Texas Highways Magazine November 2020

I’ve spent a lot of time this year thinking about the generations that have come before us. There are few things more comforting during hard times than hearing stories about people who survived even harder times. The photo above was taken by famed Depression-era photojournalist Dorothea Lange in June 1938. Her description of the photo is sparse—“wife and child of Negro laborer of the Brazos riverbottoms.” While we don’t know the details of their lives, we know enough about the time period to know their day-to-day existence must have been arduous. And yet they are surviving, standing strong and proud amid the wildflowers. Our aim with this issue is to highlight the resilience Texans have displayed during some of the most difficult moments in our state’s history. Our cover story, by…

For history buff Jac Darsnek, it wasn’t hard to find images of past Texas hardships for “Tales of Texas Grit” (Page 38). He runs the popular Traces of Texas website and social media accounts, which showcase historic photographs. To choose the photos for the story, he dove into various public archives as well as his own to find characters who conveyed a message of resilience. “When I look at a photo, do I see a person who is rising up or a person who has been defeated?” says Darsnek, who started Traces of Texas in 2005. “I wanted to show that Texans rebuilt—that even in the face of terrific tragedy, Texans were making the best of it. Texans were banding together.” In these images, the Austin-based photographer found a message…

Roberto José Andrade Franco The North Texas-based freelance writer, who was raised in the El Paso-Juárez borderland, wrote about his hometown for this month’s essay, “The Desert Reclaims Everything” (Page 14). “I hadn’t given much thought to growing up along the Texas-Mexico border until I moved to Dallas in 2014,” Franco says. “I’ve always loved El Paso and Juárez. But from a distance, I’ve gained a greater appreciation for the cities and a better understanding of their complicated past and present.” Franco has written for ESPN, the Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, D Magazine, and Deadspin. James L. Haley The award-winning author wrote “Divided Times” (Page 70), about the anti-secessionist movement in Texas, because he felt many Texans misunderstand the state’s pre-Civil War history. “Secession was promoted by the plantation elite,” the…

The Barrow Gang As a new subscriber, I was disappointed to see an article about murderers and thieves made out to be folk heroes [“Flipping the Script,” October]. Bonnie and Clyde left a trail of death everywhere they went through several states. They carried a large arsenal with them at all times and had no remorse for killing anyone. The fact that they made a glorified movie about these murderers is a disgrace. The only heroes were the Rangers that killed them. They prevented uncountable deaths. G H Ryder, Hawkins Pecan-troversy Your article on pecans (Carya illinoinensis) stated that they are the only nuts native to North America [“Deep Roots,” October]. Not true! In Texas alone, there are also the black walnut (Juglans nigra) and the black hickory (Carya texana). And while the article…

Photographer George W. Ackerman took this picture of a Coryell County farmer taking a break from the fields in September 1931. Ackerman worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, documenting rural life across the country throughout the early 20th century and the Great Depression. Though the subject’s name was not recorded, he evokes the common agrarian lifestyle of the time. In 1930, Coryell County, which is in Central Texas, was home to roughly 3,000 small farmers, who mainly raised cotton, cattle, sheep, and goats, according to the Handbook of Texas. Photo: George W. Ackerman/U.S. National Archives and Records Administration…

Known as the “Cradle of Texas,” San Augustine has a rich history predating the Texas Revolution. The Spanish built Mission Dolores along El Camino Real in 1719 to serve as an outpost among the native Ais tribe. In the 1830s and ’40s, San Augustine was home to many influential Texans, including Sam Houston and James Pinckney Henderson, the state’s first governor. San Augustine today is known for its historic architecture and a rural economy based on the poultry and timber industries. Lifelong resident Betty Oglesbee has had a hand in many of the town’s restoration projects through her fundraising role with the San Augustine Garden Club. “I don’t know how to not be involved,” says Oglesbee, 86, who raised four sons here with her late husband, John Oglesbee. “I have…