Sprechen Sie Texas German, Y’all?

Dr. Hans Boas is the Director of Germanic Studies at the University of Texas-Austin, but until he arrived in Texas in 2001, he had no idea that the distinctive Texas German dialect even existed. Once he learned this fascinating fact, it became his life's work to record as many of the surviving speakers of Texas German as possible before it was too late.

Hear how the German immigrants' personal views on slavery conflicted with the Anglos who were already in the Republic of Texas in the 1840s, and how the two world wars doomed Texas German to eventual extinction. Listen as Dr. Boas explains how the merging of many German and Czech cultures near Houston gave America one of its most popular beers, and how a small group of Black Texans attended integrated German-language schools and learned to speak that dialect.

https://tgdp.org/

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