In recognition of National Native American Heritage Month, Fort Bend County Libraries (FBCL) will present a special program on the Karankawa Indians of the Gulf Coast region of Texas on Friday, November 22, beginning at 2:00 pm, in the Meeting Room of the Missouri City Branch Library, located at 1530 Texas Parkway.
The program will be repeated on Monday, November 25, at 2:30 pm, at the Sugar Land Branch Library (550 Eldridge) and on Tuesday, November 26, at 2:00 pm, at the Fulshear Branch Library (6350 GM Library Rd, off Texas Heritage Parkway).
Carol Beauchamp, from FBCL’s Genealogy & Local History Department, will talk about history of the Karankawa Indians, from their interactions with the French and Spanish explorers to their impact on the early Texas settlers who were part of Austin’s Old 300.
Originally semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers, the Karankawas were thought to have eventually merged with other tribes and become extinct as a separate entity. Recent developments and the evolution of DNA research, however, have led to a new interest in tracing the Karankawas’ existence to the present.
Beauchamp will also address the myth or reality of the tribe’s cannibalism and different viewpoints on the subject.
The program is free and open to the public. For more information, see the Fort Bend County Libraries website (www.fortbend.lib.tx.us) or call the library system’s Communications Office (281-633-4734).