Barbara Jordan, the Fifth Ward’s voice in Congress
Barbara Jordan grew up in Houston’s Fifth Ward and became the first Black woman from the South elected to Congress.
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Howard Hughes’s fortune began with a Houston drill bit
Howard Hughes was born in Houston in 1905. His fortune came from Hughes Tool Company’s rock bit, which he inherited at 18.
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Mickey Leland spent his life on hunger, and died trying to end it
Congressman Mickey Leland of Houston chaired the House Select Committee on Hunger and died in a 1989 plane crash in Ethiopia.
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Jesse H. Jones built Houston’s skyline and ran the New Deal’s biggest bank
Jesse H. Jones developed downtown Houston, owned the Houston Chronicle and led the Reconstruction Finance Corporation during the Depression.
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Gerald Hines shaped Houston’s skyline and took his firm worldwide
Developer Gerald Hines built the Galleria, Pennzoil Place and Williams Tower, and grew his Houston firm into a global real estate company.
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Ima Hogg gave Houston a symphony, a museum and a mental health foundation
The daughter of a Texas governor, Ima Hogg founded the Houston Symphony, gave Bayou Bend to the city’s art museum and started the Hogg Foundation.
