Changing Perspectives charts the pivotal period in Houston’s history when Jewish and Black leadership eventually came together to work for positive change. This is a story of two communities, both of which struggled to claim the rights and privileges they desired. Previous scholars of Southern Jewish history have argued that Black-Jewish relations did not exist in the South. However, during the 1930s to the 1980s, Jews and Blacks in Houston interacted in diverse and oftentimes surprising ways. The distance between Houston’s Jews and Blacks diminished after changing demographics, the end of segregation, city redistricting, and the emergence of Black political power. Allison Schottenstein shows that Black-Jewish relations did exist during the Long Civil Rights Movement in Houston.

Composition recital presented at the UNT College of Music MEIT (M1001)

Spectrum concert performed at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.

During World War II the United States mobilized its industrial assets to become the great “Arsenal of Democracy” through the cooperation of the government and private firms. The Dallas Story examines a specific aviation factory, operated by the North American Aviation (NAA) company in Dallas, Texas. Terrance Furgerson explores the construction and opening of the factory, its operation, its relations with the local community, and the closure of the facility at the end of the war. Prior to the opening of the factory in 1941, the city of Dallas had practically no existing industrial base. Despite this deficiency, the residents quickly learned the craft of manufacturing airplanes, and by the time of the Pearl Harbor attack the NAA factory was mass-producing the AT-6 trainer aircraft. The entry of the United States into the war brought about an enlargement of the NAA factory, and the facility began production of the B-24 Liberator bomber and the famed P-51 Mustang fighter. By the end of the war the Texas division of NAA had manufactured nearly 19,000 airplanes, making it one of the most prolific U.S. factories.

Joe Olexa enlisted in the US Army in December 1940, figuring that if he was going to be in a war, he might as well start training. Assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, nicknamed “The Big Red One,” he served in Company L of its 26th Infantry Regiment for the next four years. Along the way he trained with the division in maneuvers in the United States; shipped to England in 1942; landed at Oran, Algeria, in the Operation Torch landings of November 1942; and fought in Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, Belgium, and Germany. Olexa was one of the first group of enlistees that brought the division up to full strength in the buildup prior to Pearl Harbor, and was a sergeant by the time he went overseas. He served as a squad leader, platoon sergeant, and acting platoon leader, outlasting nearly all the men in his company. His memoir features accounts of unusual adventures in Tunisia when his battalion was detached from the rest of the division, and presents a detailed and intense account of his platoon’s experiences at El Guettar. Later, Olexa became a “Sea Scout,” going ashore on Sicily the night before the invasion to provide signals to …

Presentation on the friendship and collaboration between Willis Conover and Duke Ellington for the 26th International Duke Ellington Study Group Conference. Due to the Covid pandemic, this conference was cancelled early in the morning before it was set to begin.

Notes to accompany a presentation on the friendship and collaboration between Willis Conover and Duke Ellington for the 26th International Duke Ellington Study Group Conference. Due to the Covid pandemic, this conference was cancelled early in the morning before it was set to begin.

Opera concert performed at the UNT College of Music Winspear Hall.

Brass band concert performed at the UNT College of Music Winspear Hall.

A Capella concert performed at the UNT College of Music Winspear Hall.

Concert Choir performance at the UNT College of Music Winspear Hall.

Concert Choir Ensemble A concert performed at the UNT College of Music Winspear Hall.

This guest recital was performed at the UNT College of Music Winspear Hall.

Book is a history of the Industrial Areas Foundation branch in Texas. The Industrial Areas Foundation was founded by Saul Alinsky in Chicago in 1940 and is currently an international advocacy group. The Texas branch has many affiliates throughout the state. This book describes the evolution of those affiliates and their cooperative activities with other advocacy groups.

Identified with Texas is the first published biography of Texas Governor Elisha Marshall Pease (1812-1883), presented by historian Elizabeth Whitlow as a dual biography of Pease and his wife, Lucadia Niles Pease (1813-1905). Pease volunteered to fight in the first battle of the Revolution at Gonzales, and he served with the Texan Army at the Siege of Bexar. Pease served in the first three state legislatures after Texas joined the Union in 1845, was elected governor in 1853 and re-elected in 1855, and returned to the governorship as an interim appointee from 1867 to 1869 during Reconstruction. His achievements in all these positions were substantial. Lucadia Niles Pease was known as the Governor’s “Lady.” Moreover, her early, independent travel and her stated position as a “woman’s rights woman” in the 1850s, as well as her support for sending a daughter away to college in the 1870s to earn a degree, all serve as markers of her intelligence and the strength of her convictions. To tell their story, Whitlow mined thousands of letters and papers saved by the Pease family and housed in the Austin History Center of the Austin Public Library, as well as in the Governor’s Papers at the …

Junior recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall in partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Music (BM) in Performance degree.

Junior recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall in partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Music (BM) in Performance degree.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Lab West in partial fulfillment of the Master of Music (MM) degree.

Book describes the three surrenders by Confederate armies that occurred after Robert E. Lee surrendered to U.S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. They included Joseph Johnston's to William Tecumseh Sherman; Richard Taylor's to Edward Canby; and the dissolution of the Trans-Mississippi Department under Edmund Kirby-Smith.

Interview with Benjamin Bình-Thiên Phạm Lương, a chef from Dallas, Texas who studied at the Culinary Institute of America. Benjamin discusses the background of his Vietnamese parents, the Vietnam War, politics, his father's education in the United States, and his own personal journey to becoming a chef.

Interview with Carol Dix, an author from London, England. Dix describes her pregnancy and giving birth experiences, Postpartum Depression, the writing she produced, her surgeries, crime, life in London, and her children.

Interview with David Carlson, a rancher and retired psychologist from Denton, Texas. The focus of the interview is the "Texas blackout," a weeklong power outage from February 14th to February 21st, 2021. Carlson discusses working at nursing homes during the COVID-19 Pandemic, his ranch, how they took care of the animals and themselves during the freeze, and the animal births that occurred during this time.

Interview with David Vo, a resident of Calera, Oklahoma. Vo discusses his upbringing in Vietnam, his father's work as an officer in the South Vietnamese military, the Vietnam War, escaping on a boat and coming to the United States, getting his degree in automotive industrial technology at Cal State University, starting a family, and his perspective regarding his homeland.

Interview with Elisabeth Brolin discussing her early life in Switzerland, immigration to the DFW area, journey to becoming a United States citizen, her discovery of her faith and of God, her life as an immigrant in the United States, her social connections, and the concept of the American Dream.