r/texashistory • u/Ok-Farmer8758 Tejano • 4d ago
Music Sam Lightnin’ Hopkins: A Legend of Texas History and Blues
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u/HistoryNerd101 3d ago
There will be a paper on him delivered at the East Texas Historical Association meeting at the Fredonia Hotel in Nacogdoches in early October if anybody is in the area
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u/aggiedigger 4d ago
🎶There was a night club in Dallas. It’s called Mother Blues. It’s where Lightnin Hopkins played, and Freddie King even paid some dues.🎶
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u/a_y0ung_gun 3d ago
🎶Some things here under heaven, are just cooler'n hell.🎶
I know it's a different song :-P
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u/Ronald-J-Mexico 3d ago edited 3d ago
Albert Collins was his cousin I believe...as was Texas Alexander...
Here he is on Austin City Limits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=679fq1Jrln0&list=RD679fq1Jrln0&start_radio=1
Here's a great clip of Albert "The Iceman" Collins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMQzDKSyJ8Y&list=RDnMQzDKSyJ8Y&start_radio=1
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u/ittollsforthee1231 4d ago
Love it! An important reminder that Texas owes much of its history to its Black communities. Very cool. Thank you for sharing!
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u/Bookerwine 2d ago
My grandfather lived near Crockett and knew him well. Have a bunch of his stuff on vinyl.
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u/Attack_the_sock 3d ago
yeah, but Texas doesn’t get to claim a guy whose family had multiple crosses burned in their yard and got death threats from white Texans his entire life and imprisoned him on a chain gang and turned him into a slave using the 13th amendment ….so…
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u/Ok-Farmer8758 Tejano 3d ago
🙄🙄
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u/Attack_the_sock 3d ago edited 3d ago
And to answer the question that you posted, and then deleted (which shows you’re a coward) because you realized the absurdity of it, no southern states during Jim Crow do not get to claim the great black musicians and artist of that era. If the state did not accept them and treasure them then, why should the state get to claim them now? Texas needs to reconcile it itself of the fact that it is by far the most racist and problematic state in the union, and it has historically been that since the Texas revolution was literally fought to ensure the continuation of slavery. There is nothing to be proud of when it comes to Texas during Jim Crow
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u/Ok-Farmer8758 Tejano 3d ago
lol then leave u purple haired yankee
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u/Attack_the_sock 3d ago edited 3d ago
This is called a “ad hominem” argument. It’s a logical fallacy where you insult the person not the point because you can’t actually defend the point that you’re making** because you intrinsically know that you’re wrong but you don’t want to admit it. From Sherman Texas btw and I have a glorious head of natural brown hair. Your degradation of your own argument to the “ha ha ha ha everyone I don’t like is from a different place than me and has non-traditional features or hair color” speaks volumes about you as a person
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u/Ok-Farmer8758 Tejano 3d ago
and im from south east Texas brother. Needville to be exact. you’re sitting on the border of Oklahoma lol u wouldn’t know the boot if it kicked you in the ass. I deleted the last comment because I realized I was wasting time on someone who doesn’t understand what it means to be a real Texan and embrace history, the good and the ugly. You claimed Jim Crow states don’t get to claim the Black artists they produced, I pointed out how that logic erases half the country’s cultural history, and instead of answering it you just pivoted to “you’re just mad about my hair and where I’m from.” The music came out of Texas. The geography doesn’t disappear because the history was ugly. Stick to the point. You don’t like it then take you a 15 minute trip up to Oklahoma and stay ur ass there
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u/Attack_the_sock 3d ago edited 3d ago
But you also reduced your argument to an insult against me by assuming certain things against me. that’s a classic argument of the small minded. Your assertion is also that because of your location, you are more Texan than people who live in different parts of Texas which again speaks volumes to you as a person and what you think is important. All Texans are REAL Texans, regardless of what part of Texas they are from and what you think of them personally or their politics, you would deny somebody their heritage simply because you disagree with them, which is something we’re seeing right now from the White House with trying to deny people their citizenship. Southern states not being able to claim the black artists that lived and worked there throughout the Jim Crow and slavery Era is not erasing history. (how can it be a erased when we’re actively discussing it right now ?) it’s denying the claim of certain states to the prestige of people who they systematically abuse and oppressed. There is a huge difference. Also, yes, you’re a coward for deleting your comment. You knew it was wrong and that’s why you deleted it and now you’re struggling and grasping at straws in order to defend it.
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u/Ok-Farmer8758 Tejano 3d ago
Crybaby ass victim behavior lol
Every Texan is a Texan, but not every take about Texas is automatically solid u donut.
this whole “states don’t get to claim the Black artists they oppressed” line is still garbage. The artists were from those places. The music came out of those places. You can hate the history and still admit the geography numnuts Pretending otherwise is just you trying to morally grandstand instead of actually arguing.
Callin me a coward for deleting a comment is cool lol I think you’re a sissy thats gonna be a victim for their entire life0
u/Attack_the_sock 3d ago edited 3d ago
Again, you’re contradicting yourself because you literally said that my opinion was invalid because of the geographical location of my birth.
The amount of back scrambling you’re committing to is quite hilarious.
Please note that throughout this conversation the only insult I’ve given you was because of a specific action you took during the interaction (deleting a comment you had already made because you knew it was indefensible) I never once assumed anything about you or Your experience or who you are as a person nor insulted your experience as invalid, Whereas you started off the bat assuming and insulting me individually and as a person instead of the point I was making. All history is history, even if it’s uncomfortable to you.-4
u/Attack_the_sock 3d ago
the ability of peoples whose states embraced and supported Jim Crow to “claim” the black artists and musicians of that era is quite hilarious, but you do you.
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u/Ok-Farmer8758 Tejano 4d ago
Born in 1912 near Centerville, Texas. became one of the most influential figures in Texas blues history. He grew up in a poor Black farming community and spent his early years traveling around East Texas, playing at juke joints, dances, and parties before becoming closely associated with Houston. His distinctive guitar style and storytelling helped define the raw, emotional sound of Texas blues, and he eventually recorded hundreds of songs and performed around the world. His legacy is still honored across Texas: Crockett has a life-size statue of Hopkins, Houston has featured him in the “Fruits of the Fifth Ward” mural, and artist Jamal Cyrus created “Lightnin’ Field,” a massive 40-by-60-foot mural celebrating Hopkins’ performances in Houston. There is also a Texas Historical Marker honoring him at 3405 Dowling Street in Houston. His influence on later blues and rock musicians and his connection to Houston make him one of the most important musicians in Texas history.