06.25.2026_Defender-e-FULL

Shapes the soul of Houston

FEATURE

SPORTS

JOHN BIGGERS

JOHN ‘DOC’ HARVEY

An artist whose murals still shape Houston’s Black communities.

Hundreds pay tribute to the TSU athletic trainer of 41 years.

Volume 95, issue 36 June 25, 2026

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DN To the POINT The confederacy seeks to rise again as Republican candidates across the South who are ‘election deniers’ champion positions that are near carbon copies of the confederacy of Civil War days. Credit: ABC7NY.

Message from the Reporter speaking truth to power, and noted that her experience highlights a larger systemic issue: The original Confederacy was built Black girls remain the least represented group explicitly on anti-Blackness and the presin the district’s gifted program, per Windsor ervation of slavery. And even though apolSchool District stats. ogists claim those confederates were all While Naomi’s parents successfully fought about states’ rights, the number one state for her, many Black families face structural right they fought for (and listed in their barriers—such as inflexible work schedules or traitorous constitutions) was the right to economic realities—that prevent them from enslave Black people. attending board meetings.

Today’s movement echoes that past by This story underscores the urgent need Aswad Walker attempting to delegitimize Black voters. It for parents to advocate within existing instiwas no accident that 2020 election deniers targeted the vot- tutions, while working toward building independent spaces ing results of high-turnout Black cities like Atlanta, Detroit, where the brilliance of Black children is recognized from jump.

Milwaukee, and Philadelphia with claims of fraud. That was the GOP saying loud and clear that Black votes and voters Texas ‘Christian education’ an oxymoron are illegitimate.

The Texas State Board of Education is voting this week Their platform centers on aggressive voter suppression—a on a new curriculum that incorporates Christian texts and modern iteration of the Confederate stance that Black people emphasizes a specific interpretation of Texas and U.S. history. should hold no political power. In essence, they’re fighting While advocates claim these changes appropriately highlight for white nationalism.

Christianity’s role in promoting freedom and capitalism, critAhead of the 2026 midterms, several Southern Republican ics argue the curriculum promotes religious favoritism and candidates who still “question” the 2020 election results are contains factual inaccuracies. running for offices that oversee future voting procedures.

Beyond the curriculum itself, a stark contradiction exists While mainstream media often labels them “election deniers,” between the state’s legislative actions and the biblical values a more accurate label might be confederates, or even white it seeks to teach. Texas policymakers, and the “Christians” nationalists. behind this push, have routinely opposed civil rights, women’s As activist Lurie Daniel Favors notes, communities must rights, and assistance for vulnerable groups like immigrants “vote for the candidates who will either do our communities and orphans—all tenets central to Christian teachings. the most good or the least harm.” In other words, voting Furthermore, historical “Christian contributions” to Ameragainst the modern-day confederacy should be a no-brainer. ican history often obscure how the dominant white Christian church historically weaponized faith to justify slavery, voter Advocate for our brilliance suppression, misogyny, and systemic inequality. While true At a recent Windsor Board of Education meeting in Con- adherents of Jesus’s message champion justice and human necticut, Naomi Champlain, a sixth-grade Black girl at Sage rights, they are frequently targeted by the very white Christian Prep Middle School, delivered a powerful message about nationalists driving these educational mandates. Ultimately, systemic gaps in gifted-and-talented programs. the version of Christianity being pushed into public schools Despite an impressive academic and civic resume, Naomi stands in direct opposition to the compassionate, equitable was only identified as gifted at the end of sixth grade. “I wasn’t teachings of the faith it claims to represent. identified in kindergarten or first grade, or second grade, or third, or fourth, or even fifth,” she said. “I was identified ON THE WEB at the end of sixth grade due to my parents advocating for • Tim Godfrey brings AFROVIVAL Gospel experience me. The identification was new. My abilities were not. That to Houston. makes me wonder, how many years of evidence should it • America at 250: Time for white History Month. take before a child’s gifts are recognized?”

• Manvel’s Esmeralda Salazar shifts from softball dreams Her father, Malik Champlain, praised his daughter for to pediatric nursing.

Confederacy seeks to rule the South

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DN News HARRIS COUNTY

Remembrance Park

Commemorates victims of racial terror Downtown Houston is about to change.

Remembrance Park will soon occupy three city blocks amidst the city’s courthouses and government buildings. Championed by Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, Remembrance Park is a memorial and civic space designed to confront Houston’s history of racial violence while creating a place for reflection and community gathering.

“Remembrance Park is about remembering honestly and carrying that memory forward,” Ellis said. “By honoring the lives lost to racial violence and those who fought for freedom and justice, Remembrance Park will help future generations understand the truth of our past and the unfinished work that still shapes our future.”

The park’s construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2027 and be completed in 2029, funded through a combination of park bond funds, Tax Increment Reinvestment

Descendants of lynching victim Robert Powell say the memorial ensures painful family histories are not forgotten. Credit: Tannistha Sinha/Defender.

Zone (TIRZ) infrastructure funds, hotel occupancy tax funds, philanthropic support, and partnerships. It will transform land stretching from the Harris County Courthouse to Buffalo Bayou into what Ellis says will bear testament to the ongoing pursuit of justice.

Historical markers and a Freedom Marker

commemorating four Harris County victims of lynching, John Walton, Burl Smith, John White, and Robert Powell, serve as focal points within the park.

