When I was ten years old, my maternal grandmother, Velma Ray Kay Hugghins, was driving me to the store when she turned toward me with a seriousness I had never seen before. “In 2045,” she began, “there is a time capsule on Baylor’s campus that will be opened 100 years after it was sealed. I […]
In the 1920s, a sociology textbook landed Baylor University in the entire Baptist General Convention of Texas’ spotlight. In the 2000s, a small research center called the University’s academic freedom into question again. A century after its first evolution controversy, the nation’s largest Baptist university is still wrestling with the same question: What does a
George’s tumultuous life is the stuff of legends, of Hollywood action movies, of dime store novels. He was a restless pioneer. A leader. A stone-cold killer. A mass of contradictions. It’s not a pretty story at times, certainly not by today’s standards, but few people in the American west lived a more eventful life than
“My infidel fellow citizens, my Catholic neighbor, or Jewish friend, must have the same right to read or refrain from reading the Bible, to believe or reject the Bible as he chooses. These are fundamentally American principles.” In 1923 President Samuel Palmer Brooks spoke before the Texas Senate in response to a bill concerning compulsory
Baptists Championed Church-State Separation. Then Came Christian Nationalism. Read More »
In the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 32:35), God tells the people of Israel, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” For members of Waco’s Black community steeped in faith, God seemed to be exacting his revenge, albeit 37 years later. Tyler B. Davis’ book God of the Whirlwind revisits the 1916 lynching of Jesse Washington, which W.E.B.
Baylor University’s beloved origin story — how Texas’ oldest university, a scrappy little Baptist college in tiny Independence, overcame impossible odds, moved to Waco, and became one of America’s great institutions — conveniently glosses over the other significant factor in that transformation: Waco University. And while the larger-than-life presence of irascible, imperious Rufus C. Burleson
The School That Saved Baylor: Legacies of Waco University Read More »
When your father spends his life on the road with B.B. Crimm — the cowboy preacher who wore a 10-gallon hat and carried a six-shooter into the pulpit — ministry feels like an adventure. Now a third-generation evangelist following in his father’s footsteps, Dr. Rob Randall has carried that legacy and adventurous spirit into a
William Sidney Graves was born on March 27, 1865, in Mount Calm, 24 miles northeast of Waco on old Highway 31. Before his death on February 27, 1940, he would experience several lifetimes’ worth of adventures, be called a revolutionary and a counter-revolutionary, see much of the world, and become the central figure in one
The awards have expanded. The venues have moved. But the purpose remains consistent: to recognize members of the Baylor Family whose leadership, service, scholarship, and public impact reflect distinction. 1965 Dr. Gordon Teal and Earl C. Hankamer, Sr., are recognized as the University’s first Outstanding Alumni. Ex-Students Association Executive Director Dr. George Stokes presented the
Anticipation was running high in central Italy last summer as a Baylor-led research team prepared for its first peek into an ancient chamber tomb. With the aid of a camera inserted into the top corner of the front door, Dr. Jamie Aprile saw archaeological treasure: 2,600-year-old Etruscan pottery, and lots of it, seemingly whole and
