1.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
Del Rio, Texas
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Del Rio is a city in and the county seat of Val Verde County, Texas. It is 152 miles west of San Antonio, as of 2015, the city had a population of 40,549. Del Rio is connected with Ciudad Acuña via the Lake Amistad Dam International Crossing, Del Rio is also home to Laughlin Air Force Base, the busiest United States Air Force pilot training complex in the world. U. S. development on the shore of the Rio Grande did not begin until after the American Civil War. The San Felipe Springs, about 8 mi east of the Rio Grande on the U. S. side of the border, the developers sold tracts of land surrounding the canals to recover their investment and show a profit. The initial investors formed the San Felipe Agricultural, Manufacturing, the organization completed construction of a network of irrigation canals in 1871. Residents referred to the developing town as San Felipe Del Rio because local lore said the name came from early Spanish explorers who offered a Mass at the site on St. Philips Day,1635. In 1883, local residents requested a post office be established, the United States Postal Department shortened San Felipe del Rio to Del Rio to avoid confusion with San Felipe de Austin. In 1885, Val Verde County was organized and Del Rio became the county seat, the City of Del Rio was incorporated on November 15,1911. The San Felipe community was started by the Arteaga family, Arteaga Street and Arteaga Park are named after them. Many history items from Del Rio, particularly from the 19th century, are preserved at the Whitehead Memorial Museum downtown, legendary deejay Wolfman Jack operated XERF in the 1960s, using a Del Rio address to sell various products advertised on the station. In 1942, the Army Air Corps opened Laughlin Field 9 mi east of Del Rio as a base for the Martin B-26. As the Cold War pressures built, along with new border control issues, Laughlin Field was rebuilt and it was again used as a home for flight training. SAC soon transitioned to the high-altitude U-2 Dragonlady and based all of them in Laughlin AFB, in 1962, Laughlin-based U-2s took the first photographs of land-based medium-range ballistic missile sites being constructed in Cuba. The presence of these missiles precipitated what became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, Laughlin AFB currently provides training in the T-1A Jayhawk, the T-6A Texan II, and the T-38 aircraft. Laughlin plays a part in the Del Rio community as the areas largest employer. The Border Patrol is the citys second-largest employer, at one time, Del Rio was in the running to become the home of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center for agents of the U. S. Border Patrol and Federal Air Marshal Service, but lost to the current site in Artesia, the proposed site was located on property belonging to Laughlin AFB
4.
Texas's 23rd congressional district
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Texass 23rd congressional district stretches across the southwestern portion of Texas. It is a prominently Hispanic-majority district and its current Representative is Republican Will Hurd, the district runs along the majority of Texass border with Mexico, just north of the Rio Grande. While it encompasses numerous county seats and a few towns of economic importance. It stretches from western San Antonio to just outside El Paso and its large size is due to its low population density—one of the lowest in the country. It encompasses all of Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park, major economic activities in the district include farming, ranching, oil and mineral extraction, recreation, manufacturing, and tourism. As of the 2000 census, the district contained 651,620 people, of these, 41% are non-Hispanic white,55. 1% Hispanic regardless of race, 2% non-Hispanic black, and 2. 2% other. The districts population is 74. 6% urban, per capita Income for the district is $18,692. The district has a 6. 5% unemployment rate, of the employed,71. 8% is private,19. 4% government, and 8. 4% self-employed. Major industries include Retail trade, Education services, Health Care,222,012 households are within the district, with an average of 2.8 persons per household. This district was created in 1967, following passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, in addition, it followed the case of Wesberry v. Sanders, resulting in Texas previous congressional map being tossed out. Democrats held the district until 1993, following the 1990 census, in 1992, the Texas Legislature created the new 28th District, mostly from the eastern portion of the 23rd. In the process, the left a heavily Republican section of western San Antonio in the 23rd. Republican Henry Bonilla beat 4-term incumbent Albert Bustamante to take the seat in 1992, although the 23rd leaned slightly Democratic on paper, Bonilla had a very conservative voting record. During the 2003 Texas redistricting, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature shifted most of Laredo, several heavily Republican suburbs in the Texas Hill Country north of San Antonio were shifted into the 23rd district, all but ensuring Bonilla of a seventh term. On June 28,2006, the U. S. Supreme Court, the case turned on the fact that the 23rd District was a protected majority-Hispanic district. If the 23rd were redrawn to put Hispanics in a minority, although Hispanics made up 55 percent of the new 23rds population, they comprised only 46 percent of the new 23rds voting-age U. S. citizen population. Therefore, the Court said, the new 23rd was not a true majority-minority district, the Court found that the new Austin-to-McAllen 25th District was not compact enough to be an acceptable replacement. The Court ruled that the legislature had violated the rights of Hispanic voters, as a result, on August 4,2006, a three-judge panel announced replacement district boundaries for the 2006 election in the 23rd district
5.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
6.
