Asso- ciation. SESSION 6, PANEL A Mexican Journalists in Texas and Cecilia Ballí is a magazine journalist and a Cross-Border Journalism Today cultural anthropologist who has written about Emilio Zamora and Cecilia Ballí the U.S.-Mexico border and Latinos in Texas for Sponsored by the William and Salomé Scanlan Foundation twenty years. She is a writer-at-large for Texas Monthly and has published in various other pub- The 1921-23 campaign to raise funds to estab- lications, including Harper’s Magazine, Columbia lish an elementary school at Dolores Hidalgo, Journalism Review and The New York Times. As Guanajuato represents an important chapter an anthropologist, she has conducted research in the history of relations between Mexican on Mexican American expressive culture, the communities from Mexico and the United sexual killing of women in Ciudad Juárez, the States. Emilio Zamora will review the history of border wall and Latino voter participation. She the campaign to demonstrate the political as- has won various journalism awards and her tuteness of Ignacio Lozano, the editor of the San writing has appeared in multiple anthologies, Antonio daily, La Prensa (1913-1955) and the including Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas immigrant feelings of longing for the homeland Mexican Literature and Best American Crime that Lozano used to raise close to $40,000 to Writing. She was a 2015 Jesse H. Jones Dobie meet the costs of the schools. The successful Paisano Fellow and has held writing residencies campaign allowed Lozano to participate in the with the Lannan Foundation, the Lanesboro Arts national effort to reconstruct Mexico after the Center and the Headlands Center for the Arts. destructive Revolution of 1910 and to demon- A native of Brownsville, she began her reporting strate that Mexicans in the United States wel- career at The Brownsville Herald and the San comed the opportunity to help Mexico at a time Antonio Express-News. She holds a bachelor’s of need and to reinforce the binational ties that degree from Stanford and a Ph.D. in anthropolo- continue into our present. gy from Rice University.

Emilio Zamora is a Full Professor in History at the University of Texas at Austin. He writes and teaches on the history of Mexicans in the Unit-

7 SESSION 6, PANEL B SESSION 7, PANEL A Raise Your Chins and Face the Fight: The Will Hogg and Mental Hygiene: The Rest of the Woman Suffrage Story in Texas Transformation from Insane Asylums Nancy Baker Jones to Centers for Wellness William Bush The woman suffrage movement in Texas began Sponsored PlainsCapital Bank in 1868 but did not gain steam until the early 20th century, when the Progressive Era took root in The Hogg family has earned a historic reputation Texas and fostered support for women’s voting in Texas for its role in political reform, oil and rights. Although women from a variety of cultural gas development and the growth of the state’s groups demanded the vote, however, supporters flagship university. This presentation describes of Jim and Juan Crow segregation laws and the a less well-understood contribution: the mod- state’s widespread white supremacist culture ernization of the state’s mental health policies assured that only Anglo women would actual- and services. In 1941, a bequest from Will Hogg ly vote once the suffrage bill passed the Texas funded the inauguration of the Hogg Foundation Legislature in 1918. This presentation will dis- for Mental Hygiene at the University of Texas at cuss the political dynamics that kept Black and Austin. Led by Will’s sister, Miss Ima Hogg, the Brown women from voting and allowed Minnie Foundation dispatched “circuit riders” – experts Fisher Cunningham to win the vote for Anglo and advocates who crisscrossed the state to ex- women. It will also reveal (1) the reasons that not plain the new concept of mental health to urban all women in the United States got the right to and rural audiences. As a result, Texans began vote when the 19th Amendment to the Constitu- to demand reforms to the state’s dilapidated tion was ratified in 1920 and (2) that the suffrage mental hospitals, outmoded laws governing the movement is not over yet. treatment of people with mental illness and a wholesale culture change in attitudes around Nancy Baker Jones is founding president of mental health and illness. This story also show- the Ruthe Winegarten Foundation for Texas cases an example of a family-run philanthropic Women’s History, Austin. She and Winegarten foundation that promoted an important social wrote Capitol Women: Texas Female Legisla- transformation through the shrewd use of fairly tors 1923-1999, and she has taught women’s meager resources. history at St. Edward’s University. Publications include “The Way We Were: Gender and the William Bush is Professor of History at Texas Woman’s Pavilion, HemisFair ’68,” Southwestern A&M University-San Antonio. He is the author Historical Quarterly (2016); and “Making Tex- of Who Gets a Childhood?: Race and Juvenile as Our Texas: The Emergence of Texas Wom- Justice in Twentieth-Century Texas (University of en’s History, 1976-1990,” SHQ (2017). She is a Georgia, 2010); Circuit Riders for Mental Health: Fellow and Board Member of the Texas State The Hogg Foundation in Twentieth-Century Tex- Historical Association, the book review editor for as (Texas A&M University, 2016); and co-editor the Southewestern Historical Quarterly, and an of Ages of Anxiety: Historical and Transnation- advisor to a forthcoming documentary about the al Perspectives on Juvenile Justice (New York woman suffrage movement in Texas. University, 2018). His current project is entitled “Future Danger: Children and the Death Penalty in Modern America.”

