Pluck the Perfect Book
Do you love being cooped up with a good book?
Central Texas author A.A. Davenport’s A Chicken Was There collection aims to entertain while imparting history along the way—a perfect escape for National Read a Book Day on September 6.
Through the eyes of chickens, Davenport, a Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative member, takes readers to colonial America, the Civil War, Wild West and more.
“I was watching a movie with my husband. He really likes Westerns, and I noticed that there were chickens everywhere—in town, out on the homestead, at the stagecoach station,” says Davenport, a former English teacher at Smithville Junior High School. “That’s when I thought that the chickens have been eyewitnesses to a lot of historical events.”
Her sixth book in the series came out in July.
June Brewer served on numerous Austin school district task forces, including one for dropout prevention.
Courtesy Texas State Historical Association
A Pioneer in Academia
June Brewer made history in 1950 when she became one of the first African American women to apply and be admitted to graduate school at the University of Texas.
Brewer, born 100 years ago this month in Austin, got her bachelor’s degree at the college now known as Huston-Tillotson University. After getting her doctorate from UT, she taught English for 35 years at what was then Huston-Tillotson College.
Galveston’s Great Tragedy
The world didn’t learn of the unfathomable death and destruction of the 1900 Galveston hurricane until the next day because bridges and telegraph lines were destroyed, leaving the island to fend for itself in the face of the 15-foot storm surge and 140 mph winds.
On September 9, one of the island’s few surviving ships reached the mainland with a message: “Galveston is in ruins.” The messengers reported 500 deaths—and that was thought to be an exaggeration.
Today, 125 years later, the hurricane still stands as the nation’s deadliest disaster—upwards of 8,000 perished.
In the aftermath, the city, which had been less than 9 feet above sea level, was raised by more than 15 feet. A 17-foot-tall seawall stretches 10 miles along the Gulf to help protect 53,000 residents from storm surges.
A Swinging Star
Hank Thompson, leader of the Western swing band Brazos Valley Boys, was born 100 years ago this month.
They were Billboard magazine’s top-ranked country band 1953–65, a record 13-year stretch. Thompson was born September 3, 1925, in Waco.
