The award-winning duo of children's book authors Chris Barton and Don Tate -- also a renowned illustrator, both Austinites, have teamed again, this time to tell the story of Tuskegee grad Lonnie Johnson, inventor of the popular Super Soaker toy, one of the top twenty toys of all time. "Whoosh!" tells how Johnson stumbled onto creating the toy while trying to create a new cooling system for refrigerators and air conditioners. Instead, he created the mechanics for the iconic toy.

The book covers how Johnson's love for rockets, robots, inventions, and a mind for creativity were present in his early life. Growing up in a house full of siblings, he demonstrated persistence and a passion for problem solving that became the cornerstone of his career as an engineer and his work with NASA. But it was his invention of the Super Soaker water gun that made his most memorable splash in popular culture.

Johnson, a nuclear engineer, Tuskegee Ph.D. and former NASA scientist, founded his company -- Atlanta-based Johnson Research and Development – in 1989. It was the same year he first licensed the Super Soaker, which generated more than $200 million in retail sales two years later. The toy was licensed to Larami Corp., which was later purchased by Hasbro. Johnson holds more than 80 patents, with more than 20 pending. Sales of the Super Soaker have approached nearly $1 billion.

Previously, Barton and Tate worked together on "The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch," the highly-acclaimed children's book about the Reconstruction period told through the life of one of the first African American congressmen. Last year, Tate authored and illustrated "Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton."

Published by Charlesbridge, "Whoosh!" will be released in May and is a Junior Literary Guild Selection.

Note: Super Soaker creator awarded $72.9M from Hasbro

In seeking to increase the diversity of professionals working in historic preservation, the Texas Historical Commission is offering an internship to build interest in and awareness of historic preservation, specifically among students from underrepresented cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. This initiative targets undergraduate students to encourage their interest in pursuing fields of study in history, preservation, architecture, landscape architecture, archeology, downtown revitalization and heritage tourism. Students will also learn about the impact that historic preservation programs can have on a community’s economic development.

Diversity interns will complete a rotation amongst all divisions headquartered in Austin and then complete a special project in a division of their choice. Interns will receive a monthly salary of $3,000 (40-hour week), minus applicable taxes and state mandated deductions, for the eight week internship provided by the THC. Interns will work under the supervision of the THC, at its headquarters in Austin and/or “in the field” with its historic sites, an associated preservation organization such as a Main Street program, a heritage tourism program, a history museum or a historical association.

Working with THC staff and programs will expose the Interns to the various and exciting vocational opportunities in the field of historic preservation, with the goal of encouraging more students from underrepresented ethnic groups to pursue careers in this field upon graduation. In return, the THC and its partner organizations will have the opportunity to meet promising students who might choose to work in this field.

Application, official transcripts, and Letters of Reference are due and must be postmarked by March 18, 2016.

Click here for more information and application forms.

Schools from the former Prairie View Interscholastic League are well-represented in the National Football League's Super Bowl High School Honor Roll, the league's effort to recognize schools and communities that contributed to Super Bowl history. Over the course of this season, the league has presented a commemorative golden football to each school for each player or head coach alumnus who was on an active Super Bowl roster.

In all, more than 2,000 high schools and roughly 3,000 players and coaches have been with many of the players and coaches delivering the footballs to their former high schools in person. The PVIL, which originated at Prairie View in 1920 to govern athletic and academic activities for black high schools in Texas, has 17 players from five schools among the top participants led by Houston's Jack Yates HS with five players who participated in nine Super Bowls.

Two other Houston schools, Phillis Wheatley and Evan E. Worthing, both had three players as did Beaumont Charlton-Pollard and Temple Dunbar. Joe Greene, of Temple, and Dwight White (Dallas Madison) both played in four Super Bowls, the most for any former PVIL player. Cliff Branch (Worthing), Robert Newhouse (Galilee), Wayne Moore (Charlton-Pollard), and Dexter Manley (Yates) all played in three of the games. Cowboy's legendary coach Tom Landry leads all Texans with five Super Bowls.

The highest number of golden footballs a state will receive is California with 432, with Texas second (326), and Florida third (218). Texas will have 223 schools represented. Memorial High School in Port Arthur will be honored as the school to receive the most golden footballs with eight. The NFL Foundation, which gave $1 million for the campaign, will also provide schools with the opportunity to apply for grants of up to $5,000 to support their football programs, along with a new character education curriculum.

Published scholarship on black history in Texas is growing and we'd like to share with you some suggested readings, both current and past, from some of the preeminent history scholars in Texas and beyond. We invite you to take a look at our bookshelf page -- including a featured selection -- and check back as the list grows. A different selection will be featured each week. We welcome suggestions and reviews. This week, we offer "Island of Color: Where Juneteenth Started," by Izola Ethel Fedford Collins. The book reveals what was written by Collins' grandfather, who moved to Galveston with his family as a small child, immediately after emancipation. The book includes interviews with a number of blacks who were imported to Galveston for the sole purpose of educating its segregated citizens in their churches and schools. Until now, this story, told from the perspective of the persons who lived it, has been untold.

Calendar courtesy Texas Black History Preservation Project

17 – Tillotson Collegiate and Normal Institute began education classes on this date in 1881 in Austin. The school was chartered by the American Missionary Society of Congregational Churches and its namesake, George Jeffrey Tillotson, a Yale graduate and congregational minister from Connecticut. The school merged with Samuel Huston College in 1952 to form Huston-Tillotson College.

