1894: Oil discovered at Corsicana1894: Oil discovered at Corsicana

Corsicana real estate developers convinced James. M. Guffey and John H. Galey of Pittsburgh (associates of millionaire Andrew W. Mellon) to come to Corsicana to help them exploit the region’s deposits of oil. By 1900, their Corsicana field was producing 836,000 barrels a year. In 1897, Corsicana’s town leaders convinced J.S. Cullinan of Pennsylvania to come to Corsicana found the first successful commercial refinery in Texas. The J.S. Cullinan Company later merged with two other firms to form the Magnolio Petroleum Company (later known as Mobil). As it expanded, the refinery needed new markets for its petroleum products, and Cullinan convinced the Cotton Belt Railroad in 1898 to run an experimental locomotive on steam created by an oil burner. Soon thereafter, most railroads began the switch from coal- to oil-burning locomotives. (Calvert, De León & Cantrell, p. 245.)

John H. Galey

Patillo Higgins of Texas believed that the salt dome three miles south of Beaumont known as Spindletop would be a good site to drill for petroleum. Captain A.F. Lucas, a mining engineer, deduced from his work in Louisiana that Higgins was probably correct and decided to join him. (Calvert, De León & Cantrell, p. 245.)

Patillo HigginsPatillo Higgins

On January 10, 1901, Captain A. F Lucas, with financial backing from the Mellon interests, made the most important oil discovery in Texas history in Southeast Texas at Spindletop

The blending of the technological The blending of the technological expertise of the Hammill brothers of expertise of the Hammill brothers of Corsicana and the money of the Corsicana and the money of the Mellon men tapped the Spindletop Mellon men tapped the Spindletop pool on January 10, 1901.pool on January 10, 1901.

For nine days Spindletop spewed oil For nine days Spindletop spewed oil unchecked, with between 70,000 unchecked, with between 70,000 and 100,000 barrels flowing from it and 100,000 barrels flowing from it daily. As word of the big strike daily. As word of the big strike spread, speculators of all stripes spread, speculators of all stripes rushed to Beaumont. p. 245.rushed to Beaumont. p. 245.

““The boom that Spindletop triggered would ultimately see oil surpass The boom that Spindletop triggered would ultimately see oil surpass both cattle and cotton to become the linchpin of Texas prosperity.” both cattle and cotton to become the linchpin of Texas prosperity.” (Calvert, De León & Cantrell, p. 243.)(Calvert, De León & Cantrell, p. 243.)

Spindletop, Texas oil fire.Spindletop, Texas oil fire.Spindletop was the location of the Spindletop was the location of the first Texas oil well.first Texas oil well.

Oil Created Many Spin-off IndustriesOil Created Many Spin-off IndustriesOil-related spin-off industriesOil-related spin-off industries: refineries, pipelines, : refineries, pipelines, asphalt, tank cars, ocean-going tankers, harbors, machine asphalt, tank cars, ocean-going tankers, harbors, machine shops, oil and gas lawyers, petroleum engineering, shops, oil and gas lawyers, petroleum engineering, petroleum geology, oil leasing, automobiles, roads paved, petroleum geology, oil leasing, automobiles, roads paved, natural gas, petrochemicalsnatural gas, petrochemicals

Starting as early as 1898, some Starting as early as 1898, some locomotives ran on oil instead of coal.locomotives ran on oil instead of coal.

Rotary drills and improved bits made deeper drilling possible and Rotary drills and improved bits made deeper drilling possible and expanded the industry in 1926 to West Texas.expanded the industry in 1926 to West Texas.

Beaumont Saloon near Beaumont Saloon near Spindletop, 1901.Spindletop, 1901.

“HogTown”—Desdemona, TX. Environmental problems:

derricks too close together, fire, health hazards, water pollution. Voluntary standards ignored. After World War I, the Railroad Commission enforced regulation.

By 1928, Texans owned 250,000 motor vehicles, and businesses that serviced these vehicles would become a major industry. (p. 248)

Nineteenth-century Texans never dreamed that oil and the state would become permanently intertwined in myth and economics. They had considered themselves as cotton farmers and cattle ranchers, but Spindletop changed that, ushering Texas into the twentieth century with a bang and making the state ultimately different from its southern neighbors. The History of Texas, pp. 243-244.

