LUNCH AND LEARN SPEAKER SERIES
Explore Houston’s History with a historical expert while enjoying your brown bag or ordered lunch. This series of speakers is generously underwritten by Board Member Evelyn Boatwright.
June 20 - Dr. Ronald Goodwin - Texas Slave Narratives
July 18 - Tom Moser - 55th Anniversary of Apollo 11
August 15 - Dr. Debbie Harwell - Houston History
September 19 - Dr. Jesus Jesse Esparza - Hispanic Education in Texas
October 17 - Dr. Brian Riedel - Montrose and the Development of Gayborhood
November 21 - Dr. Tim Seiter - The Karankawa: Culture and Myth-busting
1100 Bagby Street, Museum Gallery. Free Parking at 212 Dallas
Members attend Lunch and Learns for free! Membership information here- https://www.heritagesociety.org/membership-join
July: Guest Speaker Tom Moser
About the Speaker
Tom was born and raised in Houston. He began his career 50 plus year career in the aerospace industry at NASA, where he participated in every U.S. human space flight program from Mercury to the Space Station. He served as the Chief Engineer at the Johnson Space Center and as senior manager in the Apollo, Space Shuttle and Space Station Programs in Houston and Washington, D.C. When he retired to Kerrville in 1997, he immediately failed retirement when he became the Executive Director of the Texas Aerospace Commission for Governor George W. Bush. He established commercial Spaceports in Texas. Space-X is operating at the south Texas Spaceport. He failed retirement again, when he was elected Kerr County Commissioner for three terms. He has been interested in the Truth regarding “Global Warming” and CO2 for over 30 years. As such he founded the “Right Climate Stuff” 12 years ago. An organization of retired NASA colleagues and other scientists with the objective of disseminating the Truth regarding Climate Change. Tom has multiple engineering degrees and studies from the University of Texas, University of Pennsylvania and Rice University. He is a distinguished graduate of the UT College of Engineering and a Fellow of National and International Aerospace organizations. He and his wife, Ginnie, have four children and ten grandchildren.
He will have 5 NASA Alumni guests with him who will astound you with facts about how we became Space City.
August: Guest Speaker Dr. Debbie Z. Harwell
Houston – A Second Choice City
Texans are a proud lot, and Houston is no exception. Jesse Jones even remarked in a 1954 letter, as Houston achieved a population of one million people, “Looking at the map, the United States rests of Texas and Texas rests on Houston.”
But not everyone has seen it that way. Looking back at some of the city’s significant turning points, Houston was not the first choice of location. From the city’s founding in 1836 to getting the Houston Ship Channel, the 1928 Democratic Convention, and NASA, Houston was an also-ran, but its city leaders had the last laugh.
About the Speaker
Debbie Harwell received her doctorate in U.S. history from the University of Houston where, since 2009, she has served as the managing editor/editor of Houston History magazine, published by the UH Center for Public History. A native Houstonian, she incorporates personal knowledge with historical research in teaching, writing for the magazine, and training the staff.
Since 2012, Harwell has taught a Houston history and public history methods classes in the Honors College and History, learning to research, conduct oral histories, and write for a public audience. In addition to her work at Houston History, Harwell’s book, Wednesdays in Mississippi: Proper Ladies Working for Radical Change, Freedom Summer 1964, won the 2015 Julia Cherry Spruill Prize for the best book in southern women’s history. She currently serves on the Harris County Historical Commission.
PAST GUEST SPEAKERS
June: Guest Speaker Dr. Ronald Goodwin
Please join us for Black History and Texas History with author Dr. Ronald Goodwin on Thursday, June 20, at Noon. Dr. Ronald Goodwin from Prairie View A&M University will discuss the collection of slave narratives in Texas during the preservation efforts of the New Deal in the 1930s. This lecture will be held the day after Juneteenth as it builds compassion and understanding of what people who were enslaved endured.
About the Author and Speaker: Dr. Goodwin has lectured at The Heritage Society and is a distinguished Co-Chair of the Levi Jordan Plantation Advisory Committee for the Texas Historical Commission, 2020-present. He is the General Editor, PVAMU Book Series, Texas A&M University Press, 2019-present. He has taught coursed in US History Survey, African American History, Urban History, American Chattel Slavery, Military History, Contemporary US History, and Early National US History.
Bring your own lunch or order lunch from Potbelly’s when you purchase your ticket online (please order lunch by June 18).
