Voices from the Texas Gulf

About this event

The Houston History Research Center invites you to join us as we welcome Five Rivers Council Representative and scholar, Absolem Yetzirah! In honor of National Native American Heritage Month, Absolem Yetzirah will discuss the cultural landscape surrounding the contemporary Karankawa people and explore how historical ancestry narratives shape the present context on American history. ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Absolem Yetzirah is a Galveston-born Indigenous activist, U. S. military veteran, spiritual leader, and entrepreneur. He serves as a critical voice for the Karankawa Tribe of Texas, an Indigenous community long and incorrectly classified by colonial history as extinct. As a prominent tribal council member of the Five Rivers Council, Yetzirah represents the regional Coyote clan of the Galveston Bay and Houston metro areas. He has been instrumental in reconnecting isolated Karankawa descendants, moving the community past an era where families believed they were the last survivors. Yetzirah was raised with the oral histories of his ancestors who inhabited the Gulf Coast for thousands of years. For generations, many Karankawa families safely guarded their lineages in secret, often identifying as other ethnicities to avoid the historical persecution and forced displacement that decimated the tribe in the 19th century. Recognizing the fragmented state of his peoples history, Yetzirah made it a personal mission to seek out relatives and others carrying similar oral histories.

From Houston Public Library - Houston History Research Center at the Julia Ideson Building