Texas Oil ProductionTexas Oil Production::

•1896: 1,000 barrels1896: 1,000 barrels•1902: 21 million barrels1902: 21 million barrels•1929: 293 million barrels1929: 293 million barrels

Percentage of Texans living in metropolitan areas:

1900: 17.1%

1939: 41%

In 1913, Dallas acquired one of the twelve national branches of the Federal Reserve System and took on the personality of a major financial and business center.

The Devastation of Galveston, 1900

The commission form of city

government, first developed in

Galveston, served as a model

for city reform that spread

throughout the nation.

                                                                       

                   

City Council MembersProgram Description:As the governing body of the City of Texarkana, Texas, it is the City Council's responsibility to represent the best interests of all citizens in Texarkana, Texas, in enacting local legislation, in determining City policies and plans, and in adopting City's budget.

James W. Bramlett MayorDerrick McGary City Council, Ward I Willie Ray City Council, Ward II Bill Schubert City Council, Ward III Bob Bruggeman City Council, Ward IV Van Alexander City Council, Ward VBradley Hardin City Council, Ward VI

Texas cities began to Texas cities began to develop modern amenities.develop modern amenities.

•TelephoneTelephone

•Electric linesElectric lines

•Natural gasNatural gas

The number of female agricultural workers The number of female agricultural workers decreased by nearly one-half as more women decreased by nearly one-half as more women moved to the cities and the demand for moved to the cities and the demand for agricultural labor in general dropped. agricultural labor in general dropped.

On average, rural workers earned On average, rural workers earned about one-third less than did their about one-third less than did their urban counterparts.urban counterparts.

The rapidly growing The rapidly growing number of industrial jobs number of industrial jobs continued to make urban continued to make urban areas more attractive than areas more attractive than the countryside.the countryside.

AgricultureAgriculture

““Agriculture remained the major occupation Agriculture remained the major occupation and source of revenue for Texans into the and source of revenue for Texans into the 1920s. In 1927, for example, 1920s. In 1927, for example, the value of the value of Texas agriculture was three times that of oil Texas agriculture was three times that of oil and of manufacturingand of manufacturing. And in Texas, cotton . And in Texas, cotton remained king. Texas far outdistanced remained king. Texas far outdistanced other southern states, producing one-third other southern states, producing one-third of all the cotton picked in 1922, a position of all the cotton picked in 1922, a position held through the end of the decade. held through the end of the decade. No No other crop rivaled cotton in either acreage other crop rivaled cotton in either acreage planted or value yieldedplanted or value yielded.” See page 253..” See page 253.

However, cotton failed many farmers.However, cotton failed many farmers. See falling prices on page 254.See falling prices on page 254.

Between 1913 and 1920, the cost of living doubled, yet farm income did not increase. In 1910, 51.7 of Texas farmers were tenants. In 1930, 61 percent were tenants (50 percent of whites, 70 percent of blacks).

A small, grayish, long-snouted beetle (Anthonomus grandis) of Mexico and the southern United States, having adults that puncture cotton buds and larvae that hatch in and damage cotton bolls.

Source: Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright, 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Boll Weevil. In 1921, boll weevils cost Texans one-third of their crop. (See pp. 253-254.)

Dusting cotton for the boll weevil in NC, 1920s.

The Farmer’ Union, organized in 1902 in Emory, Texas, grew into the 140,000-member Farmers’ Education and Cooperative Union. The union had goals similar to the Farmers’ Alliance.

See p. 260.

Fenced in RanchFenced in Ranch

Demonstrating the passing of the Old West, the number of beef cattle and horses dropped between 1900 and 1929, while the number of dairy cows, mules, sheep, and goats increased.

“As late as 1930, the population was still classified as 60 percent rural.”

“The oil boom in the 1920s ushered in one of the more prosperous times that most Texans could recall. Yet as late as the end of the 1920s, the state seemed mired in the past; agriculture still dominated the economy, and segregation still defined race relations.” (Calvert, De León & Cantrell, p. 243.)

