Texas
Piecing Together the Story of Texas’s First Black-Owned Pottery
I chase ghosts! That is, I investigate the forgotten spirits and legacies of enslaved and free potters in Texas during and after the Civil War in the United States of America. This journey began with a 1991 conversation with my graduate advisor John Brough Miller, professor of ceramics at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas, during which he shared the legend of John McKamie Wilson and enslaved potters in Seguin, Texas. Nearly a quarter century later, in 2014, an internet search led me to the website of the Wilson Pottery Foundation, created by the descendants of Hiram, James, and Wallace Wilson, the founders of H. Wilson and Co. Pottery. Three years later, in 2017, I attended the annual Wilson Pottery Show at the Sebastopol House in Seguin and was surprised by the amount of Wilson antique pottery on display and the number of collectors of it. I left the show with a heightened interest in the Wilson Potters.
In 2018, Tarrant County College District, where I was an assistant professor of Ceramics, awarded me faculty leave to research the H. Wilson & Co. Pottery, which is located in Capote, Texas, approximately 48 miles east of San Antonio and 12 miles east of Seguin. A search on Ancestry.com led me to a database of United States craftspeople ranging from 1600 to 1995, which lists Hiram Wilson as the founder of H. Wilson and Co. Pottery. Hiram was formerly an enslaved potter at the Guadalupe Pottery owned by John McKamie Wilson from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Scholars believe H. Wilson and Co. Pottery was the first business owned by an African American in Texas.
A deeper dive led to the other Wilson Potteries (designated as sites by the Texas Historical Commission, which identifies them by number) in the Capote area, including the aforementioned Guadalupe Pottery (41GU6), which was the first Wilson pottery site operated by John McKamie Wilson and his enslaved potters. H. Wilson & Co. (41GU5) was the second site, started by formerly enslaved potters from the Guadalupe site. The third Wilson pottery site (41GU4) was the Durham-Chandler Pottery, owned by Marion “MJ” Durham, a White man, and John Chandler, a formerly enslaved potter trained in the acclaimed Edgefield District of South Carolina. (These sites are often referred to as “First Site,” “Second Site,” and “Third Site” by collectors to help differentiate the pottery produced at each. Second Site pieces, for instance, are more valuable than First Site pieces.) After Hiram died in 1884, H. Wilson & Co. was believed to have merged with Durham-Chandler to become Durham-Chandler-Wilson. According to the United States Craftsperson Files database, Durham-Chandler-Wilson was founded in 1870, which may indicate that Hiram worked at the third site with James, Wallace, and other itinerant potters.

I propose that the relationship between these three sites might stretch back further than folklore holds. What if Marion “MJ” Durham and John McKamie Wilson’s families knew each other in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina? What if Durham was one of the primary investors in the Guadalupe Pottery with John McKamie Wilson? A partnership with Durham would support Wilson’s decision to build a pottery company in Capote. As a member of the Durham potting dynasty in South Carolina, the former certainly possessed the knowledge and pottery production skills to ensure a sound investment.
During my faculty development leave, I visited local historical societies, which were warm and informative. Some locations were rich in artifacts, whereas others had a wealth of documentation supporting the local community. On top of attending the 2018 pottery show at the Wilson Pottery Museum in the Sebastopol House in Seguin, I interviewed Wilson’s descendants, collectors, and others who shared various stories that led them to the show. One gentleman shared his salt-glazed one-gallon H. Wilson & Co. stamped pot he purchased at a thrift store in Austin, Texas. One notable takeaway from this interview session was how often collectors referenced San Antonio-based Texas pottery scholar and pediatrician Dr. Georgeanna Greer. She helped rediscover the Wilson potteries after the sites had been dormant for over 50 years; I discovered the depth of her research when I visited historical societies in East Texas. I was overwhelmed and excited to find letters written by her to local archivists requesting or sharing information on local pottery sites.

In 2020, I curated a solo exhibition in the Carillon Gallery at Tarrant County College South Campus in Fort Worth, Texas, which suggested a narrative and timeline to these potters by tracing the development of certain techniques. The centerpiece of the show, however, was not the ceramic pieces inspired by the Wilson potters and created for the exhibition, but rather the research identifying those who worked at one or more pottery sites seen via posters, including James and Wallace (and possibly Hiram) Wilson. Pots attributed to the first site, Guadalupe Pottery, suggests that Isaac and George Suttles, potters from Ohio, may have introduced the salt glazing technique found on pieces attributed to the first site’s pottery, as the practice originates from those trained in the North. The Suttles brothers later opened a pottery near Lavernia, Texas.
