When I heard this was set in Houston I knew I needed to do something reprsenting my city for this tour! So, I went and wrote down the significant places to me put them together in a blog post! Look out for my TikTok later today that will be the same thing, but as a TikTok!
One of the first things mentioned is the Foley’s Department store. I wasn’t alive to remember shopping in this store, but my mom actually remembers the name of it. Idk if there was one in Galveston (where we lived) but she knew the name when I mentioned it.
This is one I actually didn’t know about! My mom had heard of it ,but she never went. But it looks pretty cool. From the research I did, it looks like it was opened in 47 but is now closed.
I had no idea that Jack Yates was also used as a school during the time when Houston was segregated. I I DID know that the school was named after a prominent Black leader who was actually born enslaved.
The Astrodome is one of the ones that I know. Although in 1964 it wasn’t completed, when I finally got around to visiting it, it was finished and it held one of the events that I still go to today, the Houston Rodeo. The Astrodome is also where the Astros and the Houston Oilers played. At one point it was even named the Eighth Wonder of the World. That’s how huge it was.
This was an event I had no idea about. There were Texas Southern University students that did a sit in at Mading’s Drugs that took place in 1960. It is worth mentioning here because there is a bit of time when segregation is mentioned when Fannie Lou Hamer spoke at the Democratic National Convention and their teacher talked about it in class.
This is another one I hadn’t heard of. My mom had though. Apparently she had a friend who had to go there too. My mom ran in a crowd kind of like Connie and those girls.
I’m not a fan of historical fiction, but when it’s set in the place where I stay, I can definitely say it gets a bit more interesting! Find these places and more when you read Bad Girls Never Say Die by Jennifer Mathieu!
Bad Girls Never Say Die is out tomorrow! Don’t forget to go get your copy! Available at all bookstores tomorrow!