Patchwork quilting is an original folk art in the United States. Pilgrims first used worn out scraps of cloth to make bed covers in an age of scarcity. Featured here are stories on East Texas Quilts, their origins, the love and hard work which goes into the making of a quilt (Ira Barr and others). The techniques needed to construct a quilt are…

Examines the events leading to and immediately following the declaration of war on Mexico in 1846. Includes the second and third pages of Abraham Lincoln's "Spot Resolutions" and presents teaching suggestions for interpreting the document and assessing public opinion. (GEA)

This issue of "Loblolly Magazine" is dedicated to Sybil Scott, born in 1910 and still going at the age of 85. She shares some interesting tales of what it was like growing up in the '10's and '20's in Texas, including her school years. She remembers, very vividly, her childhood and teenage years in East Texas. Among the many interesting…

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Rural Electrification Act changed farm life dramatically. The miracle of electricity in rural East Texas is examined in "Electricity Comes to East Texas" (Brandi Anderson and others). Chronicled is a description of life without electricity and how everyday chores were done in its absence. Local citizens…

Community schools arose in Texas in opposition to a post-Civil War centralized school system. Emphasis on parental control, minimal regulation, and funding similar to vouchers echo today's issues about school choice. Their history provides lessons for current school reform efforts. (SK)

Panola County, Texas Sheriff Corbett Akins wrote a weekly column for the "Panola Watchman" in which he chronicled the adventures and mishaps of his force. He provides a wealth of information about East Texas life on everything from making fiddles, to running bloodhounds, to finding moonshine stills. The columns reprinted appeared from…

Written and published by the students at Gary High School, Gary, Texas, "Loblolly Magazine" is published twice a year. Issues are frequently devoted to a distant theme. The theme of this issue, "East Texas Storytellers," attempts to capture some of the local color and regional history of eastern Texas. The first article,…

Written and published by the students at Gary High School this volume has three articles dealing with East Texas life. The first "Arthur Smith" (David Hancock and others) is an account of growing up in Marian County, Texas is described by the local Baptist minister. The pastor begins with the year of his birth and gives detailed…

Storyteller Monroe Brannon, although a native of Louisiana, was a long time resident of Gary, Texas. Mr. Brannon shared his fantastic memory of events and people which go back to the 1890s when he was two and half years old. He was keen observer of all that he saw and heard and forgot little. And so he was able to provide stories on a wide range…

Jose de Escandon's colonization work in the present Mexican state of Tamaulipas and the lower Rio Grande valley forms an essential part of the Spanish northern borderlands. Many of the land grants in the area, ranching, and some of the present day agricultural industries originated with the colonization projects initiated by Escandon, who proved…

Written by history students at Gary High School, Gary, Texas, this volume presents several diverse pictures of life in East Texas. The first article, "Jim Driver, Panola County Oil and Gas Boom," (Bobby Kelly and Billy Anderson) talks about drilling for oil and gas and the concerns of an employee of the drilling company. "When I Was…

Contests the State of Texas argument in the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) case that historical discrimination against African Americans and Mexican Americans is unrelated to their TAAS outcomes. Examines contemporary de facto school segregation, distribution of substandard teachers, and the relationship of these factors to student…

This book describes the teaching experiences of Stella Gipson Polk, who taught in one-room schools in rural Texas. She was 16 at the time she took her first teaching job in 1918. After high school graduation, she had intended to enter a 4-year college or university. However, World War I left numerous schools without teachers as many were called…

For over a century, Texas public schools have attempted to acculturate Mexican-American children by denigrating Mexican-American culture, language, and history. These efforts have largely failed, as Mexican-Americans in Texas have not lost their cultural heritage and assimilated into the larger society. However, this ethnic group has been shorn of…

This paper represents a brief history of rural education in Fayette County (Texas) from 1918 through 1975. The paper focuses on the personal narratives of Harry Loeb, the last official superintendent of Fayette County and Emma Diedt, a 50-year Fayette County teacher. The narratives describe Fayette County schools, school politics, and the…