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On April 17, 2010, in Houston, the Friends of the San Jacinto Battleground will hold their tenth annual symposium on this crucial episode in Texas history with the support of Humanities Texas. This year's theme is "Sex, Slaves, and Skulls—Secrets of the Texas Revolution." Teachers, students, and history buffs are all invited to register for the symposium, which will be held at the University of Houston's Hilton Conference Center from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Teachers can receive up to six CPE credit hours for attending.

The symposium will feature a number of scholars from Texas and beyond presenting new perspectives on the historic battle. Doug Owsley of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History will speak about the forensic examination of the six skulls of Mexican soldiers killed at the battle of San Jacinto, discovered in the Samuel Morton Collection at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Ron Tyler, director of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, will describe John James Audubon's visit to Texas in May 1837. Other presentations include Dr. Andrew Torget on the digital Texas Slavery Project, James W. Paulsen on the romance between Sam Houston and Anna Raguet, and Lael Morgan on sex in revolutionary Texas. Dr. James E. Crisp, author of Sleuthing the Alamo: Davy Crockett's Last Stand and Other Mysteries of the Texas Revolution and professor at North Carolina State University, will return for his eighth year as moderator.

For more information on the symposium, including registration information, visit the Friends of the San Jacinto Battleground online, or contact Jan DeVault at 281.496.1488.

Artistic representation of the Battle of San Jacinto, by Henry Arthur McArdle. Image courtesy of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.