8 SESSION 7, PANEL B Katherine Kuehler Walters, Assistant Editor at the Handbook of Texas, received her Ph.D. in Brawling Politics: Texan Fight for Control History from Texas A&M University in 2018. She in the Era of the Klan researches race and gender history between the Katherine Kuehler Walters and Jessica 1880s and 1930s and specializes in voting rights Brannon-Wranosky and structural racism in Texas history. She currently serves on the Handbook of Texas Wom- The second Ku Klux Klan (KKK) made its first en executive advisory committee and the San public appearance in Texas at a Houston Con- Antonio African American Community Archive & federate Veterans parade in October 1920. This Museum research committee. Her past publica- secretive fraternal organization both celebrated tions include a co-authored piece in Impeached: the Reconstruction-era KKK and responded to The Removal of Texas Governor James E. Fergu- contemporary societal concerns and prejudices son. Her current projects include a book-length of white native-born men and women in post- history of the 1920s Texas Ku Klux Klan. World-War-I America. The Klan’s propaganda preached “100 percent American,” their term It is said that Texans love a good story and the for a national identity rooted in white suprem- more rowdy the characters the better. Start- acy and wrapped in Social Darwinism. While ing shortly before and lasting well beyond the they publicly claimed their motivation as moral era of the Second Klan, power struggles and law and order, they created disorder, terrorized personalities often dominated Texas politics. thousands and undermined the state’s judicial Officeholders in the state vied for public atten- and electoral system. Despite a wave of Klan tion by slinging mud and sometimes even fists. violence, the KKK quickly recruited millions of During these decades big personalities fought members, including law officers, judges, doc- for control, but the outcome of the antics did tors, teachers and bankers, from across the not necessarily represent the majority of Tex- United States. Texas, a Klan stronghold, with ans. From grudges that lasted decades across over 100,000 members and equal number of multiple Texas governors, the gubernatorial and sympathizers, saw a sweep of Klansmen elected subsequent U. S. Senate election of a radio en- to city and county governments and a U.S. Sen- tertainer, to a brawling fistfight on the floor of the ate seat in 1922. Resistance to the Texas Klan 1940 Texas Democratic Convention, Dr. Jessica came in different forms for varied reasons. San Brannon-Wranosky relays a few of the colorful Antonio, a city with a significant African Ameri- stories about state politicians from her co-edited can, Jewish, Catholic and immigrant population, book, Impeached: The Removal of Texas Gover- became an arena of confrontation. Targeted nor James E. Ferguson (Texas A&M Press). groups quickly voiced protest. Judges, who agreed with the KKK message, resented their power being undermined and ordered grand jury Jessica Brannon-Wranosky is the Distin- investigations. San Antonio and Bexar County guished Professor of Digital Humanities and officials, largely elected by constituents from History at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Dr. Klan-targeted groups, employed municipal re- Wranosky specializes in women, gender and sources and pushed back. While less successful sexuality history and digital humanities applica- electorally, San Antonio’s Klan No. 31, with eco- tions. She currently serves as the Project Direc- nomically and politically powerful members and tor for the Handbook of Texas Women, a state- a newspaper, remained quietly influential into the wide content development and public education 1930s. project. Her work has appeared in a number of academic journals, anthologies and a variety of online digital publications and exhibits, including a book she co-edited with Bruce A. Glasrud, en-