Location: Kaufman county, Texas Date: August 1936 Plantation owner's daughter checking the weight of cotton. USDA Photo by Arthur Rothstein

Blacks were often pressured to work in the fields during the harvest season.

Location: Corpus Christi (vicinity), Texas Date: November 1942 Mexican cotton pickers helping to save the cotton crop which was threatened with ruin because of the wartime manpower shortage. USDA Photo by:  Howard Hollum

The average family size declined from 4.6 in 1910 to 3.5 in 1930. Many women knew of contraceptive methods and abortifacients. Children still an economic asset in farm families. Urban women had fewer children. Foreign-born women had more children. In 1929, black Texans had a higher infant mortality rate (25% of black children died within the first year and shorter life expectancy (white males 59.7, white females 63.5, black males 47.3, black women 49.2)

In 1929, a good picker earned $4 per day. Yearly wage of $485.35.

Farm women faced the greatest hardships in caring for their families and doing farm labor. In 1930, a study of white women: 57% cooked on wood stoves, 80% used oil lamps, and 63% washed clothes on a washboard. Black women: 99% used oil lamps and wood stoves. 1929 less than 5% of Texas farms had electricity, less than 8% indoor plumbing, less than 15% running water, 60% cars (most roads were unpaved), 32% phones.

Census takers reported that 60 percent of the rural population was aged fourteen and under in 1920, while 32 percent of the village and 27 percent of urban inhabitants fell within that age group. Young adults, particularly young women, tended to move from farms to urban areas during period.

(Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 259.)(Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 259.)

Slightly more than 400,000 Texas women worked outside the home in 1930, an increase of about 25 percent over 1920. (p. 251)

The growth of large cities and new technologies The growth of large cities and new technologies offered Texas women increased employment in offered Texas women increased employment in such occupations as telephone operators, such occupations as telephone operators, clerical workers, and salespeople. Texas clerical workers, and salespeople. Texas women accounted for 80 percent of the women accounted for 80 percent of the teachers, 90 percent of the nurses, and 90 teachers, 90 percent of the nurses, and 90 percent of the librarians, but under 2 percent percent of the librarians, but under 2 percent of the lawyers and physicians.of the lawyers and physicians.

In the 1920s, the number of women in the workforce increased.

The increasing number of white married women in the workforce contributed to the concept of the “New Woman”: the vibrant and independent woman who made her own decisions, free from male restrictions and advice. The History of Texas, pp. 251-252.

The growth of large cities and new technologies offered The growth of large cities and new technologies offered Texas women increased employment in such Texas women increased employment in such occupations as telephone operators, clerical workers, occupations as telephone operators, clerical workers, and salespeople. Some occupations even became and salespeople. Some occupations even became stereotyped as “women’s work.” Texas women stereotyped as “women’s work.” Texas women accounted for 80 percent of the teachers, 90 percent of accounted for 80 percent of the teachers, 90 percent of the nurses, and 90 percent of the librarians, but under 2 the nurses, and 90 percent of the librarians, but under 2 percent of the lawyers and physicians.percent of the lawyers and physicians.

Women’s Women’s Work?Work?

(Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 251.)

Domestic servants waiting for the streetcar on their way to work early in the morning in Atlanta, Georgia, 1939

CREDIT: Wolcott, Marion Post, photographer. "Domestic Servants Waiting for Streetcar on Way to Work Early in the Morning. Mitchell Street, Atlanta, Georgia." May 1939. America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945, Library of Congress.

Freedwomen washing laundry, Circleville, TexasCourtesy, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library

Source: Texas: The South Meets the West, The View Through African American History in Journal of the West, Vol. 44, No. 2, (Spring 2005). p. 47.

Texas granted more divorces than any other state from 1922-26

THE DECLINE IN AMERICAN MORALS?