Comanche
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The Comanche people are federally recognized as the Comanche Nation, headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma. Post-contact, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers with a horse culture, there may have been as many as 45,000 Comanches in the late 18th century. They were the dominant tribe on the Southern Plains and often took captives from weaker tribes during warfare, selling them as slaves to the Spanish and they also took thousands of captives from the Spanish, Mexican, and American settlers. Today, the Comanche Nation has 15,191 members, approximately 7,763 of whom reside in tribal jurisdictional area around the Lawton, Fort Sill, the Comanche Nation Homecoming Powwow is held annually in Walters, Oklahoma in mid-July. The Comanche language is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, only about 1% of Comanches speak their language today. The name Comanche is from the Ute name for them, kɨmantsi, the Comanche Nation is headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma. Their tribal jurisdictional area is located in Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Grady, Jefferson, Kiowa, Stephens, membership of the tribe requires a 1/8 blood quantum. The tribe operates its own housing authority and issues tribal vehicle tags and they have their own Department of Higher Education, primarily awarding scholarships and financial aid for members college educations. Additionally, they operate the Comanche Nation College in Lawton, Oklahoma and they own ten tribal smoke shops and four casinos. The casinos are Comanche Nation Casino in Lawton, Comanche Red River Casino in Devol, Comanche Spur Casino, in Elgin, in 2002, the tribe founded the Comanche Nation College, a two-year tribal college in Lawton. Each July Comanches from across the United States gather to celebrate their heritage and culture in Walters, the Comanche Nation Fair is held every September. The Comanche Little Ponies host two annual dances—one over New Years and one in May, the Comanche emerged as a distinct group shortly before 1700, when they broke off from the Shoshone people living along the upper Platte River in Wyoming. In 1680, the Comanche acquired horses from the Pueblo Indians after the Pueblo Revolt and they separated from the Shoshone after this, as the horses allowed them greater mobility in their search for better hunting grounds. The horse was a key element in the emergence of a distinctive Comanche culture and they only just fall short of possessing all of the conveniences of the earth, and have no need to covet the trade pursued by the rest of the Indians. Their original migration took them to the southern Great Plains, into a sweep of territory extending from the Arkansas River to central Texas. They reached present-day New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle by 1700, forcing the Lipan Apache people ever southward, by 1777, the Lipan Apache had retreated to the Rio Grande and the Mescalero Apache to Coahuila. The Comanche never formed a single cohesive unit, but were divided into almost a dozen autonomous groups. These groups shared the language and culture, and rarely fought each other
7.