The discovery of this extensive pottery community in Capote redirected my focus toward East Texas, known as the entry point of Texas westward expansion. A visit to the William J. Hill Texas Artisans and Artists Archive was crucial to helping me collect information on East Texas potters. A visit to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Bayou Bend Collections and Garden was also helpful in allowing me to examine Wilson Pottery from all three sites. Through the former, I located a “Checklist of Texas Potters ca 1840-1940,” compiled by Bob Helberg. This list provided names of formerly enslaved potters in the East Texas region, such as Milligan Frazier, A. Prothro, Elix Brown, and Joseph Cogburn. This in turn opened up another world of research possibilities. What if the pottery of the shops praised for their magnificent work such as Guadalupe Pottery were actually produced by trained enslaved laborers instead of the shop’s namesake? In other words, did the early Texas potters continue the industrial enslavement system that made the Edgefield District community in South Carolina famous?
This research is just a start. As I journey from central Texas back to Edgefield, South Carolina, searching for pottery families who migrated west before 1860 with their enslaved labor, bits and pieces of sherds are coming together to recreate the life stories of these potters. A beautiful mosaic is beginning to emerge.








Texas
Texas A&M Forward Transfer Seemingly on Visit to See Lady Vols Basketball | Rocky Top Insider

Lady Vols basketball is looking to add more pieces to its 2026-27 roster with high-level experience. After completing her junior season at Texas A&M, Fatmata Janneh has emerged as a Tennessee target for her final year of eligibility. According to her Instagram story on Sunday night, she is in Knoxville.
With the Aggies a year ago, the 6-foot-2 forward averaged 11.4 points per game on 43.3% shooting from the field. She also showed off an ability to hit from range, posting 1.1 makes per game on 33% shooting from three.
Perhaps Janneh’s biggest strength is her rebounding, though. She ripped down 9.7 boards per contest, good for the fifth-most in the SEC. This featured 2.6 rebounds on the offensive end per outing.
Janneh also averaged 1.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.4 blocks per game. She appeared in 27 games, starting in each.
More From RTI: How Watching The NCAA Tournament Drew Terrence Hill Jr. To Tennessee Basketball
Janneh started her career with a pair of seasons at St. Peter’s. As a sophomore, she averaged a double-double, posting 18.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game. This made her a sought-after transfer in the portal before landing at Texas A&M as the nation’s leading defensive rebounder. As a freshman, she averaged 11.0 points and 8.0 rebounds.
The forward is from London, England, attending Barking Abbey Sixth Form for her prep ball. She would be the second player from England to join the Tennessee roster if she committed. UT also added the commitment of incoming freshman and former Boston College signee Irene Oboavwoduo this offseason.
So far, Caldwell and the Lady Vols have landed five transfers in this portal cycle. This features Liberty guard Avery Mills, Northern Arizona guard Naomi White, Stanford forward Harper Peterson and Georgia forward Zhen Craft and guard Rylie Theuerkauf.
Tennessee will also roster a pair of incoming freshmen. Four-star recruit and top-50 prospect Gabby Minus is staying true to her signing despite the roster overhaul and assistant coaching changes, along with the addition of Oboavwoduo.
Texas
Texas needs at least $174 billion to avoid water crisis, state says
AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) — Texas communities will need to spend $174 billion in the next 50 years to avert a severe water crisis, a new state analysis revealed Thursday. That’s more than double the $80 billion projected four years ago, when the Texas Water Development Board last passed a state water plan.
The three-member board presiding over the agency authorized the highly anticipated draft blueprint Thursday, the first administrative step toward adopting the water development board’s plans for the next 50 years. The plan, released every five years, encompasses the projects that 16 regional water planning groups in Texas said are the most urgent, water development board officials said.
The board’s latest estimates come as the state’s water supply faces numerous threats. Growing communities across Texas are scrambling to secure water, keep up with construction costs and cope with a yearslong drought. This week, Corpus Christi officials said the city may be just months away from declaring a water emergency. Meanwhile, other rural cities by the Coastal Bend are rapidly drilling wells to avoid a crisis. Residents in North Texas have also been bracing for groundwater shortages.
In an effort to restrain the crisis, lawmakers last year called an election in which voters approved a $20 billion boost for communities to use on water-related expenses. The water development board’s estimate shows that what lawmakers proposed on the ballot falls dramatically short of the needed cash, experts said.
“What this number tells me at the end of the day is if we don’t get serious about (funding water projects), there are going to be serious consequences for Texas,” said Perry Fowler, executive director of the Texas Water Infrastructure Network. “Even with the billion-dollar-a-year plan kicking in, it’s not going to be enough to offset the costs of the projects that are going to have to be executed.”