The general failure of prohibition enforcement brought home to many Texas what they defined as a decline in American morals. The rapidly increasing urbanization seemed to blur what were once clear moral and community values. Migration to the city disrupted the neighborhoods of rural America and, coupled with more and better transportation facilities, broke up the extended family. Historians have cited the urban growth of the United States as creating tensions between rural and urban Americans. The anxiety emanated not only from the countryside, but also from developing southern cities filled with recent foreign immigrants. The anti-city focus of rural Texans resulted from their perception of urban areas as hotbeds of disloyal foreigners, religious modernism, illegal speakeasies, organized crime, morally suspicious “New Women,” and corrupting modern music. These tensions were further abetted by the post-World War I Red Scare and reinforced by the progressive drive for social control. (p. 310)

Labor Unions in TexasLabor Unions in Texas

Labor Unions never had a strong base in Texas. Texas State Federation of Labor; United Mine WorkersWhy union membership declined:

1. Lack of leadership2. Hostility of business3. Red Scare4. Political leadership opposed labor unions

Open Port Law: prohibited strikes and gave the governor the authority to intervene militarily to end strikes.

See pp. 252-253.

NEGROPHOBIA IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY: Historians have described the early twentieth century as the nadir of race relations in the United States. Ironically, Populism, which tried to create a biracial political coalition, helped to encourage segregation in the South. Attempting to prevent the formation of any coalition of blacks and poor white farmers, establishment Democratic politicians frequently demonstrated their Negrophobia by accusing blacks of being genetically inferior to whites and claiming that such “innate” flaws made blacks a threat to society. There began a move to make African Americans, governed by political leaders for whom they could not vote and segregated by law and custom into a separate society, permanent outsiders. The movement largely succeeded. (Calvert, De León & Cantrell, 4th ed., 257.)

Booker T. Washington

Main Point: We should concentrate on work and progress. Blacks and whites need stop fighting, agitating and relocating. The South will progress if we work together. We only hurt ourselves by fighting.

THE MESSAGE FOR BLACKS:THE MESSAGE FOR BLACKS: Work hard, and do not agitate for equality. Start at the Work hard, and do not agitate for equality. Start at the bottom and work your way up.bottom and work your way up.

Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic service, and in the professions. …when it comes to business…, it is in the South that the Negro is given a man’s chance in the commercial world…. Our greatest danger is that in the great leap from slavery to freedom we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labour and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life…. No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top.

The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremist folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing.However, working together does not necessary include socializing together.

THE MESSAGE FOR WHITES:THE MESSAGE FOR WHITES: We are a loyal and humble people who serve you well if We are a loyal and humble people who serve you well if you treat us well. It is in your interest to encourage and help black people.you treat us well. It is in your interest to encourage and help black people.

Cast it down among the eight millions of Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you have tested….. Cast down your bucket among these people who have without strikes and labor wars tilled your fields, cleared your forests, builded your railroads and cities, brought forth treasures from the bowels of the earth, just to make possible this magnificent representation of the progress of the South. Casting down bucket among my people, helping and encouraging them as you are doing on these grounds, and to education of head, hand, and heart, you will find that they will buy your surplus land, make blossom the waste places in your fields, and run your factories. While doing this, you can be sure in the future, as in the past, that you and your families will be surrounded by the most patient, faithful, law-abiding, and unresentful people that the world has seen. As we have proved our loyalty to you in the past, in nursing your children, watching by the sickbed of your mothers and fathers, and often following them with tear-dimmed eyes to their graves, so in the future, in our humble way, we shall stand by you with a devotion that no foreigner can approach, ready to lay down our lives,….[We will interlace ] our industrial, commercial, civil, and religious life with yours in a way that shall make the interests of both races one.

THE MESSAGE FOR WHITES: THE MESSAGE FOR WHITES: If white people insist on keeping the Negro down, they will If white people insist on keeping the Negro down, they will only be hurting themselves. only be hurting themselves.

Nearly sixteen millions of hands will aid you in pulling the load upward, or they will pull against you the load downward. We shall constitute one-third and more of the ignorance and crime of the South, or one-third its intelligence and progress; we shall contribute one-third to the business and industrial prosperity of the South, or we shall prove a veritable body, of death, stagnating, depressing, retarding every effort to advance the body politic.

Stamp commemorating Booker T. Washington Issue Date: April 7, 1940

SIGNIFICANT FINE POINT FOR BOTH RACES: SIGNIFICANT FINE POINT FOR BOTH RACES: We do not have to We do not have to socialize together, but we should work together for the common socialize together, but we should work together for the common cause of development.cause of development.

