The U.S. is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Since that day, there are many national historical moments that occurred right here in Texas.
Here's some of them.
The Grandmother of Juneteenth
North Texas has a very important connection to Juneteenth—it is home to Opal Lee, the “Grandmother of Juneteenth.”
During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation declaring that enslaved people in the Confederate states—including Texas—were free. But the news didn’t reach Texas until June 19, 1865, when Gen. Gordon Granger of the Union Army arrived in Galveston. Since that day, Juneteenth was celebrated locally as a second independence day.
In 2016, Opal Lee—a retired teacher, councilor and activist—walked from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., at the age of 89 to convince lawmakers to recognize the date as a federal holiday. In 2021, she achieved just that when President Joe Biden signed the designation. Lee received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She still resides in Fort Worth’s Southside neighborhood.
Assassination of JFK
In the fall of 1963, President John F. Kennedy was on the campaign trail with a stop in Texas to visit five cities in two days. His first day started in San Antonio, continued to Houston and ended in Fort Worth. On Nov. 22, 1963, thousands gathered on Dallas streets as the president traveled on a route through downtown to the Trade Mart to speak at a luncheon. But as the motorcade passed the Texas School Book Depository, near Dealey Plaza, gunfire erupted. The president was shot and killed.
Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president shortly after while aboard Air Force One at Dallas Love Field. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination at the Texas Theater on Jefferson Street in Dallas. But two days later, Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald at the Dallas Police Headquarters.
Roe vs Wade
Norma McCorvey, under the pseudonym Jane Roe, lived in Dallas County when she became pregnant with her third child and sought to have an abortion. Texas’ laws at the time only allowed abortion when necessary to save the mother’s life. Roe’s lawyers sued Henry Wade, the local district attorney, declaring that the Texas law was unconstitutional. In 1973, the case made it to the Supreme Court, and the eventual ruling agreed that the right of privacy, part of the Fourteenth Amendment, protects a woman’s choice to have an abortion.
This landmark decision stood for 50 years but was overturned in 2022 when the Supreme Court rolled back abortion rights to the states. Justice Samuel Alito said that the 1973 ruling was “an abuse of judicial authority.” Today, abortion rights vary widely – with some states imposing a total ban to others protecting the right.
Nieman Marcus
Herbert Marcus — along with his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman and her husband A.L. Neiman — had an innovative idea that changed fashion forever: high-end, ready-to-wear fashion. In 1907, they opened their first store in downtown Dallas at the intersection of Elm Street and North Field Street.
Following a fire a few years later, Nieman Marcus opened its flagship store on Main Street and Ervay Street.
Neiman Marcus became part of the city’s identity and a symbol of wealth and status. The brand also expanded to 36 stores across the country.
In May 2020, the company filed for Chapter 11 protection, the first of several department stores to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It emerged from bankruptcy in September that same year and in 2024, Saks Global acquired the brand. Saks Global filed for Chapter 11 protection in January 2026 to restructure debts. In June of 2026, Saks announced the flagship store in downtown Dallas would shut its doors for good by the end of September.
Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde are well-known outlaws who were sensationalized in pop culture.
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910 – May 23, 1934) was from Rowena, Texas, and Clyde Chestnut "Champion" Barrow (March 24, 1909 – May 23, 1934) was from Telico, Texas. The two met in January 1930 and after Barrow was paroled in 1932, he paired up with Bonnie to commit a series of bank robberies, kidnappings and murders. They are accused of murdering nine police officers and three civilians.
On May 23, 1934, a law enforcement posse led by retired Texas Ranger Frank Hamer ambushed and killed the couple in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
Many films were made about the duo, including the famous 1967 film that sparked a change in fashion — Faye Dunaway’s wardrobe in the movie later became known as the “Bonnie look.”
Today, fans visit their bullet-riddled car in Nevada and take tours in Dallas to locations the couple visited and their gravestones.
Dallas Cowboys
Football is a way of life in Texas, and when you think pro football, the Dallas Cowboys are always top of mind.
