As the country celebrates 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, every state has a story to tell about its own contributions to the development of the nation. Texas pride permeates our culture here at home, and we are always eager to promote the state’s people, products, landscape, innovations, and works of art beyond our borders, showing how the Lone Star State has contributed to the legacy of America. 

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC)'s Texas America250 exhibit will spotlight some of the areas where Texans’ contributions shine especially bright—true Texas icons that remind all Americans of the 28th state. From cowboys to astronauts, from Beaumont to Big Bend, the country would not be what it has become without Texas. Our famously independent and loudly proud state also contributes its own unique history to the broader, unfolding American story. Texas-specific commemorations such as the 1936 Texas Centennial marking 100 years of independence and 1986 Texas Sesquicentennial remain landmark moments in the state’s history.

Texans of all ages are invited to join TSLAC’s statewide Texas America250 Reading Challenge. Learn more about nationwide celebrations at america250.org.

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United States Declaration of Independence

Kid/Juvenile

• The American Civil War in Texas by Johanna Burke
• Life in the Republic of Texas by John Wimberley
• Native Americans in Texas by Janey Levy
• Texas, an Illustrated History by David G. McComb
• The Texas Chronicles: The History of Texas from Earliest Times to the Present Day by Mark Skipworth
• Texas History for Kids: Lone Star Lives and Legends by Karen Bush Gibson
• Texas Joins the United States by Russell Roberts
• Texas: The Lone Star State by John Hamilton
• Voices from Colonial America: Texas, 1527-1836 by Michael Teitelbaum

Adult

• Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas by Stephen Harrigan
• Black Texans: A History of African Americans in Texas, 1528-1995 by Alwyn Barr
• Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State by Randolph B. Campbell
• A History of Texas, from Wilderness to Commonwealth by Louis J. Wortham
• It Happened in Texas: Stories of Events and People that Shaped Lone Star State History by James A. Crutchfield
• Texas, a Modern History by David G. McComb
• Texas Dames: Sassy and Savvy Women Throughout Lone Star History by Carmen Goldthwaite
• The Texas Republic: A Social and Economic History by William Ransom Hogan
• Twentieth-Century Texas: A Social and Cultural History

Watch

• The American Revolution - Politics and People
• Benjamin Franklin and Colonial Independence
• Montesquieu and the American Founding
• The Seeds of Liberty
• Will You Sign Here, John Hancock?

This traveling exhibit is courtesy of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC).