Every once in a while I still come across fixtures on campus that bear the university’s first name, the Rice Institute.

Attended the opening reception for Agatha Babino’s Story: A Narrative of the Formerly Enslaved, an outstanding exhibit by Dionne Babineaux, PhD student in history at Rice and founder of the MOUTH Project.

“Found courage” on campus today, after a heavy and heartbreaking first week of classes was shattered by terrible violence. May we all find courage, compassion and care for each other in the days ahead.

Fall classes begin today at Rice! I’m teaching an introductory undergraduate course and a graduate readings seminar on the Black Freedom Struggle.

Flier for my undergraduate survey course this semester now up. One week left until the first day.

I spoke with Kenyatta Berry on her podcast about Henrietta Wood, being a historian, and my book Sweet Taste of Liberty.

I am “the spines on my paperbacks are starting to fade to the color I saw in my own professors' offices as a student” years old.

Quad construction at Rice really accelerating as semester approaches. Compare this picture with the ones from June and July.

This afternoon I attended a moving online memorial service for one of my beloved doctoral advisors, Dorothy Ross. Hearing from her family and closest friends reminded me again of the important things in a life well and fully lived: family, friendship, generosity, and the marriage of true minds.

Great meeting today of the Texas Consortium of Universities and Colleges Studying Slavery and Race, led by Dr. Marco Robinson at Prairie View A&M University and hosted this year here at Rice.

Gabriel J. Loiacono wants to give “hog reeves”—and by extension local government officers—their due in American history. Been thinking a lot about city politics in Reconstruction Houston, so I’m here for it!

Susanna Ashton recommended my book on a list with outstanding recent history titles. Nice to be mentioned in such company! 📚

Working on making some decisions about books to teach in my grad seminar this fall. There is still some time before the syllabus has to be set, but not much time! The semester will soon be upon us!

This morning on Zoom, Bryson Kisner successfully defended his excellent Rice dissertation “From Borderland to Southern Land: The Changing Landscape of the Sabine River Valley, 1800-1877," which I had the honor of co-advising. One nice feature of Zoom defenses, when they occur, is seeing former graduate students from all over who can turn out (virtually) to support the dissertator. A real treat!

Updated some notes in my open research notebook: Houston Daily Union.

Flashback Friday to August 1864, two months after Abraham Lincoln was renominated by the Republican national convention for reelection, and barely two months before the election:

The party anxiety of certain Republican leaders had at this juncture become unusually sensitive. The Democratic National Convention was about to meet in the city of Chicago, and the nomination of McClellan as its candidate was strongly foreshadowed. In anticipation, Democratic leaders, newspapers, and delegates were specially active and boastful. Their unwonted confidence and bold prophecies created general uneasiness among Republicans, and, in a few instances, produced a downright panic. Under this feeling the National Executive Committee of the Republican party met in New York for consultation, and on the 22d of August, its chairman, Henry J. Raymond, wrote the President the following extraordinary letter.

… prompting Lincoln to write this extraordinary memo.

Working some today on the book version of the reports of the Task Force on Slavery, Segregation, and Racial Injustice. In the midst of the release of those reports, the library moved its digital special collections from a homegrown repository at “scholarship.rice.edu” to a Quartex platform. So … there are lots of “permalinks” that have to be updated for the book’s endnotes.

Last month I was puzzled by a Juneteenth jousting tournament in Houston in 1871. This blog post by Daniel R. Weinfeld on Black Ring Tournaments in Reconstruction suggests that it was a broader phenomenon. It also introduced me to Texas artist Merritt Mauzey and his lithograph Tournament Practice.

Another tree casualty of Beryl spotted on campus today, by Herzstein Hall.

Updated some notes in my open research notebook: Fair Grounds, Frank Vance, Houston Daily Union, Juneteenth.

Updated some notes in my open research notebook: Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Sandy Parker.

Updated some notes in my open research notebook: Freedmens Bureau.

Looks like the article I found about a Black political convention in Texas during Reconstruction has now been added to the Colored Conventions Project!

Updated some notes in my open research notebook: Elias Dibble, Sandy Parker, israel1998.