Importance to Houston’s Black community

Dr. Ruth Simmons, former president of

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Brown University and Prairie View A&M University and the President’s Distinguished Fellow at Rice University, said projects like Remembrance Park are essential at a time when history is increasingly contested.

Ellis credited Simmons, who is serving as the principal strategic advisor for the park per Ellis’ office, with helping shape the project’s commitment to confronting Houston’s history.

“To establish Remembrance Park helps us move forward together, drawing strength from the fact that we do so in acknowledging where we have been, creating a place for community reflection,” Simmons said.

“Creating such a place of community reflection and an ongoing recommitment to the powerful values of truth and justice is a supremely important gift to this multi-ethnic international city that we love.”

See video interviews with lynching victim descendants at DefenderNetwork.com.

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By Tannistha Sinha

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DN News

Obama Center COMMENTARY

Michelle Obama reflects on U.S. ‘Imperfect Democracy’

By Stacy M. Brown | BlackPress USA

Standing before thousands gathered for the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, Michelle Obama celebrated what the sprawling complex represents, noting that it’s more than a monument to a former president.

The former first lady made sure to acknowledge the country’s unfinished work.

“The Obama Presidential Center is a living testament to the power of choice, y’all,” Obama said during the ceremony. “This is an historic example that millions of you gave the world about what this imperfect democracy has strived for and achieved. And an urgent call to go out there and do it again.”

Her description of the United States as an “imperfect democracy” touched on a question that has followed the nation since its founding, and one that is receiving renewed attention as America approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

For some historians, educators, and civil rights advocates, the anniversary presents an opportunity not only to celebrate the country’s achievements but also to examine the contradictions that have shaped its history. For Obama and many of the attendees, those contradictions are difficult to ignore.

Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that “all men are created equal” while enslaving hundreds of people at Monticello. The Constitution established democratic principles while permitting slavery.

After the Civil War, formerly enslaved Americans were promised 40 acres and a mule as part of an effort to build economic independence, only to see those commitments abandoned. More than a century later, abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s words continue to resonate. In speeches and writings, Douglass repeatedly challenged Americans to measure the nation’s actions against its ideals, arguing that the country’s founding principles could not be separated from the treatment of Black Americans.

One commentator wondered whether some resistance to racial progress is rooted in a fear that those who have historically held

Former First Lady Michelle Obama addresses attendees at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, urging Americans to continue working toward a nation that fully reflects its founding ideals. Courtesy: Obama Presidential Center.

power could one day experience the same exclusion and discrimination once imposed on others. Another explored whether equality itself is sometimes viewed as a threat because it challenges longstanding assumptions about who belongs at the top of society and who does not. That question has appeared repeatedly throughout American history.

From Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement and into the present day, opponents of racial change have often expressed concerns that expanding rights for one group would come at the expense of another. Civil rights leaders, including Douglass, argued instead that democracy works only when rights are expanded rather than restricted.

The Obama Presidential Center unites those competing visions.

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Its very existence reflects a level of progress that earlier generations could scarcely have imagined. As Michelle Obama so poetically described, the center recognizes achievement without ignoring failure. It celebrates progress without declaring victory. And it suggests that democracy is not a destination reached once and for all, but an ongoing struggle over who is included, who is heard, and whether the nation’s actions will ultimately match its ideals.

“Failing to see the humanity in all people puts us all on a slippery slope, and once that slide starts, there’s no telling where it stops,” Michelle Obama remarked. “A dangerous precedent that flies in the very face of our faith and of the founding promise of this democracy: that all of us. All of us are created equal. That each of us is a child of God with

inherent value. And that no one, and I mean no one, has the right to sit in judgment of who is American enough.”

Some observers noted that the Obama Center’s 19-acre footprint falls well short of the 40 acres once promised to formerly enslaved people after emancipation, a comparison showing how discussions about race, opportunity, and citizenship remain intertwined with the nation’s history.

In a discussion about democracy, one individual compared the nation to a boxer waking up after being knocked to the canvas. After smelling salt, the fighter comes to and looks around, asking a simple question.

“What happened?”

The metaphor speaks to questions that have followed the country for generations.

What happened to the promises made to Indigenous people who inhabited the continent before European settlement? What happened to the ideals of equality articulated by Jefferson while slavery remained legal? What happened to Reconstruction-era commitments intended to help formerly enslaved Americans build economic security? Those questions remain at the center of modern discussions about democracy.

At the same time, the Obama Presidential Center stands as evidence of changes many once considered impossible. The election of Barack Obama as the nation’s first Black president represented a milestone unimaginable to generations of Americans who lived under slavery, segregation, and legalized discrimination.

As the nation prepares to mark its 250th birthday, whether Americans view these tensions as flaws or as defining characteristics of the nation may ultimately shape how the next chapter of its history is written.

“Hope is all we have, because hope is the essential spark that lights the fire of change,” Michelle Obama stated. “But hope is a choice.

Whether or not we use our voices to speak up is a choice. Voting is a choice. Being a decent human being is a choice. Believing that we still hold the power to build a country that reflects us all is a choice.”

Publisher | CEO Sonceria Messiah-Jiles

Content Manager Terrance Harris

Strategic Alllance Clyde Jiles

Associate Editor Aswad Walker

Managing Editor ReShonda Tate

Culture/Lifestyle Reporter Laura Onyeneho

Special Assignments Reporter Tannistha Sinha Sports Terrance Harris Jimmie Aggison Video Editor Bryan Erdy

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DN InFocus Musicians say the city has not fully embraced or promoted its blues legacy.