9 titled Impeached: The Removal of Texas Gover- ment of History. She was the principal investi- nor James E. Ferguson, A Centennial Examina- gator and project lead for the Texas Liberator tion (Texas A&M University Press, 2017). Project (www.texasliberators.org), funded generously by the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission (THGC), that offers a new educational resource introducing the history of the SESSION 8 U.S. liberators of the German concentration Texas Liberators of the German War Camps camps into the secondary school curriculum. Aliza Wong, Ella Gunn, and Dr. Steven Rosenblatt “My great-grandfather, Pop Gunn, was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He grew up and In 2016, the Texas Holocaust and Genocide worked at Smith Chevrolet. He, along with other Commission approached Texas Tech University men in the automobile industry, were recruited with the task of creating an educational tool by to serve during World War II. In 1942, he began which students across Texas would be famil- his service in the Thirteenth Armored Division, iarized with the liberation of the concentration and traveled through Bavaria and Austria. He camps in the European Theater of War during was one of the men who liberated the concen- the Second World War. The Commission pro- tration camp Dacau. From his experience, he vided access to the Institute for Oral History at brought back many artifacts including German Baylor University’s collected oral histories of weapons from the liberation. These have been in Texans who were veterans of the Second World my family since then.” War and who played a role in the liberation of concentration camps across Europe. Using Ella Gunn was born and raised in San Anto- these testimonials, the team at Texas Tech Uni- nio, Texas. She attended St. Luke’s Episcopal versity developed a digital app to help share the School from Pre-K to 8th grade and is currently stories of the Texas Liberators with high school a sophomore at Alamo Heights High School. students across the state. Texas Tech created Ella’s hobbies include traveling, painting, read- a narrative by which students could come to ing, cheerleading, and being outdoors. Ella has understand the extremes of savagery and fa- had a passion for history for as long as she can naticism, humility and humanity of the Second remember, and hopes to continue these studies World War from the perspective of the American in the future. Her former history teacher, Jessica soldier. The Texas Liberator Project includes the Koontz, impacted Ella’s passion for the subject, app, this website, a large format, display quality specifically topics surrounding World War II. Ella book featuring the narratives of 21 of the Tex- had the honor of laying the wreath at the Tomb as liberators, and an exhibit at the Museum of of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington National Cem- Texas Tech University. Led by Aliza Wong, As- etery in Washington, D.C. in 2019. sociate Dean of the Honors College, and facul- ty mentors Jiawei Gong, Robert Peaslee, and Mathilde Swarz Rosenblatt, Steve Rosenblatt’s Randy Reddick, teams of Texas Tech University mother, at the age of sixteen, escaped from the undergraduate and graduate students took on Warsaw Ghetto, found her way back to Vienna, the gargantuan task of honoring the men and 450 miles across Nazi controlled territory, where women who sacrificed so much to ensure the she was able to get a visa to come to the United liberation, survival, and memory of the Holo- States. She had to get from Vienna to Rotter- caust. dam, again across German territory, where she was able to find a boat to the U.S. Rosenblatt Aliza Wong is associate dean of the Honors will also tell the story of a Texas Liberator of College and associate professor in the Depart- Dachua.

10 Dr. Steven Rosenblatt was born in Washington Rhythm-and-blues great Delbert McClinton DC, went to Vanderbilt University and Cornell recalls, “You could hear race music and funky Medical School. As a flight surgeon in the USAF stuff, and it only existed through a secret chan- for two years flew in F-4 Phantom jets. He came nel you could pick up from across the border.” to San Antonio to finish medical training, became a nephrologist, and has cared for patients Gene Fowler is a writer, performer, and inde- with kidney diseases, hypertension and kidney pendent researcher based in Texas. He has transplants for over forty years. He is married, written for Journal of Texas Music History, Ox- with three children, four grandchildren, and three ford American, San Francisco Chronicle, True grandpets. West, glasstire.com, and many other publications. His theatrical appearances have included the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing SESSION 9, PANEL A Arts, the San Antonio Rodeo, Contemporary Renegade Border Radio to Social Media Arts Museum Houston, White Elephant Saloon (Fort Worth), Old Jail Art Center (Albany), Bullock Gene Fowler and Magaly Chocano Texas State History Museum, and the Briscoe Western Art Museum. He has presented talks “Border radio” refers to super-powered Ameri- at the Texas State Historical Association, Texas can radio stations on Mexican soil. Established Folklore Society, Glen Rose Community Center, south of the border to evade American broad- Mineral Wells Public Library, Institute of Texan cast regulations in the early 1930s and active to Cultures, and many other venues. Not to be the mid-1980s, these renegade media outposts confused with the famous writer Gene Fowler exerted a peculiar, mesmerizing influence on (1890-1960) or the California poet Gene Fowler American music, religion, advertising, politics, who experimented with stand-up comedy and medicine, and sex that continues today. Dr. John armed robbery (with time incarcerated for one Brinkley pioneered the frank discussion of hu- of those) before resorting to verse, this Gene man sexuality in mass media. W. Lee O’Daniel Fowler was born in 1950 and grew up in a Dallas blazed the trail for effective use of electronic showbiz family. His books include Border Ra- communications in political campaigns. The dio, Crazy Water, and Mavericks. He is currently most creative preachers who ever talked in working on a photo history of North Texas music tongues created the foundation for religious for TCU Press. broadcasting with adventurous programming on border radio. The border stations crossed cultural boundaries before boundary-crossing was cool. They introduced many Americans to Mex- Social media has provided the perfect ingre- ican and Mexican-American artists like Lydia dients, to produce social capital and establish Mendoza, “the Lark of the Border,” and Rosa trust to move masses, propelling civic engage- Dominguez, “the Mexican Nightingale.” Fifties ment. It has created sustained political move- hit maker Webb Pierce boldly opined that “coun- ments in which more than half of Americans feel try-western music might not have survived if it that social media helps give a voice to under- hadn’t been for border radio.” represented groups. It is allowing like-minded groups to band and build followings that make Wildman deejays like Wolfman Jack, Howlin’ impact on society. People around the world are Rooster, and Dr. Jazzmo introduced raw roots hearing each other and are joining movements artists like Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and to make a difference. Lightnin’ Hopkins to the American heartland.