In all things that are purely social we call be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress. -- Booker T. Washington

W.E.B. Du Bois, The Niagara Movement, (1905)

1.We should meet, despite the existence of other organizations for Negroes.

2.We must complain about common wrongs toward blacks.

We must complain. Yes, plain, blunt complaint, ceaseless agitation, unfailing exposure of dishonesty and wrong—this is the ancient, unerring way to liberty, and we must follow it. (p. 100)

3.In not a single instance has the justice of our demands been denied, but then come the excuses.

Fifteenth Amendment:Section 1 The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.Section 2 The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

In 1910, the Texas House of Representatives urged repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment. Urban blacks acquired some voting power as city bosses needed their votes.

In Nixon v. Herndon (1927) the U. S. Supreme Court ruled the all-white primary unconstitutional. In 1928 the state legislature defined political parties as "private organizations" not subject to federal law. Until 1944 most black Texans could not vote.

Thousands gathered in Paris, Texas, for the 1893 lynching of Henry Smith.

Thousands gathered in Paris, Texas, for the 1893 lynching of Henry Smith.

Spectacle lynching. The Burning and Lynching of Jesse Washington, Waco Texas 1916. 

Although accurate figures on the lynching of blacks are lacking, one study estimates that in Texas between 1870 and 1900, extralegal justice was responsible for the murder of about 500 blacks—only Georgia and Mississippi exceeded Texas’s numbers in this grisly record. Between 1900 and 1910, Texas mobs murdered more than 100 black people. In 1916 at Waco, approximately 10,000 whites turned out in holiday-like atmosphere to watch a mob mutilate and burn a black man named Jesse Washington. (Source: Calvert, De Leon and Cantrell, The History of Texas, pp. 189, 261-262.)

The lynching of Lige Daniels.

August 3, 1920, Center, Texas.

The White Man’s Double StandardThe White Man’s Double Standard

“We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life.”

--Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life

White mobs murdered more than 100 black people between 1900 and 1910.

White prejudice included animosity toward black troops in the White prejudice included animosity toward black troops in the U.S. Army. Brownsville whites, for example, objected to the U.S. Army. Brownsville whites, for example, objected to the stationing of the all-black Twenty-fifth Infantry at Fort Brown. stationing of the all-black Twenty-fifth Infantry at Fort Brown. In anger, they charged that the troops had raided the city in In anger, they charged that the troops had raided the city in 1906 in protest of discriminatory practices. Later evidence 1906 in protest of discriminatory practices. Later evidence demonstrated the unfairness of the charges, but at that time demonstrated the unfairness of the charges, but at that time President Theodore Roosevelt had dishonorably discharged 160 President Theodore Roosevelt had dishonorably discharged 160 of the troops. (of the troops. (The History of TexasThe History of Texas, 261-262), 261-262)

A black boxer from Galveston named Jack Johnson was world heavyweight champion from 1908 to 1915, prompting the legislature to ban the showing of films of his fights.

Blind Lemon Jefferson and Huddie Ledbetter were pioneers of Texas blues music. p. 268.

Revolution

Between 1910 and 1920, between 1.5 and 2 Between 1910 and 1920, between 1.5 and 2 million Mexican lost their lives in the Revolution.million Mexican lost their lives in the Revolution.

The census takers in The census takers in 1920 counted almost 1920 counted almost a million fewer a million fewer Mexican than they Mexican than they had found only a had found only a decade before.decade before.

The Virgin Mary appears to Juan Diego on the Hill of Tepeyac—a sacred hill where the goddess Tonantzin had dwelt.

Mexican Americans observed special days with traditional festivities of various sorts. Religious holy days included commemoration of the date of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531 (December 12), All Souls’ Day (November 2), and Christmas. Fiestas patrias, which honored the Mexican historical holidays of independence (Diez y Seis, September 16) or the date of the victory of the Battle of Puebla (Cinco de Mayo), where held in almost all Tejano communities. (Calvert, DeLeón & Cantrell, p. 271)

Mutual Aid Society / La Sociedad Mutualista