History Under The Star
The Yellow Rose of Texas: The Song, Emily West, and the Great Texas Myth
“There's a yellow rose in Texas that I am gonna see,
Nobody else could miss her, not half as much as me.”
THE LYRICS OF “The Yellow Rose of Texas” are familiar to any Texan, but the true story behind the song is lost in myth and legend. Learn how the “Yellow Rose of Texas” became the unofficial state anthem and how grit and determination brought a free Black woman from the abolitionist riots of Connecticut to the thick of a bloody Texas revolution.
Lora-Marie Bernard is a journalist and author. She has an undergraduate degree from the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas and a master’s in liberal arts extension studies from Harvard University. As a Washington D.C. field correspondent she served as an international radio commentator, journalist and photographer for the 2017 Trump presidential campaign, the 2018 Texas U.S. Senate Race, the Washington D.C. Women's March, and Hurricane Harvey. She is the author of The Yellow Rose of Texas: The Song, the Legend & Emily D. West and the vice president of the Southeast Texas Museum Association.
The talk will run from 5:00 to 6:00, and will be followed by a time for questions and answers, and a reception.
Cost: $5 per person/$3 for Museum members; students are free. Purchase your ticket today.
This program is made possible in part by a generous grant from the George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation.