WISE ABOUT TEXAS

Right after the civil war, women weren’t really expected (or even thought capable) to be in business.  But of course, Texas women proved them wrong.  Lizzie Johnson was a school teacher, but she was also a writer and discovered how lucrative the cattle business could be.  So she became a cattle baroness and Austin real estate mogul.  Learn more about the Texas Cattle Queen in the latest episode of Wise About Texas.  

Award-winning author Stephen Harrigan visits Wise About Texas to discuss his new book–a history of Texas titled Big Wonderful Thing. Mr. Harrigan talks about how, as a journalist and novelist, he approached the colossal task of writing an entire history of Texas. Among other topics, he discusses his favorite Texas stories, the impact of our history on Texas, and a writer’s view of the Texas history we all love. Learn how one of Texas’ greatest writers approached Texas history in this episode of Wise About Texas.

What could be better than a good vaudeville show? A runaway mule, of course! One day in Nacogdoches, it’s said that a runaway mule changed the course of comedy history. Is it true? You bet your life…

Ben Kilpatrick was an outlaw.  He rode with Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and the Wild Bunch into western infamy.  The law caught up with him and he went to prison where he met Ole Hobeck.  They two decided when they got out, they’d go into business together.  Being outlaws, that business was train robbery.  So they set out for the barren landscapes and lonely railroad tracks of West Texas to score big.  But they didn’t count on meeting Wells Fargo agents David Trousdale and J.K. Reagen.  They would soon wish they had thought twice…Hear about one of the last train robberies in Texas in the latest episode of Wise About Texas.

Oliver Loving was a trailblazer…literally.  He drove cattle to Illinois, Louisiana, and Colorado.  With Charles Goodnight he blazed a new western trail intended to avoid the Indian threat.  Impatient as he was brave, he rode ahead to Santa Fe and was immediately attacked.  However, he held off hundreds of Comanches while one of his men went for help.  Through luck, or fate, or toughness, or all of it, he survived the attack.  But his wounds were too severe. Before he died, his best friend promised to take his body back to Texas.  Get a taste of the cattle drives, the danger, the bravery, and promises kept in this latest episode of Wise About Texas.      

When Texans talk about the Declaration of Independence, they usually mean the one signed at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836. Occasionally, we refer to the Goliad declaration of 1835. But there was one before all of them. In 1813, Texans in San Antonio de Bexar declared the province of Texas to be independent. The wording sounds familiar in places but the principals are timeless, and very familiar to Texans and Americans. Learn more about what motivated the Texans of 1813 to declare independence, which ultimately led to the Battle of Medina a few months later. (PHOTO BY BOB OWEN/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS/ZUMA PRESS)

Texas has 254 wonderful counties.  But we might have 284, or maybe we did but are down some.  Or are we?  What???  Learn about counties of Texas that were created, disappeared, were repealed, or maybe still exist.  Oh yeah, we gave a couple to the USA (you’re welcome, New Mexico) and Oklahoma stole one.  Learn more in the latest episode of Wise About Texas.

Born into poverty and raised in north central Texas, Bessie Coleman wanted to fly.  But in the early 20th century, nobody in the United States would teach a black woman to fly an airplane.  So Bessie Coleman learned a new language, traveled a world away, and realized her dream.  A pioneer pilot, Coleman came home and became famous.  She used her talent and her perseverance to show everyone what was possible.  Learn more about a true pioneer aviator in this episode of Wise About Texas.  

This bonus episode features an interview with Dr. Jody Edward Ginn, Ph.D., who was a consulting historian on the new Netflix movie The Highwaymen.  The movie stars Kevin Costner as former Texas Ranger Frank Hamer and Woody Harrelson as former Texas Ranger Maney Gault.  The movie tells the story of the chase and killing of two of the most vicious killers in American history.  In the interview, Dr. Ginn talks about historical movies, the myths surrounding Bonnie and Clyde and what its like to take Texas history to the big screen.  Enjoy this bonus episode of Wise About Texas.

Bonnie & Clyde were on the run for two years.  They committed small time thefts but big time murders.  They were killers, pure and simple.  They drove fast and far, laid low, and had help all over their territory.   But they always came home. Over 1000 men from various law enforcement agencies, including the new FBI, couldn’t catch them.  So we needed one Texas Ranger, and that man was Frank Hamer.  Hamer, his friend and fellow Ranger Maney Gault, along with two Dallas deputy sheriffs, tracked the outlaws and set them up to get what they had coming.  The posse did in a few weeks what the rest of the country couldn’t do in two years.  They got justice.  Hear about the chase and dramatic end to the crime spree of Bonnie & Clyde in the latest episode of Wise About Texas.