Using the #ScholarSunday hashtag as a #FollowFriday for academics brought to you by Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) http://www.raulpacheco.org/2012/09/using-the-sundayscholar-hashtag-as-a-followfriday-for-academics/
Steubenhell on Earth
April 4, 2013 By 3 Comments
Welcome to Earth: Where victims are blamed, where rapists are mollycoddled, where football is more important than #humanrights #Steubenville — Donna M. Alexander (@americasstudies) March 19, 2013 Steubenville is now synonymous with hell. It is no longer just a geographical location, but an event, a moment in time when humanity failed to be humane. It [...]
Queen Lynn: From Glory to Tragedy
February 28, 2013 By 2 Comments
This article comes to FunkNBeans from union member and political activist Allan Jamail of Galena Park, Texas. We thank Mr. Jamail for this excellent piece of Houston history. From Mr. Jamail: I BRING TO YOU TODAY AT THE CLOSE OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH BACK WHEN I WAS JUST 27 YEARS OLD THE TRAGEDY OF 42 YEARS AGO WHEN THE FIRST [...]
La Raza Unida Party Reunion – A Historical Primer
July 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
La Raza Unida Party made history in 1972. Dr. José Angel Gutíerrez in this video talks about the broad history of La Raza Unida Party as a force of national Chican@ activism. La Raza Unida Party is having a reunion this weekend in Austin, Tx at Mexitas Restaurant. See LaRazaUnidaPartyReunion.org for more information. @JaimeRPuente will [...]
#SaturdaySchool : Social Movement Leaders, Traits & Trends
April 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Many histories of social movements have profiled leaders as officers of organizations or public speakers. This definition of leader is limited, and it excludes a wide range of other leaders who are crucial to social movements. Women, laborers, children, and other groups of leaders have been and continue to be pushed out of formal leadership [...]
The Tejano Monument: 500 Years of History Cast in Bronze & Stone
April 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Texas wasn’t always Texas. Prior to 1836 it was part of the Mexican state of Cohuila y Tejas, and before that it was the land of the Comanche, Kiowa, Tonkawa, Karankawa, Apache, and numerous other native peoples. But, up until this week, you would never know this if you were to walk onto the grounds [...]
Funk & Beans [un]Valentine’s Day Mixtape
February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
It’s that time of year.. yes another one. It’s the time of year when red fuzzy hearts attached to the outside of red fuzzy bears accompany oversized metallic balloons with a box of chocolates that will only be half eaten because most of it sucks. Yes it is Valentines Day. For those who would rather [...]
Guilty By (Dis)Association: Chicago Robs Herbie Pulgar
February 11, 2012 By 2 Comments
A fifteen year old Chicago boy has just been taught that as a Latino an association with gang culture come with your name and where you live – even if that association exists in the mind of one slightly powerful person. Herbie Pulgar submitted a drawing to a citywide art contest for the design of [...]
Shit Girls Say and the Absurdity of the Gender Normative
January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
There is such a thing as prejudice within the movement toward social justice. I always think about the former president of the National Organization for Women, Betty Friedan, and her comments regarding lesbians as the “lavender menace.” Later, this term was radically reclaimed by members of the Gay Liberation Front. Eve Ensler still screams, “cunt,” [...]
Lincoln’s Legacy: A Lone Star College-Cy Fair Event Series
December 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Some topics in history just never seem to go away, and the legacy of Abraham Lincoln is a subject that always holds interest, not just for professional historians but for the public at large. Issues of race, citizenship, constitutional interpretation, and war are as relevant today as they were in Lincoln’s time. Houstonians have an [...]
Venus and The Moon Give Us a Yuletide Treat
December 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Last night there was a beautiful treat in the skies wherever you might have been. The waxing crescent moon was at its dimmest point in the lunar cycle allowing Venus to shine bright as it moves across our winter sky. But that’s not all! All five of the visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and [...]
The Funk & Beans Holiday Mixtape
December 21, 2011 By 4 Comments
Happy Holidays to the Funk & Beans community! We love the holidays because we get to be close to our loved ones and create a few new memories before another year closes out. But – we don’t always love the music that seems to float ubiquitously in and around public spaces. Since this is our [...]
Lerone Baker Pursues Misguided Deification of Cassietta George
August 27, 2011 By 19 Comments
By: Joseph Middleton Cassietta George (seen at right) was a gem of the Golden Gospel Era. From her days in the early 1950s with the Songbirds of the South, until becoming one of the longest tenured Caravans, there’s no doubt she reserved herself a great place amongst the top gospel singers in the history books. [...]
Happy Independence: A Family Tradition
July 3, 2011 By 1 Comment
I was raised on gun shows, Sunday school, and part-time jobs and steeped in American tradition. Despite this, Independence Day reminds me more of my great-grandmother than patriotism and fireworks. Nana was born on July 4, 1900, and she always said the fuss each year was about her birthday, not our country’s. Nana was a [...]
Gun Control: Rolls off the tongue, but not like Haiku poetry.
March 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
By S. John Batiste ® A car drives by a northwest Houston home just after midnight, riddling the home with nearly three dozen rounds of bullets. A two-year old is shot in the leg. He will survive. No one is thinking Columbine in a neighborhood of poor folks. After all, this is how business is [...]
Demographics Changes Already Hitting Texas
March 15, 2011 By 1 Comment
I don’t know if you know this or not, but Texas is a brown & black state. The 2010 Census numbers show that Texas is already a “minority-majority” state if you combine the African-American & Latino populations. At a recent symposium organized by the Texas Tribune, Dr. Steve Murdock gave a presentation that says several [...]
Two Endangered African Black-Footed Cats Born
March 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Two rare & endangered African black-footed kittens were born through in vitro fertilization at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species in Algiers. The New Orleans Times-Picayune has the story, and some pretty damn cute pictures of these little felines. From the Times-Picayune: Their father, Ramses, was a sperm donor from the Henry Doorly [...]