Texas Edges Lecture Series: Tyina Steptoe

This year’s speaker for the Texas Edges Lecture Series will be Dr. Tyina Steptoe, author of the award-winning Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City. The lecture will take place February 22, 2023 at 2:00 pm in GAB 105.

Dr. Steptoe will deliver her lecture on “The Sound of Race and Gender in 20th-Century Texas,” where she will discuss Peacock Records (the label founded by Don Robey in Houston in 1949) as a fascinating window into how sound can serve as a source for writing about histories of race, gender, and sexuality.

Biography

Tyina Steptoe is an associate professor of history at the University of Arizona. Her research and teaching focus on race, gender, and culture in the United States. Her book, Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City, won several awards, including honors from the Urban History Association and the Western History Association. She is currently working on a book that explores the history of gender and sexuality in rhythm and blues music produced in the U.S. West. She also produces and hosts Soul Stories, a program that explores the history of R&B music, on KXCI Tucson community radio.