The new estimate accounts for 3,000 projects, from regional infrastructure upgrades to smaller endeavors such as drilling new water wells. Texas’ water supplies are expected to drop by roughly 10% between 2030 and 2080, according to the water plan. In that same time frame, the maximum amount of water communities can draw is also expected to decline by 9%.
The 80-page plan notes approximately 6,700 recommended strategies that would add water to the state’s dwindling portfolio. The recommendations — which are not accounted for in the cost — include developing new supplies from aquifer storage and recovery, brackish groundwater, desalination and recycled water. It also calls for water conservation.
The report suggested that if Texas does not implement the plans and recommendations, the state is one severe drought away from an estimated $91 billion in economic damages in 2030.
The state’s plan attributes a variety of reasons for the bigger price tag, such as higher costs of construction due to inflation, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains, and a growing backlog of water supply projects.
“There’s a plan that can meet our needs,” said Matt Nelson, deputy executive administrator for the Office of Planning at the water development board, adding that they take their cues from the regional planning groups. “These are local projects that folks need to implement; they’re needed regardless of how they’re funded. It’s important to remember these are not top-down projects or state projects.”
Experts told The Texas Tribune that the board’s estimate is only a fraction of what Texas communities will need to ensure they have water in 50 years’ time, saying growth and development are outpacing the state’s ability to keep up.
“This is a bigger water plan in terms of volume strategies and capital costs compared to anything we’ve ever seen before,” said Jeremy Mazur, the director of infrastructure and natural resources policy at think tank Texas 2036.
Mazur suggested that the $174 billion only covers water supply projects and does not account for updating aging infrastructure, adding that the actual price could amount to a quarter of a trillion dollars.
“There’s a substantial magnitude with regard to the capital investment needed to both fix our aging and current systems and potentially develop the water infrastructure, water supply projects that we need.“
The report largely confirmed what many water experts have warned regarding threats to the state’s water supply, said Sarah Kirkle, director of policy at the Texas Water Association.
“Population growth, extreme weather, and economic development needs are all increasing demands on our infrastructure, and the state is going to need more water, sooner,” Kirkle said. “This is all while water projects are becoming more costly and complex because the easiest and cheapest local projects have already been developed.”
Fowler, with the infrastructure network, said he expects the Texas Legislature to take up the issue next year, when lawmakers meet for the 90th legislative session. He said the state should take a bigger role in ensuring that communities can afford their respective water projects.
“It’s going to have to be a top-down priority, there’s no way around it,” he said. “The challenges are so immense that it’s going to take all hands on deck.”
Texas residents have until the end of May to comment on the proposal. Water development board officials must adopt it by January 2027.
Alejandra Martinez contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at www.texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans – and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas
Co‑worker confesses to killing missing North Texas man and stealing his car, police say
A North Texas man reported missing earlier this week was found dead Friday, and police say a co‑worker has confessed to fatally shooting him and stealing his car.
The suspect, Gregory D. Lewis, 34, remains in custody and faces a forthcoming capital murder charge, according to the Fort Worth Police Department.
Lewis is accused of killing 31‑year‑old Thomas King, who had been last seen in his Taco Casa work uniform. King was reported missing on Tuesday after failing to return home Monday from the fast‑food restaurant in the 1100 block of Bridgewood Drive.
Car found at Arlington motel
Police said King’s car was found at the Quality Inn on I‑20 in Arlington, and surveillance video showed Lewis arriving in King’s vehicle shortly after King left work.
Detectives identified the man in the video and arrested him on unrelated charges.
Body discovered on Fort Worth’s East Side
King’s body was located on Friday in an open field on Fort Worth’s East Side, authorities said.
According to police, Lewis confessed to shooting the victim and stealing his car.
Medical examiner review pending
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death.
CBS News Texas has reached out to Taco Casa for comment.
-
Illinois1 minute agoMultiple people shot in Centralia, Illinois: REPORT
-
Indiana7 minutes agoIndiana mother charged with neglect after baby’s co-sleeping death
-
Iowa13 minutes agoFormer Iowa State star, All-American Audi Crooks announces transfer destination
-
Kansas20 minutes agoTyler Reddick needs OT at Kansas to claim fifth win of NASCAR season
-
Kentucky25 minutes agoVanderbilt baseball’s series win vs Kentucky revelatory
-
Louisiana32 minutes agoLouisiana shooter Shamar Elkins made chilling remarks about ‘demons’ weeks before killing his 7 kids and their cousin
-
Maine38 minutes agoA remote Maine town is ready to close its 5-student school
-
Maryland44 minutes agoMaryland Lottery Pick 3, Pick 4 results for April 19, 2026