Credit: Tannistha Sinha/ Defender.

Houston, we have the Blues Resilience of a musical movement

By Tannistha Sinha

JUNE IS

Long before Houston became synonymous with Beyoncé, hip hop, R&B and gospel, it was one of America’s most important blues cities.

From the Third Ward and Fifth Ward to Frenchtown and Sunnyside, Houston’s Black neighborhoods nurtured generations of musicians whose influence reached far beyond Texas. Artists such as Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Big Mama Thornton, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Grady Gaines, and Texas Johnny Brown helped define a Gulf Coast blues sound rooted in migration, faith, hardship, and storytelling.

Yet despite that rich history, many musicians say Houston has failed to preserve and promote its blues legacy.

Houston Blues Society board member Sandra Harper Scott, musician Leonard “Lowdown” Brown, and 2023 International Blues Challenge winner Mathias Lattin told the Defender that while dedicated audiences still support blues festivals and performances,

much of the city’s musical heritage has faded from public memory.

“When the artists, the listeners, or the purveyors of this genre of music fail to tell the stories and tell them consistently in the media or in schools, then it is filtered, watered down and unfortunately forgotten,” Scott said. “Overall, the city of Houston, for whatever reason, even with our arts population, arts community, just has not done a good job of making our blues history stories known, not just in the city, but beyond the city boundaries.”

Where is the visibility?

Lattin believes the issue is not a lack of history but a lack of visibility.

“The irony is that Houston’s blues credentials rival those of cities more commonly associated with the genre,” he said, noting that venues willing to support blues often do so out of passion rather than profit.

Houston’s blues roots grew during the mid-20th century, when Black Southerners migrated from

Louisiana, Mississippi, East Texas and elsewhere in search of industrial jobs. They brought musical traditions that blended country blues, gospel, jazz, zydeco and rhythm and blues into a distinctly Houston sound.

At the center of that scene was Don Robey’s Duke-Peacock empire in the Fifth Ward. Peacock Records and the Bronze Peacock Ballroom became among the most influential Black-owned music institutions in America, recording artists such as “Gatemouth” Brown, Big Mama Thornton, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and Junior Parker while also developing a major gospel division.

“Even Duke Peacock’s is definitely forgotten,” Lattin chimed in.

For many musicians, the fading visibility of Houston blues is tied not only to historical amnesia but also to the disappearance of the venues that once sustained the culture.

Brown, who has lived in Houston since 1981, remembers a city with far more opportunities for blues musicians.

“When I did move here, the blues scene was a lot bigger,” Brown said. “There were more venues…a lot of the venues have also disappeared. So there aren’t as many places to play.”

He said many venue owners struggled financially during the COVID-19 pandemic, while some musicians left Houston in search of better opportunities elsewhere.

The history of Houston blues

Brown traces Houston’s blues tradition to the migration of Black families during the 1940s and 1950s. Many settled in historic neighborhoods such as the Third Ward, where the Eldorado Ballroom opened in 1939 and became a cultural hub for Black Houstonians.

The venue hosted legends including B.B. King, Ray Charles, and James Brown while providing a stage for local talent.

Other venues, including Club Matinee and the Bronze Peacock, helped young musicians learn directly from experienced performers. As those spaces

disappeared, so did many opportunities for mentorship.

Still, Scott argues that blues culture remains embedded in Black communities.

“Those kids who have grown up have heard those songs before; it’s not new to them,” she said. “Blues has always been interjected in the Black culture in our neighborhoods, just like gospel music. That’s how it continues to perpetuate.”

Lattin experienced that tradition firsthand. Raised in Houston and educated at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, he learned by watching veteran musicians perform at local clubs.

“I would see John Del Toro Richardson perform every Wednesday night and I would get up there and jam,” he said. “I would learn from people like Larry Evans, who used to play with ‘Gatemouth.’”

Ultimately, Scott says blues is a living record of Black history and culture.

“Blues is still a story,” Scott said.

“It’s still telling a story that came from the Africans.”

Black Music Month

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DN InFocus DJ Candlestick performed as Crown Royal celebrated Chopped & Screwed Music In Houston at The Revaire on June 28, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Photo

by Bob Levey/ Getty Images for Crown Royal.

shapes the soul of

By ReShonda Tate

Before Houston became known for Beyonce’, rap legends, sold-out stadium tours, and platinum records, its soundtrack was being created in church sanctuaries, neighborhood juke joints, Creole dance halls, and family gatherings across Black communities.

The sounds were different, but the mission was often the same.

During Black Music Month, Houston’s musical identity stands among the nation’s most distinctive. While cities such as New Orleans are known for jazz and Nashville for country music, Houston developed a soundscape rooted in multiple Black traditions.

Blues, gospel, zydeco, jazz, R&B, and choppedand-screwed hip-hop all emerged from different corners of the city, yet together they tell the story of Black Houston itself.

“Music has always been one of the ways Black Houstonians documented their lives,” said Donna Franklin, program director at KTSU-FM. “Music has a way of healing, of soothing, of taking you on a whole different plane in your mind, someplace that is nice, that’s peaceful.”

From East Texas blues musicians to church choirs, Creole dance halls, and slab culture, each generation of Black Houstonians added a new layer to the city’s soundtrack. Together, those sounds created a cultural identity unlike anywhere else in America.