11 Magaly Chocano, Witte Museum Trustee, a native of Madrid, Spain, founded Sweb Develop- ment in 2008 as a web, mobile app development and social media marketing firm. Today Sweb Development is an award-winning digital agen- cy that services digital marketing and software development needs worldwide from Fortune 500 companies to nonprofits alike. Sweb has been featured in Time Magazine, USA Today, ABC News, Fox Business News, Business Week, Wall Street Journey, Mashable and Giga Om, among many others. Sweb Development was named one of the Top 10 Mobile Companies to Watch by Entrepreneur Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine named them one of the top 360 companies in America. In 2020 after a devastating fire to her office building, she began the “In This Together” movement and has raised $125,000 so far to give back 100% of proceeds to local businesses and non-profits. Magaly has been recognized as one of the 10 fun and fearless Latinas by Cosmo Magazine in NYC, awarded the SXSWi Social Revolución Innovator award and recognized as the Small Business of The Year by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She was also awarded the Entrepreneurial SESSION 9, PANEL B Spirit Award, the Enterprising Women of The Anthony F. Lucas and Spindletop: Savant Oil Year award and the Tribute To Women Business Drilling and Breathtaking Change in Texas Leaders Promise Award. Most recently Magaly Jo Ann Stiles and Stephanie Moreno was recognized in the Women’s Hall of Fame for Technology and Sweb Development been recognized in INC 5000 fastest growing companies Beginning in the years preceding the Civil War, two years in a row. oil wells were appearing on the east coast of the United States with oil primarily used for lubrica- tion and lighting. As soon as the war ended, the search for oil intensified all over the country, and Texas made the major discovery, so huge that it threatened to destroy the emerging industry, but new uses provided a strong base for profit. The problem solvers on the fifth well that was drilled on the Spindletop Salt Dome from Octo- ber 23, 1900 to January 10, 1901 is still legend in the state of Texas. The search for oil in Texas began in earnest in East Texas where many new problems confronted the men and women, both black and white, who working in these industrial fields. For those who worked at entry level jobs,

