We Got The Funk

Send us Fan Mail Episode 18: The Mystery House of Handley What if one of Fort Worth’s darkest true-crime stories was hiding in plain sight? In this episode of We Got The Funk , DonTheBarber investigates the chilling story of the Mystery House of Handley—a Depression-era crime saga involving a million-dollar robbery, hidden rooms, secret compartments, missing gang members, narcotics, Alcatraz, and...

Send us Fan Mail 🎙️ WE GOT THE FUNK PODCAST Episode 17: I. M. Terrell — The School That Helped Generations Find Their Why (Part 5: Why) In the final installment of our I. M. Terrell series, we explore the most important question of all: Why? Not why the school existed. But why it mattered. For generations, I. M. Terrell High School was more than a place of education. It was a place where young peo...

Send us Fan Mail Where was I. M. Terrell really located in history? In this powerful fourth installment of the I. M. Terrell series, DonTheBarber explores the geography, neighborhoods, land history, and community ecosystem surrounding one of Fort Worth’s most important Black educational institutions. Because I. M. Terrell wasn’t just a school sitting on a street corner. It was rooted in:  • Chambe...

Send us Fan Mail Hosted by: DonTheBarber When was I. M. Terrell at its height? In this powerful third installment of the I. M. Terrell series, DonTheBarber explores the school’s golden age — the unforgettable era from the 1930s through the 1960s when I. M. Terrell became one of the most influential Black educational and cultural institutions in Fort Worth. This episode dives into the atmosphere, e...

Send us Fan Mail What was I. M. Terrell High School really? In this powerful second installment of the I. M. Terrell series, DonTheBarber goes beyond dates and buildings to explore the deeper meaning behind one of Fort Worth’s most historic Black institutions. This episode examines how I. M. Terrell became far more than a segregated school. It became:  • A symbol of Black excellence  • A cultural...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of We Got The Funk Podcast, DonTheBarber takes a powerful look at the life and legacy of Isaiah Milligan Terrell, one of the most important architects of Black education in Fort Worth history. This is more than a history lesson. This is a story about vision, sacrifice, institution-building, and the foundation of opportunity for generations of Black families in Fort...

Send us Fan Mail In Part 2, DonTheBarber breaks down the final chapter of Jim Courtright—one of Fort Worth’s most debated figures. From fugitive to legend, and ultimately to a shocking death, this episode explores how power, reputation, and reality collided in Cowtown. 🎧 What You’ll Hear The Return After disappearing, Courtright resurfaces and walks back into Fort Worth like nothing happened—welc...

Send us Fan Mail 🔥 Was Fort Worth’s most famous lawman actually its first gangster? Before Fort Worth became the city we know today… it was wild, booming, and full of contradictions. And standing right in the middle of it all was Jim Courtright — a man who wore the badge… but may have controlled the chaos behind it. In this episode of We Got The Funk Podcast, we dive into the rise of one of Fort...

Send us Fan Mail We Got The Funk Podcast – Episode 11 Thousands of people drive down Hulen Street every day. It’s one of the busiest roads on the west side of Fort Worth. But very few people know the story behind the name. In Episode 11 of We Got The Funk Podcast, we explore the remarkable life of John Augustus Hulen , a man who helped shape both Texas military history and the railroad industry th...

Send us Fan Mail On December 23, 1974, three girls left Seminary South Shopping Center in Fort Worth and were never seen again. Rachel Trlica (17), Renee Wilson (14), and Julie Moseley (9) disappeared just two days before Christmas while shopping for holiday gifts. Their car was later found abandoned in the mall parking lot, but the girls were gone. What happened next would become one of the most...

Send us Fan Mail Most history is remembered by big dates. But sometimes history changes in a single minute. For Fort Worth , that moment happened at 11:23 a.m. on July 19, 1876. In this episode of the We Got The Funk Podcast, we tell the incredible story of how a struggling frontier town—once mocked as a sleepy village where a panther could roam the streets—was transformed forever when the first r...

Send us Fan Mail 🎙 Episode 1 Fort Worth Before the Myth: Slavery, Power, and the City We Inherited Podcast: We Got The Funk Episode Length: ~30 minutes Format: Audio-only 📄 Episode Description Before Fort Worth became “where the West begins,” it was a slaveholding frontier town built on forced labor, silence, and selective memory. In this opening episode, we strip away the mythology and examine s...

Send us Fan Mail In 1849, the U.S. Army left Fort Worth. Most frontier settlements didn’t survive moments like that.   No soldiers meant no safety. No safety meant no future. Fort Worth was supposed to become a ghost town. Instead, a small group of people made a quiet, dangerous decision — they stayed. In Episode 6 of We Got The Funk, we uncover the real beginning of Fort Worth, long before cattle...

Send us Fan Mail Before Fort Worth was a city, and before settlers moved in, there was violence, displacement, and an attempt to clean it all up with paperwork. In Episode 5 of We Got The Funk, DonTheBarber breaks down the Treaty at Bird’s Fort—the who, the what, the when, the where, and most importantly, the why behind one of the most overlooked moments in North Texas history. After the Battle of...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of We Got The Funk, DonTheBarber takes listeners to the moment peace collapsed in North Texas. Episode 4 explores the Village Creek Throwdown, a pivotal and often overlooked event that helped clear the land long before Fort Worth was ever built. After episodes focused on community, family life, and coexistence along the Trinity River and Village Creek, this chapter...

Send us Fan Mail 🪒 Episode Overview Before cowboys. Before cattle drives. Before the Stockyards. Fort Worth had a heartbeat. In the very first episode of We Got The Funk, DonTheBarber takes listeners back to a time long before Fort Worth had a name, when families lived, worked, raised children, and built community along the Trinity River. This episode sets the foundation for the entire series—cha...

Send us Fan Mail 🪒 Episode Overview Before Texas had a name… Before Fort Worth… Before 1849… There was Village Creek. In Episode 2 of We Got The Funk, DonTheBarber takes listeners inside one of the most important—yet overlooked—places in North Texas history. If the Trinity River was the main highway, Village Creek was the neighborhood where people stopped, stayed, and built real lives. This episo...

Send us Fan Mail Episodes one and two showed peace along the Trinity River and Village Creek — families thriving, land providing, life moving in rhythm. But in Episode 3, the energy changes. In “Rising Tension, Before the Smoke Hit the Air,” DonTheBarber breaks down how North Texas went from calm to conflict in the early 1800s. As settlers began moving into the region, misunderstandings grew, fear...

Send us Fan Mail Fort Worth history ain’t what they told us in school. We Got The Funk is a barbershop-style podcast uncovering the real story of Fort Worth—before the cowboys, beyond the Stockyards, and deeper than the textbooks. Hosted by DonTheBarber, this podcast cuts into the past, present, and future of the city through culture, community, and conversation. From Indigenous roots and untold o...