Black Seminoles
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The Black Seminoles are black Indians associated with the Seminole people in Florida and Oklahoma. They are the descendants of free blacks and of escaped slaves who allied with Seminole groups in Spanish Florida, historically, the Black Seminoles lived mostly in distinct bands near the Native American Seminole. Some were held as slaves of particular Seminole leaders, but they had more freedom than did slaves held by whites in the South, today, Black Seminole descendants live primarily in rural communities around the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. Its two Freedmens bands, the Caesar Bruner Band and the Dosar Barkus Band, are represented on the General Council of the Nation, other centers are in Florida, Texas, the Bahamas, and northern Mexico. Since the 1930s, the Seminole Freedmen have struggled with cycles of exclusion from the Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma. In 1990, the received the majority of a $46 million judgment trust by the United States, for seizure of lands in Florida in 1823. In 2004 the US Supreme Court ruled the Seminole Freedmen could not bring suit without the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and they argue that the Dawes Rolls were inaccurate and often classified persons with both Seminole and African ancestry as only Freedmen. In all likelihood, the words Maroon and Seminole share the etymology as the Spanish word cimarrón. This word usually referred to runaways or castaways and is derived from the word for thicket in Old Spanish. The Spanish strategy for defending their claim of Florida at first was based on organizing the people into a mission system. The mission Native Americans were to serve as militia to protect the colony from English incursions from the north, but a combination of raids by South Carolina colonists and new European infectious diseases, to which they did not have immunity, decimated Floridas native population. After the local Native Americans had all but died out, Spanish authorities encouraged renegade Native Americans, the Spanish were hoping that these traditional enemies of the English would prove effective in holding off English expansion. As early as 1689, African slaves fled from the South Carolina Lowcountry to Spanish Florida seeking freedom and these were people who gradually formed what has become known as the Gullah culture of the coastal Southeast. Under an edict from King Charles II of Spain in 1693, the Spanish organized the black volunteers into a militia, their settlement at Fort Mose, founded in 1738, was the first legally sanctioned free black town in North America. Not all the slaves escaping south found military service in St. Augustine to their liking, more escaped slaves sought refuge in wilderness areas in Northern Florida, where their knowledge of tropical agriculture—and resistance to tropical diseases—served them well. Most of the blacks who pioneered Florida were Gullah people who escaped from the plantations of South Carolina. As Gullah, they had developed an Afro-English based Creole, along with cultural practices, the Gullah pioneers built their own settlements based on rice and corn agriculture. They became allies of Creek and other Indians escaping into Florida from the Southeast at the same time, in Florida, they developed the Afro-Seminole Creole, which they spoke with the growing Seminole tribe
8.
Langtry, Texas
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Langtry is an unincorporated community in Val Verde County, Texas, United States. The community is notable as the place where Judge Roy Bean, Langtry was originally established in 1882 by the Southern Pacific Railroad as a grading camp called Eagle Nest. It was later renamed for George Langtry, an engineer and foreman who supervised the immigrant Chinese work crews building the railroad in the area, Roy Bean arrived soon after completion of the railroad and set up a tent saloon on company land. He later built a structure for his saloon, which he called The Jersey Lilly after the well-known British stage actress Lillie Langtry. She was a native of the island of Jersey, Bean used the saloon as his headquarters when authorized as a justice of the peace and notary public. He called himself the Law West of the Pecos, after a notable career as justice of the peace, Bean died in 1903. In 1884 the town was authorized a post office, in 1892 it had a general store, a railroad depot, and two saloons. Langtry began to decline after the highway was moved north in the early 1900s for a more direct east-west route. Once bypassed, the towns businesses lost revenue and jobs, when in the 1920s Southern Pacific moved its facilities away, more jobs were lost and the town population dwindled to 50. By the 1970s the population dipped as low as 40, tourism to the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center continues to keep the town alive. In 1955, Robert Burton Willingham claimed an unidentified flying object crashed along the bank of the Rio Grande. The incident came to be known as the Del Rio, Texas UFO Crash, Willingham, a former Air Force Reserve pilot, stated that he was flying a North American F-86 Sabre jet fighter when he observed a UFO streak past him and crash near Langtry. No local residents have been located who could confirm Willinghams story, the Westerner, a film featuring Walter Brennan as Judge Roy Bean and Gary Cooper as a fictional interloper. It repeated the myth of the towns being named for Lillie Langtry, Lillie, a TV mini-series about Lillie Langtry produced by Britains London Weekend Television, also related the myth of the Texas towns name. Judge Roy Bean a western series set in Langtry but filmed in Pioneertown, California. The supporting cast included Jack Buetel, Jackie Loughery, and Russell Hayden, the Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, a film set in Langtry and starring Paul Newman, sparked new interest in Texas history. The Other Roswell, UFO Crash on the Texas-Mexico Border, non-fiction book about a reported UFO crash at Langtry, the town plays a major role in R. A. Langtry is mentioned in the Cormac McCarthy novel No Country for Old Men and it is implied that Langtry could be the hometown of the novels protagonist, Llewelyn Moss
9.