The blues built the foundation

Leonard “Lowdown” Brown, one of Houston’s longtime blues musicians, said the roots of Black music can be traced back to spirituals and field songs sung by enslaved Africans.

“Most Black music derives out of the gospel or out of the fields, what they call field hollers,” Brown said. “Then the blues kind of evolved from that.”

Houston would eventually become home to legends such as Lightnin’ Hopkins, Big Mama Thornton, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, and Albert Collins, helping establish the city as a major force in blues music.

“The blues wasn’t just entertainment,” Franklin said. “It was news. It was therapy.

It was storytelling of one’s life, the trials, the tribulations, the good times, the bad times, all of it - before many people had access to other platforms.”

The influence of blues would later echo through nearly every major Houston sound that followed.

The church created generations of musicians

While blues-filled clubs were taking shape every Saturday night, another musical tradition was taking shape every Sunday morning. For generations of Black Houstonians,

the church served as the first stage.

Choirs, praise teams, and church musicians developed vocalists who would later move into gospel, jazz, R&B, and popular music.

The discipline of rehearsals, harmony, and performance created a pipeline of talent that continues to this day.

Many of Houston’s most celebrated performers learned their craft behind church pianos, in youth choirs, or watching ministers of music lead congregations.

“I think our country is in the middle of contending for the stories: Who gets to tell them, who gets to contextualize them, who gets to read meaning into them,” said Houstonian and Grammy-nominated gospel artist Brian Courtney Wilson. “Gospel music has always been a means to telling that story. It uses words, and it goes beyond words.”

For many artists, the Black church was one of Houston’s most important musical training grounds. Beyond creating performers, gospel music became a source of strength during segregation, economic hardship, and social change. It offered hope while reinforcing community bonds.

Houston’s gospel legacy includes artists such as Yolanda Adams, Kim Burrell, James Fortune, and Wilson, all of whom built upon a tradition that remains

JUNE IS

Long before Houston became a rap capital, the blues provided the city’s musical backbone.

As Black families migrated from rural East Texas and Louisiana into Houston during the early and mid-20th century, they brought with them the sounds of Texas blues. Musicians performed in neighborhood clubs, bars, and gathering places throughout historically Black communities.

Black Music Month

deeply woven into the city’s cultural fabric.

Zydeco found a second home in Houston

If gospel filled church pews, zydeco filled dance floors.

Houston is home to one of the nation’s largest Creole populations outside Louisiana, thanks largely to generations of families who relocated from southwest Louisiana in search of jobs and opportunity. They brought their culture with them.

Accordion music, washboards, Creole traditions, and zydeco dances became fixtures across Black communities, particularly on Houston’s north and northeast sides.

Weekend dances became family affairs, with multiple generations gathering to celebrate heritage through music and movement.

“Houston is doing an excellent job in preserving the Zydeco culture because Zydeco was a Southern type bill, especially from Louisiana. Now Zydeco is global,” said Franklin.

Today, zydeco remains one of Houston’s most unique cultural connections, blending Louisiana roots with Texas identity while

preserving traditions that might otherwise have faded over time.

Jazz connected Houston to America

While blues and gospel were rooted in neighborhood churches and clubs, jazz connected Houston musicians to a national movement.

Houston’s role in jazz history is often overshadowed by cities such as New Orleans, Chicago, and New York. Yet music historians argue the story of American jazz cannot be fully told without Houston.

“There’s no way to tell the story of American jazz without telling the story of Houston, Texas, and the artists who have been front and center at every stage of jazz’s development,” said Tierney Malone, host of KPFT’s “Houston Jazz Spotlight.”

Among Houston’s most influential contributions was The Crusaders, originally known as The Jazz Crusaders. Founded by Houston natives Joe Sample, Wayne Henderson, Wilton Felder, and Stix Hooper, the group helped bridge jazz, soul, and funk, influencing generations of musicians.

Houston also produced notable jazz figures, including Arnett Cobb, Hubert Laws, and legendary educator Conrad Johnson, whose

impact helped cement the city as a significant, though often overlooked, center of Black musical excellence.

R&B gave Houston its groove

As Black-owned clubs and radio stations flourished, Houston developed a thriving R&B and soul scene.

The city’s smooth sound reflected both Southern roots and urban sophistication. Global superstar, Beyoncé reps Houston in her music. Local musicians filled lounges and nightclubs while radio personalities introduced audiences to emerging artists and trends.

Neighborhood venues became gathering places where music, fashion, and community life intersected.

“R&B was the soundtrack of Black Houston nightlife,” Franklin said. “People fell in love to it. They danced to it. They built memories around it.”

The genre helped define generations and laid the groundwork for artists who would eventually carry Houston’s influence onto the national stage.

Then Houston created a sound all its own

Every major city has hip-hop. Houston changed it.

In the 1990s, the late DJ Screw developed a style that slowed records down, deepened bass lines, and transformed familiar songs into something entirely new.

What began as a local innovation evolved into a global musical movement.

For many Houstonians, chopped-andscrewed music wasn’t simply a production technique. It reflected the city’s culture, car scene, and lived experiences. The genre became synonymous with slab culture, neighborhood pride, and Houston identity.

Houston’s hiphop legacy extends far beyond DJ Screw. Artists such as Scarface, Bun B, Fat Pat, Slim Thug, Mike Jones, and Trae Tha Truth helped create a sound and culture that influenced musicians worldwide.