The team was founded in 1960 and rose to fame as “American’s Team” with Tom Landry at the helm as the lead coach.
The team has the NFL record for the most consecutive wins with 20 seasons from 1966 to 1985. Landry also led the team to two Super Bowls wins and is considered one of the best football coaches of all time.
The Cowboys continued their performances with three more Super Bowl wins in the 1990s.
The team played at the Cotton Bowl until 1971 when they moved to Texas Stadium in Irving. Then in 2009 they landed in the AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
In 1989, Jerry Jones purchased the team.
The team continues to be favored as the first sports team to reach $4 billion in franchise value and later surpassing $10 billion.
Van Cliburn
Every four years, pianists from all over the world converge on Fort Worth for a competition dubbed the “the instrument’s Olympics.” The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition became part of the legacy of the world-renowned pianist Van Cliburn.
Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Jr. was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1934. His family relocated to Kilgore, Texas, where he attended high school.
From a young age he showed extraordinary talent for piano and played in Carnegie Hall at the age of 13. He continued winning competitions and awards that his hometown proclaimed April 8, 1953, as “Van Cliburn Day.”
In 1958, while the Soviet Union was celebrating the launch of Sputnik into space, Cliburn played his way to winning the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. The 23-year-old played Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, and his recording of it became the first classical album to go platinum.
Over the years, Cliburn played for presidents and royalty advancing the American appreciation for classical music.
Cliburn died in 2013 and his funeral was attended by a former president and sitting governor along with thousands more.
Amber Alerts
Many of us are familiar with alerts on our phones and along the highway notifying us of child abductions. This nationwide system started with a nine-year-old girl in Arlington.
In January 1996, Amber Hagerman was riding her pink bike when a man in a black pickup truck kidnapped her. The search lasted four days before her body was found near a creek. Her killer has not been found.
Diane Simone, a Fort Worth resident, saw reports on the kidnapping and contacted a local station to implement an alert system, which she called Amber’s Plan. Television and radio stations across the region joined the plan, and in 1998 an infant was saved when someone heard the alerts.
In 2003, President George W. Bush signed the Protect Act which nationalized the AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert System. Hagerman’s family and other kidnap victims attended the signing of the act in Washington DC.
As of December 2025, 1,292 children were rescued using the system.
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is one of the country’s most well-known politicians, and he has a specific place in Texas history. Born in Connecticut, Bush was raised in Midland and later in Houston. He served in the Air Force and attended Yale and Harvard. After college, Bush returned to Midland and wed Laura Welch.
Bush served as the governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 before turning his attention to the national level. He was elected as the 43rd president of the United States and served until 2009.
The September 11 terrorist attacks occurred early on during his presidency. In response, Bush declared a War on Terror and created the Department of Homeland Security. He also signed the Patriot Act that authorized surveillance of suspected terrorists.
After his presidency, Bush picked up painting and published two books of his paintings of veterans and immigrants. He also authored two other books, including the memoir Decision Points.
The George W. Bush Presidential Center is located at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas. It houses a museum, presidential library and the George W. Bush Institute, a policy organization. The center is surrounded by the Laura W. Bush Native Texas Park.
American Airlines
The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport officially opened in January 1974 when an American Airlines flight from New York to Dallas landed on its tarmac.
Plans to build a regional airport go way back to the 1920s, but disputes between Fort Worth and Dallas kept the plans from fruition. After intervention from the FAA, the airport site that touches the cities of Coppell, Euless, Grapevine and Irving was chosen. Construction began in 1968 and took 5 years to complete. The airport is owned by Dallas and Fort Worth.
American moved its headquarters from New York City to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and opened its hub in DFW in 1981.
Today, DFW is the second largest airport in the U.S. by land mass, having its own ZIP code and USPS city designation of “DFW Airport, TX.” It also is one of the busiest airports in the world.
Currently, construction on a sixth terminal is in progress. The new Terminal F will have 31 gates and will be operated by American Airlines. The airline also launched a new electronic boarding system at DFW and will install the gates in 2026.
