This committee is responsible for researching and preserving the history of the association and its members.
2024-2025 Co-Chairs:
Ryan Cunningham, Locke Lord LLP
Charles Sharman, Bradley
For more information on this committee, contact HBA Marketing and Communications Director Maggie Martin at maggiem@hba.org or call (346) 471-3428.
Additional Resources
Read about the HBA Historical Committee in the January/February 2024 issue of The Houston Lawyer by clicking the article image below.
Read A Commitment to Public Service: The History of the Houston Bar Association, digitized through a partnership of the HBA and the Harris County Law Library: harriscountylawlibrary.org/hba-history
Learn more about the Historical Records Preservation Project.
Living History Project
More than three decades ago, the Houston Bar Association’s Historical Committee began interviewing seasoned members of the Houston legal community to capture their stories and perspectives on life and the practice of law. The HBA is pleased to share some of the videos with members and the public.
HBA Living History Video Project Launches First Video Interview
of the Year Featuring Justice Eva Guzman
Scroll down to watch the latest Living History Video interview with Justice Eva Guzman, conducted by Judge Patricia Lykos.
Click here to see more videos from the Historical Committee’s Living History Project.
Our sincere thanks to Vinson & Elkins LLP for recording these interviews.
January/February 2024 Issue of The Houston Lawyer Honors Houston's Pioneering Black Leaders in Law
The major articles of this issue about J. Vance Lewis, efforts to restore his home, and Houston’s first-generation of African American attorneys were shaped by this committee:
J. Vance Lewis: The Astounding Impact of “Houston’s First Black Lawyer” by HBA Historical Committee Member George "Trey" Gifford III
Van Court”: J. Vance Lewis House Serves as a Symbol of Progress, Culture, History, and Hope By HBA Historical Committee Members Ryan A. Cunningham with assistance by Charles L. Sharman
A Courageous Pursuit: Houston’s First African American Attorneys By HBA Historical Committee Member R. Michelle Boldon
Click here to read the January/February 2024 issue of The Houston Lawyer online.
HBA Historical Committee Partnering with Local Museum to Preserve History of Houston’s Earliest Black Attorneys
HBA President Diana Gomez, HBA Treasurer Daniella Landers, HBA Historical Committee Chair (and HBA Past President) Bill Kroger, and members of the Historical Committee visited Freedmen's Town in Houston's Fourth Ward on July 24 for a tour of the J. Vance Lewis & Pauline Gray-Lewis Historic Home. Members of the Rutherford B.H. Yates Museum took the HBA members through the home to show the work being done to restore it as a Museum of Legal Professions and Educators with Galleries.
J. Vance Lewis was Houston's first Black attorney (and one of the first Black attorneys in Texas), practicing in the Bayou City in the early 1900s.
The HBA Historical Committee will partner with the museum this year to help develop the historical exhibits to be preserved within Mr. Lewis' restored home.
Click here to learn more about the J. Vance Lewis home.