The impact of hip-hop remains so significant that institutions such as the Houston Museum of African American Culture have dedicated exhibitions and programming to preserving its history.

The future of music

As Houston continues to grow and change, many cultural advocates worry about the future of the spaces that helped create these musical traditions. Historic venues have disappeared. Neighborhoods have transformed.

Younger generations often discover local music history through social media rather

than firsthand experience.

Yet musicians, historians, and community leaders continue working to preserve the legacy.

Mathias Lattin, winner of the 2023 International Blues Challenge, said preserving the music requires more than simply listening to old records.

“They all teach the next generation,” Lattin said of older blues musicians. “With social media, people can learn everything online, but there are fewer places where you can go sit with the people who lived it and learn directly from them.”

For Franklin, the mission is simple.

“There is so much talent, whether it’s gospel, jazz, R&B, blues, Zydeco, out of Houston, that you can’t stop it.”

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DN Feature

John Biggers murals Still shape Houston Black cultural identity

By Tannistha Sinha

Across Houston’s Downtown corridors and through the heart of Third Ward, Dr. John Biggers’s art watches over the city.

Biggers’ works live on in The Return, painted across the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center, in Ghana Dancers, in which two women are seen dancing in celebration of a harvest, and in The Stream Crosses the Path, where Black women are rendered as cosmic forces.

Since 1949, Biggers’ murals have lined the corridors of Texas Southern University, where he founded the art department. More than two decades after his death, the stories of African heritage and Black resilience he created through his art still resonate among Houstonians.

Born in Gastonia, North Carolina, in 1924, Biggers arrived at Hampton Institute in 1941 with plans to become a plumber.

What he found instead was Viktor Lowenfeld, an Austrian Jewish refugee who had fled Nazi persecution.

The encounter was transformative as Biggers later followed Lowenfeld to Pennsylvania State University, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art education in 1948 and a doctorate in education in 1954.

Rita Reyes, a graduate fellow who has spent years researching Biggers’ life, described what happened next during a panel discussion organized by Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis.

“Lowenfeld’s goal was to promote art as a tool for oppressed people to connect with their cultural identity and gain self-esteem,” Reyes said. “He encouraged students to record in their art the disappointments and joys of life in the Southern Black community.”

By 1949, he had moved to Houston.

His impact on the TSU campus and Houston’s broader cultural landscape remains palpable.

Kamilah Davis, an intern for the University Museum and an art major at TSU, described the experience of walking through the campus daily.

“The legacy of Dr. Biggers means for me, especially as a Black woman, to be the embodiment of strength, focus, dedication, working with the history and preserving Dr. Biggers as well as the alumni,” Davis said. “It definitely taught me a lot about my major. Walking across campus and seeing the artwork, seeing the murals, seeing the sculptures…It just makes you really appreciative of where you come from and also seeing the embodiment of the ancestors, the

Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis’ office held a panel to celebrate the life and legacy of artist Dr. John Biggers. Credit: Tannistha Sinha/ Defender.

Black men, the Black women. It’s definitely a powerful legacy that he held.”

Biggers’ career unfolded against the backdrop of American segregation. In 1950, he won a contest at the Museum of Fine Arts for his work titled The Cradle.

The museum allowed Black people in only on Thursdays and did not allow Biggers to attend the reception held in his own honor.

Over time, Biggers’ murals became more abstract, featuring symbols of Black culture, such as shotgun houses and churches.

Ashura M. Bayyan, an art advisor and student at the University of Houston-Downtown, described it as Biggers’ ability to compose stories through his paintings.

“He is the most influential Black artist in the South,” Bayyan told the Defender. “Most of the artists that are leading the vanguard here in Houston are descendants of him, either directly or indirectly through TSU.” Murals as monuments

Biggers’ murals are widely considered as manifestos for Black identity.

Ellis, a TSU alumnus who has a replica of a Biggers mural in his office building and hosted a celebration in Biggers’ honor this year, spoke fondly of his legacy.

“He stood up when the odds were against him,” Ellis said. “We should be inspired by his willingness to stand up in the ’50s. We ought to stand up in 2026.”

Biggers’ work at the Blue Triangle Community Center, titled The Contribution of Negro Women in American Life and

Education, tells a similar story of art as a life raft for institutions. The work was damaged when water from Hurricane Harvey entered the building through its leaky roof.

Sylvia Terry, a board member of the center, explained that the building might not still be standing without it.

“Without his painting…that building wouldn’t be standing right now,” Terry said.

“That painting is what made people want to contribute to it.”

When the painting was damaged, conservators from Washington, DC, came to restore it.

Today, it still draws donors and visitors,

Texas Southern University students Kamilah Davis and Ken Jackson (pictured) said Dr. John Biggers’ work inspires pride for Black students on campus. Credit: Tannistha Sinha/Defender.

Terry said.

Biggers died of a heart attack in Houston on January 25, 2001, at 76.

But his murals remain etched into the daily lives of Houstonians, adorning the sides of buildings and university hallways.

“Definitely walking across campus and seeing the artwork, seeing the murals, seeing the sculptures, it just makes you really appreciative of where you come from and also seeing the embodiment of the ancestors, the Black men, the Black women,” said Ken Jackson, a senior Art major and Museum Studies minor. “He held a powerful legacy.”