17 – On this day in 1996, U.S. Congressman and educator Barbara Jordan died in Austin at age 59 from pneumonia and leukemia. A Houston native and graduate of Phillis Wheatley High School, Jordan was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives from the Eighteenth Texas District in 1973, becoming the first Black woman from a Southern state to serve in Congress. Jordan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994, and held the Lyndon Baines Johnson Public Service Professorship at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin.

18 -- Major League Baseball player Curt Flood was born on this day in Houston in 1938. Flood’s antitrust litigation in 1970-71 challenging the major leagues’ reserve clause was unsuccessful, however, it led ultimately to the clause’s demise and ushered in the era of free agency for pro athletes. Flood grew up in California and signed his first professional contract while still a senior at Oakland Technical High School. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1958 to 1969 season as one of the league's best center fielders. He batted over .300 in six seasons and had a career average (1956–71) of .293. At one time, he played in 226 consecutive games without committing an error and in 1966 was errorless for the entire season. He won seven consecutive Gold Gloves for defensive excellence. He received the NAACP Jackie Robinson Award for contributions to black athletes in 1992. His autobiography, The Way It Is, outlined his moral and legal objections to baseball’s reserve system. The book is considered required reading in the history of baseball's labor movement.

18 – On this date in 1898, George Dawson was born in Marshall. The grandson of a slave, Dawson was one of the oldest men in America to learn to read and write a book, after he entered a literacy program in Dallas at age 98. Dawson published his autobiography, "Life is So Good," in 2000 at age 102.

20 – On this day in 1889 musician Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter was born in Mooringsport, Louisiana (near Shreveport). Known as the “King of the 12-String Guitar,” he wrote children’s songs, field songs, ballads, square dance songs, prison songs, folk songs, and blues. He was five when his family settled in Bowie County. He picked up the nickname either as a play on his last name or as the result of being shot in the stomach with buckshot. Lead Belly's song catalog consisted of well over 500 songs, including "Midnight Special," "Kisses Sweeter than Wine," and "Rock Island Line." In 1950, The Weavers, a folk quartet, recorded a version of Lead Belly's “Good Night, Irene” that spent 25 weeks on the Billboard charts, peaking at No. 1.

20 – Rod Paige was confirmed as the U.S. Secretary of Education on this date 2001, making Paige the first African-American secretary of education. Though from Monticello, Mississippi, Paige served for a decade as Dean of the College of Education at Houston’s Texas Southern University, after serving as the school’s athletic director. He also had a stint as the Tigers head football coach. From 1994-2001, he served as superintendent of the Houston Independent School District.

21 – On this day in 1922, George McJunkin died in Folsom, New Mexico. Born a slave in Midway, Texas, McJunkin is credited with one of the most significant finds in archeological history, "Folsom Man." A cowboy and amateur archeologist, McJunkin was inspecting damage on the Crowfoot Ranch, where he was foreman, after a 1908 flood when he discovered bison bones. He realized the find was significant but no experts would look at his discovery until after his death in 1922. The remains were part of a Paleo-Indian site dating back as far as 9000 BCE, where ancient bison had been killed by early Indians using special tools, now referred to as Folsom points. With this find, scientists were able to establish a human presence in North America about 7,000 years earlier than had previously been thought. The site eventually yielded human remains that became known as “Folsom Man.”

21 – On this date in 2007, Lovie Smith of Big Sandy, Texas became the first African-American professional head football coach to qualify a team for the NFL’s Super Bowl. Smith’s Chicago Bears beat the New Orleans Saints, 39-14, in the NFC championship game. Smith led the Big Sandy Wildcats to three consecutive state championships in high school and was all-state three times as an end and linebacker.

22 – On this day in 1926, Dr. Herman A. Barnett, III was born in Austin. In 1950, he became the first black student at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. In the previous year, Barnett had been accepted to the school but as a student in Houston at Texas State University for Negroes (Texas Southern University) attending UTMB under a contract program between the schools. The program was stopped after the Veterans Administration (Barnett’s tuition was covered by the GI Bill) refused to recognize the contract system and Barnett’s attorney threatened legal action. Barnett became a prominent surgeon and anesthesiologist and was a graduate of Huston College in Austin. During WWII, he was a Tuskegee Airman (332nd Fighter Group) and in 1968 became the first African-American to serve on the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners. In 1973, Barnett was the first black elected president of the Board of Trustees of the Houston Independent School District.

22 -- Blues and gospel singer Blind Willie Johnson was born on this day in 1897 in Independence, Texas. While Jan. 22 is the date noted on his death certificate, other accounts list his birth on December 6, 1902 near Temple, Texas. Johnson recorded 30 songs, including his most popular, "Dark Was the Night -- Cold Was the Ground," a song about the crucifixion of Jesus.

23 -- John Saunders Chase, Jr. was born on this day in 1925 in Annapolis, Md. On June 7, 1950, when Chase enrolled at the University of Texas, the school became the first major university in the South to enroll an African-American. Chase earned a Master of Architecture degree in 1952 and became the first African-American graduate of the university. That same year, Chase became the first licensed African-American architect in Texas and was the only black architect licensed in the state for almost a decade.

Ron Goodwin's bi-weekly blog appears exclusively for TIPHC/TBHPP. Goodwin is a San Antonio native and Air Force veteran. Generally, his column will address contemporary issues in the black community and how they relate to black history. He and the TIPHC/TBHPP staff welcome your comments. In his latest blog, "Pressing Forward," Goodwin looks ahead at the new year and the changing paradigm for academic success in the black community. Read it here.