12 the experience was a dangerous and some- SESSION 10, PANEL A times deadly one. It was very hard on families, Border Tequileros and Home Brewers: but if workers could persevere, it could lead to Prohibition in Texas a much better life for them. The first Spindle- George Díaz and Joseph Locke top discovery in 1901 was largely uncontrolled from the capping which took a good ten days, to the developing of the field. By 1905, the field Between 1920 and 1933, mounted ethnic Mexi- had played out and workers were moving on can liquor smugglers, [tequileros] supplied Mex- to new fields. An even larger strike was made ican liquor to thirsty American markets. While on the flanks of the Spindletop salt dome in the Anglos and ethnic Mexicans both violated U.S. 1920’s. This strke was huge and well controlled laws, American law enforcement took a much by a handful of people and produced oil on a higher toll on tequileros than their Anglo coun- long-term basis. Major new strikes were made terparts. Indeed, American law enforcement’s in West Texas in the 1920’s and 1930’s, and two war on tequileros was so successful that by the World Wars and other conflicts accelerated the end of the 1920s, it had effectively ended tequi- need for oil. Pattillo Higgins kept up the search lero forays into South Texas. Dr. Díaz’s talk will for new fields until his death. He is buried in San cover corridos about smuggling and compare Antonio. them to law enforcement and English language newspapers from the era to uncover a history of Jo Ann Stiles is a native of Comfort, in the Tex- smuggling across the Rio Grande. as Hill Country and has recently returned there to live. She attended the University of Texas in George T. Díaz is an Associate Professor of His- Austin, majored in history and after moving to tory at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Beaumont, began teaching at Lamar University. where he teaches U.S. History, Borderlands, and When she retired in 2002 after 36 years, she was Mexican American History. His award-winning recognized as an Associate Professor Emeritus book, Border Contraband: A History of Smug- and proceeded to co-author two books with gling across the Rio Grande (University of Texas long-time friends. The first was Giant Under Press, 2015) is a social history of smuggling in the Hill on the oil discovery on the Gulf coast the borderlands. He is also co-editor of a col- in 1901 that changed the lives of Texans – our lection titled Border Policing: A History of En- subject today. forcement and Evasion in North America (Uni- versity of Texas Press, 2020). Díaz’s research is informed by investigations in Mexican and U.S. Stephanie Moreno is the Executive Director of archives, as well as a lifetime of living on the the South Texas Energy & Economic Roundta- border. ble. Stephanie is an experienced advocate and leader in South Texas, having served as Bee The German Texans have faded in the state’s County Judge. She served as President of the consciousness as a distinct cultural group, but South Texas Judges and Commissioners’ Asso- they laid the groundwork not only for Texas ciation. Mrs. Moreno is a 2001 graduate of A.C. beer, but for the very culture of beer itself. Their Jones High. She received a Bachelor of Arts breweries and beer gardens anchored a kind of from Texas State University and completed her communal life that persevered under the legal doctorate of Juris Prudence in 2011 at Western weight of Prohibition. Prohibition was at its core New England University School of Law, where a political question, but it entangled—and there- she was awarded the Ascending Alumni Award. fore politicized—questions of race, ethnicity, She is married to Brandon Moreno and together, religion, and nationality. Germans didn’t just de- they have one son, Joshua. fend beer before, during, and after Prohibition,

13 they affirmed the culture and lifestyle of German From the 1930s to the 1950s, inmates at the Texans more broadly. And even where German Huntsville unit and neighboring Goree State Texan ethnic identity has evaporated, the leg- Farm for Women captured hearts all over Texas acies of their beer culture live on, not just in during weekly radio broadcasts and live stage Oktoberfests and heritage organizations, but in performances. WBAP’s “Thirty Minutes Behind dance halls and breweries and time spent with the Walls” took listeners inside the penitentiary friends and family. to hear not only the prisoners’ songs, but the stories of those who sang them. Captivating and Joseph Locke is an associate professor of charismatic, banjo player Reable Childs received history at the University of Houston-Victoria. thousands of fan letters with the Goree All-Girl He is the author of Making the Bible Belt: Texas String Band during World War II. Hattie Ellis, a Prohibitionists and the Politicization of Southern young black inmate with a voice that rivaled Bil- Religion (Oxford, 2017) and the co-editor of The lie Holiday’s, was immortalized by notable folk- American Yawp: A Massively Collaborative Open lorist John Avery Lomax. Inside the Texas State U.S. History Textbook (Stanford, 2020) Prison lies a surprising story of ingenuity, opti- mism and musical creativity. Whether for passion or pardons, Caroline Gnagy sets the stage for examining the role music played in obtaining freedom for incarcerated men and women in the early 20th century. Caroline Gnagy is a musician and historian based in Austin, Texas and is the author of Tex- as Jailhouse Music: A Prison Band History (The History Press, 2016). Other works appear in the Oxford Handbook of Country Music (Oxford Uni- versity Press), edited by Travis Stimeling; Coun- try Boys & Redneck Women, edited by Kristine McCusker and Diane Pecknold (University Press of Mississippi, 2016); and The Handbook of Texas Music, Second Edition, edited by Laurie E. Jasinski (Texas State Historical Association Press, 2012). Ms. Gnagy is currently working on her second book, about the lives and careers of female rockabilly performers from pioneers to the present day. She also continues her research into prison bands in Texas and beyond.

SESSION 10, PANEL B Overcoming Crushing Texas Justice: The Goree Girl Bands at Huntsville and Radio Caroline Gnagy

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