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June 25, 2026 |

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DN Profile GRAMMY-NOMINATED ARTIST

Richelle Gemini Proves authenticity pays off

By Laura Onyeneho

Before Richelle Gemini could write a verse, she had already learned how to command a room. By the time she was four years old, she had memorized her mother’s fitness tapes, and her mother, a former homecoming queen and head cheerleader from Port Arthur, took that as a sign.

Ballet classes followed. Then pageants, modeling, speech and acting classes, tennis, and Sunday mornings leading praise dance at her father’s church. When ballet got too expensive, she did not quit. She started teaching the other girls at church what she had been learning in class, weaving ballet into the choreography of praise dance without missing a beat.

“People tell me I’m so o confident on stage, stage” Gemini says. “I was like, they [parents] made me do it.”

Gemini’s passion for the arts was shaped early by two key teach hers. The first, Ms. Marila, instructor at tthe dance academy Stars in Motion, trained d her from ages five to 11. She has carried th hose lessons with her throughout her career.

“She would say, if you u mess up, that’s part of the dance,” Gemini says. s “Do not stop. I put that into my life. If ssomething happens, that’s part of the choreo ography of it all.”

The second impactfful teacher Gemini credits is Felicia Hollow way, who came into Gemini’s life at 12 after her father’s pastoral calling uprooted the fam mily. Holloway kept her connected to movvement and expression during the transition, reinforcing a relationship with the arts that would never break.

She enrolled at the University U of North Texas to studyy broadcast journalism. Her faamily had spent years callin ng her Action 13 News for her detailed household reports, but quickly realized it was not her path.

“You have to be non-biased and stick to the script,” she says. “II was not good at stickingg to the script.”

She found her way to CAST, a Black theater organization formed d on campus becausee there were not enouggh Black roles in main nstream

productions. She wrote a monologue for an Alpha Phi Alpha event, performed it, and left the stage to a room full of people calling her a poet. She disagreed.

Two classmates put her name on an open mic list without telling her. “I don’t like that word,” she says, recounting the moment someone told her not to be scared. Gemini got up, performed, and never looked back.

By 2010, she was competing at slam poetry nationals after a Dallas poet convinced her that the show he had invited her to was actually the regional competition. College bookings followed, and she realized she could get paid for her craft.

“I learned you don’t have to rhyme anymore. You can take this small thing and

make it into a big thing. My brain was to take away a beat, especially when I didn’t opened up to a whole other span.” even ask for it.”

What followed were years of expansion Because she stayed true to herself, doors and hard pivots. She discovered mid-run opened that the industry wouldn’t have that she was pregnant, moved back to unlocked, such as lectures at Rice University Houston after her relationship and the University of Houston, ended, and became a mother of school residencies, and theatritwo boys, Lincoln and AJ, who cal tours. were just 10 months apart.

For young creatives navigatShe returned to UNT and ing the same terrain, her advice completed her degree in is to form your LLC, own your 2015, with concentrations in name and your masters, and anthropology, philosophy, and never sign anything without Learn about sociology. She also minored in understanding it.

Richelle’s Spanish, all while working a “If you can’t afford a lawyer, upcoming night shift job. Through it all, thank God for ChatGPT; use it projects she kept creating. to read your contracts,” Gemini “I’ve I ve been who I am before I says. “And always look for the pushed out my kids,” she says. “I didn’t want word d perpetuity.” She pushes back against these circumstances to keep me from what grind d culture just as firmly. “There’s richness I wanted to do.” in yo our rest. Your creativity comes out better When the boys were old enough, she when n you rest.” re-entered Houston’s rap scene as the only Her reading list doubles as a survival H woman in H-Town rap battles, making the guid de: The Four Agreements, The Seven finals so consistently she became the fan Spiriitual Laws of Success, The Alchemist, favorite. She eventually found her way into and The 48 Laws of Power, which she reads the orbit of a local record label. for aawareness.

However, a label executive told her “I don’t have to manipulate you to get he thought she was talented but did not whatt I need,” she says. “I’ll just tell you what know how to sell her. Industry figures I neeed.” pushed her to take outside writers, surHouston entrepreneur and executive proH render steep percentages, and conform duceer Chinara Butler, one of Gemini’s closest to what the market wanted from a frien nds, has watched that mindset translate female rapper. into a publishing company built specifically She declined all of it. for p poets. “ These are my “I asked her, how do y’all actually make words,” she says. “I mon ney doing poetry?” Butler says. “When was a poet first. It I loo oked up, she had a publishing company doesn’t scare me for p poets, teaching them how to turn their poettry into albums, opening doors for commercials, music licensing, all Richelle Gemini of that.” has prioritized Butler, who has spent authenticity nearly two decades in the over acceptance music business, says the her entire career. gap Gemini is filling is Credit: Jimmie significant.

Aggison/ “Even with Russell SimDefender. mons and Def Poetry Jam, that was the biggest platform I’d seen for poets. After that, I haven’t seen one. She’s given n poets a gift.” Butler adds that what setss Gemini apart goes beyond business iinstincts. “My daughter said it best: Richelle wouldn’t be able to exist if she couldn’t be herself. What you see is what you’re getting.”

10 | June 25, 2026 |

DEFENDER NETWORK

DN Sports REMEMBERED

John ‘Doc’ Harvey

Far more than a Texas Southern athletic trainer “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

2 Timothy 4:7

By Terrance Harris

John “Doc” Harvey’s official title was head athletic trainer during his 41 years at Texas Southern University.

