American history

Freedom Papers: Evidence of Emancipation, Episode 2

“Freedom Papers: Evidence of Emancipation” highlights examples of how enslaved people gained freedom before the Civil War in the American south. Through the purchase of bonds, travel to states where the right to freedom was inherent, and other methods, these people secured a fragile hold on their freedom and sometimes the freedom of their children as well.

Documents used in this exhibit cover an era from Spanish rule to the end of the Civil War, including petitions signed by Spanish Governors, survey maps, and emancipation papers for entire families. These personal, often complex, stories show how the legacy of enslavement permeates American history.

Dr. Maria Esther Hammack of The Ohio State University has utilized the Briscoe Center archives for years, first as a center Fellow in 2018-2019 and then throughout her subsequent research. Dr. Hammack found Silvia Hector Webber’s freedom papers during one of her research trips and now works with descendants of the Webber family to amplify Silvia’s story.

Silvia’s freedom, and that of her three children, was purchased in 1834 in a bond in the holdings of the Briscoe Center. Silvia Webber would go on to help others to freedom via travel to Mexico, and her house became a stop on the Underground Railroad. The Webber land, located east of Austin, gave its name to present-day Webberville.

*The freedom papers of Silva Hector Webber, June 11, 1834, Earl Vandale Collection*

We invite you to explore more evidence of this shared history through research in our archives and digital collections.

Freedom Papers: Evidence of Emancipation, Episode 1

In this episode, Briscoe Center curator Sarah Sonner recounts the process of discovery as she mined the center’s vast collections to create the recent exhibition “Freedom Papers: Evidence of Emancipation.” Join us to hear what she found, her process, and what she hopes her work reveals.

Page from list of deeds for Austin settlement, including John Webber. Webber’s name appears fourth from the top, on land listed as “Colorado East Side Little Colony” of over half a league (more than 2,200 acres), June 22, 1832, Stephen F. Austin Papers

*Record of capture at the Adams County jail of “a Negro woman named Louisa” who “absconded while on her way home,” ca. 1821, Natchez Trace Collection*

We invite you to explore more evidence of this shared history through research in our archives and digital collections.

Episode 11: The Governor and the Colonel: A Dual Biography of William P. Hobby and Oveta Culp Hobby

After establishing himself as a pioneer in the news media industry in Texas, Will Hobby served as Lt. Gov. of Texas from 1915 until September 1917, when he became Governor. He led Texas’ effort to support the American military during World War I, and he had to resolve significant political and social issues that swept the state and the nation, including lawlessness and corruption on the state’s southern border, and heated battles over prohibition and women’s suffrage. Will signed the bill giving women the right to vote in primary elections, and he subsequently played a role in the ratification of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

During World War II Oveta took her place on the national stage as the celebrated founding commander of the Women’s Army Corps. In recognition of her extremely difficult but outstanding performance during the war, she received the Distinguished Service Medal, the first woman so honored. In 1953, Oveta became only the second woman in U. S. history to serve on a presidential cabinet when Eisenhower appointed her as the Secretary of the newly established Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. While head of the HEW, Oveta directed the effort to expand the number of Americans covered by Social Security, and she oversaw the development and controversial distribution of the Salk polio vaccine.

The “Hobby Team” of Will and Oveta quickly forged an intimate personal and professional relationship leading to the establishment of an influential media business that eventually included ownership of the Houston Post and Houston’s pioneering KPRC Radio and KPRC TV.

On this episode, we interview Don Carleton, the Briscoe Center’s executive director. Don joins us to discuss his most recent book, a dual biography of Will and Oveta Hobby, The Governor and the Colonel.

Will signs the suffrage referendum act in the Texas Capitol, while skeptical Minnie Fisher Cunningham looks on from his left, February 5, 1918

Will and Oveta Culp Hobby with US Representative Edith Nourse Rogers after Oveta was sworn in as director of the WAAC, 1942

Oveta Culp Hobby being sworn in as commander of the WAC, 1943. Generals Marshall (middle) and Somervell (far right) stand behind her.

Will Hobby appearing before a joint session of the Texas Legislature shortly after becoming governor following Ferguson’s impeachment, 1917.

Oveta Culp Hobby and President Lyndon B. Johnson at the dedication of the Oveta Culp Hobby Library at Central Texas College, Killeen, December 1967.

Episode 10: Voice Lessons: Finding Your Voice through Social Activism

First drawn into the fight against racial segregation in the 1960s, Alice Embree became a leader of Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Texas at Austin and embarked on a lifelong journey of social activism involving a wide array of grassroots political, economic, social, and cultural causes.

The Briscoe Center has recently published Alice’s memoir, Voice Lessons, which draws heavily from her papers, part of the center’s civil rights and social justice collections. Alice’s thoughtful memoir opens our eyes to what it was like to serve as an active participant in causes that continue to affect us all.

In this podcast, Alice is joined by Dr. Julia Mickenberg, a professor of American Studies at UT Austin and an award-winning author. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on such topics as US Cultural History; Women Radicals and Reformers; and Society, Culture, and Politics in the 1960s. Dr. Mickenberg also wrote the foreword to Voice Lessons.

Voice Lessons is published by the Briscoe Center for American History and distributed by the University of Texas Press.

To purchase a copy of Voice Lessons, please visit: https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/embree-voice-lessons

Left: Embree’s antiwar activity as chronicles by the FBI, copy received after a Freedom of Information Act Request, September 11, 1978.

Right: Printing at Red River Women’s Press, c. 1978. Photo by Mary Ellen LeBien.

Left: *Soeur Queens Songbook*, printed by Fly-By-Night Press, 1975. Nancy Collins, artist.

Right: Alice Embree speaking at a University Freedom Movement rally in April 1967, *Photo by John Avant.*

This episode of American Rhapsody was produced by Ashley Carr.

The audio was mixed and mastered by Morgan Honaker and Ean Herrera.

Episode 3: Taking Trump Seriously: The Wayne Barrett Papers

Investigative reporter Wayne Barrett began reporting on Donald Trump in 1979. He was perhaps the first journalist to take Trump seriously and became a renowned authority on the would-be president, as well as a mentor to a new generation of muckraking journalists. Barrett died the day before Trump took the oath of office. Fran Barrett and Eileen Markey are the driving forces behind Without Compromise, a new edited volume of Wayne’s papers, which are archived at the Briscoe Center.

Episode 1: American Rhapsody Introduction

On each episode of American Rhapsody, we interview those who have witnessed American history firsthand: politicians, reporters, photographers, and activists—all of whom have since donated their personal or professional archives to the Briscoe Center. We also interview historians, filmmakers, and other researchers who work in the center’s collections. These collections are the evidence of the past. Without them, there is no history, only myth. Each week we ask: what actually happened? The sum of all those answers in an American Rhapsody.