Lillie Langtry
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Lillie Langtry, born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton, was celebrated as a young woman of beauty and charm, who later established a reputation as an actress and producer. Her looks and personality attracted interest, commentary, and invitations from artists and society hostesses. By 1881, she had become an actress and starred in plays, including She Stoops to Conquer, The Lady of Lyons. In later life she performed dramatic sketches in vaudeville and she was also known for her relationships with noblemen, including the Prince of Wales, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and Prince Louis of Battenberg. She was the subject of public and media interest. Born in 1853 as Emilie Charlotte Le Breton, Langtry was the daughter of Rev. William Corbet Le Breton and his wife Emilie Davis. They eloped to Gretna Green and, in 1842, married at Chelsea, Emilie Charlotte was born in the rectory of St Saviours Parish Church in Jersey where her father was Rector and Dean of Jersey. Emilie, the daughter, was the sixth of seven children and her brothers were Francis Corbet Le Breton, William Inglis Le Breton, Trevor Alexander Le Breton, Maurice Vavasour Le Breton, Clement Martin Le Breton, and Reginald Le Breton. When she died, William was her last surviving brother, purportedly, one of their ancestors was Richard le Breton, allegedly one of the assassins in 1170 of Thomas Becket. Her French governess was unable to manage her, so Lillie was educated by her brothers tutor and this enabled her to gain a better education than did most women of her day. Their father was the Dean of Jersey, but he earned an unsavoury reputation because of several extramarital affairs, when his wife Emilie finally left him in 1880, he left Jersey. On March 6,1874, 20-year-old Lillie married 30-year-old Irish landowner Edward Langtry, a widower and she was the sister of Elizabeth Frances Price, who had married Lillies brother William. They held their reception at The Royal Yacht Hotel in St. Helier. Langtry was wealthy enough to own a yacht, and Lillie insisted that he take her away from the Channel Islands, eventually, they rented an apartment in Eaton Place, Belgravia, London before moving to 17 Norfolk Street off Park Lane. In an interview published in newspapers in 1882, Lillie Langtry said, “It was through Lord Raneleigh. I went to London and was out by my friends. Among the most enthusiastic of these was Mr Frank Miles, the artist, I learned afterwards that he saw me one evening at the theatre, and tried in vain to discover who I was. He went to his clubs and among his artist friends declaring he had seen a beauty, then Mr Miles came and begged me to sit for my portrait
10.
U2
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U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin formed in 1976. The group consists of Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, initially rooted in post-punk, U2s sound grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music, yet has maintained an anthemic sound. Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual imagery, focus on personal themes, popular for their live performances, the group has staged several ambitious and elaborate tours over their career. The band formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in 1976 when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency, within four years, they signed with Island Records and released their debut album Boy. Subsequent work such as their first UK number-one album War, by the mid-1980s, they had become renowned globally for their live act, highlighted by their performance at Live Aid in 1985. The groups fifth album, The Joshua Tree, made them international superstars and was their greatest critical and commercial success. Topping music charts around the world, it produced their only number-one singles in the US, With or Without You, facing a backlash and creative stagnation, U2 reinvented themselves in the 1990s through a new musical direction and public image. This experimentation continued through their album, Pop, and the PopMart Tour. U2 regained critical and commercial favour with the records All That You Cant Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and their U2 360° Tour of 2009–2011 is the highest-attended and highest-grossing concert tour in history. The groups thirteenth album, Songs of Innocence, was released at no cost through the iTunes Store, U2 have released 13 studio albums and are one of the worlds best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 170 million records worldwide. They have won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other band, Rolling Stone ranked U2 at number 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The band formed in Dublin on 25 September 1976, Larry Mullen Jr. then a 14-year-old student at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, posted a note on the schools notice board in search of musicians for a new band—six people responded. Mullen later described it as The Larry Mullen Band for about ten minutes, then Bono walked in and blew any chance I had of being in charge. Martin, who had brought his guitar and amplifier to the first practice but could not play, did not remain with the group, the group settled on the name Feedback because it was one of the few technical terms they knew. Most of their material consisted of cover songs, which the band admitted was not their forte. Some of the earliest influences on the band were emerging punk rock acts, such as the Jam, the Clash, Buzzcocks, the popularity of punk rock convinced the group that musical proficiency was not a prerequisite to being successful. In April 1977, Feedback played their first gig for an audience at St. Fintans High School. Shortly after, the changed their name to The Hype
Val Verde County, Texas