But the man with a positive spirit and a heart of gold will be remembered for so much more. He was a friend, mentor, spiritual guide, and someone who wouldn’t pull any punches when the moment called for it. Harvey passed away on June 2 at the age of 81.

The larger-than-life legacy he left behind still lives. The man, universally known as Doc, was confidant to many of the student athletes who matriculated through the HBCU. He was also something of a surrogate father to others who either didn’t have one or, like former TSU basketball star and athletic director Kevin Granger, had an active father but was hundreds of miles away in Scooba, Mississippi. Doc sometimes filled the void.

“Doc has always been open,” Granger said. “He has always been approachable, and he was always looking out for your best interest, not just making sure you stayed in your playing field but also in the classroom.”

By all accounts, Doc was a pioneer in athletic training, ahead of his time during his tenure at TSU from 1974 to 2015, when he retired. Unlike his counterparts at PWIs, Doc was a solo act, the only certified athletic trainer in charge of overseeing the 16 sports

He was more than a father.

He was our foundation, our teacher, our encourager, the greatest example of humility and service. To so many others, he was a mentor, a trailblazer, and praised for his generosity.

Our father lived with purpose, integrity, and a heart to serve.”

JOHN HARVEY JR. DOC’S SON

John “Doc” Harvey (right) worked with over 13,000 student-athletes, including Hall of Fame defensive end Michael Strahan (left), during his time at Texas Southern from 1974 to 2015. Credit: Texas Southern Athletics.

teams and more than 300 student athletes each year, and over 13,000 throughout his tenure.

Along the way, Doc also held unofficial titles like manager, counselor, and even travel agent. Former TSU head football coach Johnnie Cole saw Doc in all his dimensions, from the time he first encountered him as a 17-year-old student-athlete, later as an assistant coach at TSU, and then once he took over the Tigers’ program.

“He was the dude,” Cole said. “He is the only guy who has been around that Texas Southern program for 41 years. He went through 11 coaches, 10 presidents, and numerous athletic directors.

for the Houston Oilers.

Along the way, there were plenty of stories about the impact Doc had on the student-athletes he took care of and the students he took under his wing. Defender publisher and CEO Sonceria Messiah-Jiles first met him in the 1970s while working in the HISD athletic department.

Messiah-Jiles got to observe Doc be all things to many, including athletes who may have needed a parental figure, or even giving financial support to those in need.

“As a result, I grew to admire John because of him stepping up to help young people in their time of need.” Messiah-Jiles said. “He will be missed.”

A good man Some constants about Doc seem to be how much he cared and how much of a good man he was. Doc, a native Houstonian, began his career while a student at Jack Yates, then moved on to Wiley College to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in 1966, and later received a Master of Science degree from Prairie View A&M. Doc got his start at Aldine ISD, then at Austin ISD, before a stint at Prairie View as the head trainer, and then returned home to work with Houston ISD from 1971 to 1974. He even served as a gameday trainer

A lover of jazz As much as Doc is remembered for his advice, counseling, and the tape he administered, he is also recognized by many for his love of jazz music. There are countless stories of student-athletes who were more into rap music being introduced to jazz greats like Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis while receiving treatment in the training room.

Doc was a drummer himself.

“We were young whipper snappers, like, `Man, turn this off. Put on some rap,’” former TSU football player Ramon Manning

recalls. “And Doc Harvey would say, `Where do you think rap came from, son?’

“It was a teachable moment, everybody from Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, … you name it. And he talked about the repetition, the cadence, the adlibbing, and all of this stuff. And he said, `Son, this is where it all came from.’”

The legacy left Whether it was the lessons being doled out, him making more with less, or just his ability to reach out to the Houston Oilers or others he had contacts with when the training room ran out of tape or other supplies, and suddenly what was short was now plentiful, left an indelible legacy that won’t soon be forgotten.

Harvey was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 2019 and into the Texas Southern Sports Hall of Fame in 2024.

“You can only get that at an HBCU. Real talk,” said Manning, who played for the Tigers from 1992-97. “Just think about these lessons that have nothing to do with a curriculum or a classroom. This was a Black man bestowing game to young Black boys. That’s my experience with John “Doc” Harvey.”

Read the full version of this tribute to John “Doc” Harvey on DefenderNetwork.com.

June 25, 2026 |

DEFENDER NETWORK

| 11

DN Sports PEARLAND HIGH SCHOOL

Joshua Shelton Rise isn’t finished yet

By Jimmie Aggison

One year ago, Pearland’s Joshua Shelton left the UIL 6A state track meet frustrated after finishing fifth in the 400 meters.

Unsatisfied with the result, Shelton transformed himself from a disappointed state finalist into one of the nation’s fastest 400meter runners, winning a UIL 6A gold medal in the event during his senior season.

Now a Texas A&M commit, Shelton continued his season at the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships, where he competed for the first time. Shelton placed sixth in the 400 meters with a time of 45.86, earning a spot on Team USA. “The loss and the doubt people had in me stayed with me after I finished fifth,” said Shelton. “After my junior season, people were saying I wasn’t a threat and that nobody had to worry about me in the 400 meters.”

Running 45.21 was a milestone that let me know I was on the right track, but the work was not done; it was just a preview of what is coming in the future.”

JOSHUA SHELTON

T ho s e d oubt s f u el e d Shelton’s determination.

“I knew I had more in me, and I was going to prove it,” said Shelton.

Instead of letting the disappointment define him, Shelton used it as motivation to rebuild himself on and off the track.

“I started to become a different athlete when I realized I was becoming a different person,” said Shelton. “Prayer and a relationship with God are the most important parts of success. I got into my word more, and the more I went to God, the more he began to work in my life.”

Pearland head track coach Dwayne Evans said that many athletes struggle with the pressure and distractions that come with

competing on the state’s biggest stage.

“As young athletes, your focus often shifts to who you’re racing and what they’ve done, rather than on your execution and race strategy,” said Evans. “There is an awe factor from the crowd and all the noise; most athletes aren’t accustomed to navigating through that.”

Determined to return stronger, Shelton increased his discipline and began working with Danny McCray to refine his physical and mental performance.

“I wanted revenge, and I wanted to win,” said Shelton. “I began training with Danny McCray, who helped me fix my form and the mental side of my game.”

“Shelton’s mental approach and race execution were what set his junior year apart from his senior year,” said Evans.

The work soon began to show. Shelton built confidence race by race, and his 45.21 at the regional meet made him one of the nation’s fastest high school 400-meter runners.

“Running 45.21 was a milestone that let me know I was on the right track, but the work was not done; it was just a preview of what is coming in the future,” said Shelton.

Instead of chasing, Shelton became the runner everyone else was chasing.

“I told myself those guys don’t matter; it’s me vs. me,” said Shelton. “Being the person chased brought pressure at the time, but I remembered I didn’t run these times worrying about other athletes coming after me because they aren’t me or haven’t hit my marks. At the end of the day, on that track it’s me and my lord and savior, and we will prevail.”

By the time Shelton returned to the state meet, expectations had shifted completely.

He delivered, winning his first UIL 6A state championship in the 400 meters with a time of 45.86.

“I was thankful to God,” said Shelton.

“During my junior season, when I finished fifth, I was battling a knee injury, so I ran with a bad mindset. But during my senior season, my dad and I promised we would do things right this year, and that’s what we did, trusting in the whole village.”

For Shelton, the state title was not the end of the journey but confirmation that the transformation was real.

That momentum carried into the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships, where Shelton competed against many of the nation’s top under 20 athletes. In his first appearance at the meet, he finished sixth in the 400

Pearland’s Joshua Shelton, one of the nation’s top athletes in the 400 meters, rounds the first turn on his way to a gold medal during the UIL 6A state meet.

Credit: Jimmie Aggison/Defender

meters after running 45.86, earning a place on Team USA. “God is amazing,” said Shelton.

What some viewed as a setback a year ago became one of Shelton’s most significant learning experiences.

“I took that lesson as a man, worked with it, and shaped it into my own strategy,” said Shelton.

A year after leaving the state meet disappointed, Shelton has transformed himself into a UIL state champion and a member of

Team USA. His journey from a fifth-place finish at the state meet to representing the United States on the international stage stands as a testament to resilience, faith and relentless determination.

“Josh learned a lot over the past year,” said Evans. “He learned how to better prepare himself, both mentally and physically, to improve his God-given talent. However, there’s always room for growth. If he continues to grow and mature in all aspects of track & field, the sky is the limit for him.”

12 | June 25, 2026 |

DEFENDER NETWORK

DN Health

A DEFENDER AND KELSEY-SEYBOLD CLINIC ALLIANCE

Men’s Health Changes Can Happen Without Symptoms

By RAMAN BAMIDELE, MD

Men’s health often changes gradually over time, and many important health changes do not cause noticeable symptoms early on. Staying connected to regular care can help identify those changes earlier, when they may be easier to manage. Too much time between visits can make gradual changes harder to recognize.

Common Conditions Can Develop Without Symptoms The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States¹. Several common conditions, including high blood pressure and diabetes, can increase the risk of heart disease and often develop without noticeable symptoms in early stages¹.

Because these changes happen over time, early signs may be easy to miss.

Routine care, including checkups and screenings, is associated with earlier

detection and may make conditions easier to manage².

Some Cancers Develop Without Symptoms³ Prostate cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Black men in the United States, accounting for about 44% of diagnoses in this population4. It often develops without early symptoms, which can make it difficult to recognize without screening.

Black men also experience higher death rates from prostate cancer, including more than double the risk compared with White men4. National cancer data show that earlier detection is linked to better outcomes³, reinforcing the role of regular screening discussions as part of ongoing care.

Support Can Help You Stay Consistent Health decisions often involve more than one person. A family member

Get Care NOW! Same-Day and Next-Day In-Person and Video Visit Primary Care Appointments 24/7 SCHEDULING IS EASY Scan to schedule a primary care appointment or call

713-442-7025

or trusted friend can help reinforce routines and may notice changes that are easy to miss. These conversations can make it easier to follow through on care.

Primary Care Visits Can Help You Get Started A visit with a primary care physician can help review your health history and clarify which screenings may be appropriate. Regular check-ins can then help track changes and guide care over time².

To learn more or schedule a visit, call 713-442-7025 or visit kelsey-seybold.com. kelsey-seybold.com Sources 1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 3. National Cancer Institute (NCI) 4. American Cancer Society (ACS)

RAMAN BAMIDELE, MD, Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, Internal Medicine

Pearland Clinic

Scan to view his online profile.