Texas History Part Four

10: From Progressivism to Depression

Dr. Butler

All images used in this slideshow that aren’t my own photos, are

either in the Public Domain or used under the “Fair Use”

provision of U.S. Copyright law.

The Worst Natural Disaster in U.S. History

The 1900 Galveston Hurricane

On September 8, 1900 Galveston, Texas was struck by a category

4 hurricane. It remains the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

The death toll was estimated at between 6,000 and 12,000 people.

Between 1902 and 1904, to protect against

future hurricanes, Galveston built a

seawall, which has periodically been

raised in height and lengthened.

13 min. 38 sec.

Spindletop and the Texas Oil Boom

1901

In 1900, John D. Rockefeller, who made his fortune in the

petroleum industry, was one of the wealthiest men in America.

“Nobody knows how many millions Rockefeller is worth.”---H. D. Lloyd, ”Story of a Great Monopoly,” Atlantic Monthly, March 1881

Rockefeller made his fortune selling kerosene.

“In the United States, in the cities as well as the country,

petroleum is the general illuminator. ---H. D. Lloyd, ”Story of a Great Monopoly,” Atlantic Monthly, March 1881

Using cut-throat business practices, Rockefeller outsold and bought out his

competitors until his Standard Oil Company controlled 90% of the petroleum market.

“Very few of the forty millions of people in the United States

who burn kerosene know that its production, manufacture, and

export, its price at home and abroad, have been controlled for

many years by a single corporation, the Standard Oil

Company.”---H. D. Lloyd, ”Story of a Great Monopoly,” Atlantic Monthly, March 1881

But when Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1880,

it threatened to drive Rockefeller out of business.

Rockefeller was saved from ruin

by another invention, the

automobile, which created a

demand for oil and gasoline.

The increased demand for oil and

gasoline also led to the rise of a

new breed of men, called

“wildcatters,” anxious to make

their fortunes in the oil business.

One of them was a man named

Patillo Higgins, who believed

that oil could be found in

southeast Texas. He was right.

Although oil had been found in Texas in the

19th century, it wasn’t until 1901, when the

Higgins’ Spindletop gusher came in, that

the oil industry in Texas began to boom.

In 1906, during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, the federal

government filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Rockefeller’s Standard Oil.

In 1909, the Supreme Court ruled that the Standard

Oil company must be broken up in order to restore

competition and in Texas, the company was fined

for violating state anti-trust laws.

10 min. 56 sec.

5 min. 14 sec.

Today, the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown

Museum at Beaumont preserves the history of

the early days of the Texas oil boom.

TR Comes to Texas

1905

In the spring of 1905 Theodore Roosevelt

became the first sitting president to visit Texas.

On his way to Dallas, TR made short stops at

Denison, Sherman, McKinney, and Plano.

TR arrived in Dallas on April 5, 1905. An editorial in the Dallas Times Herald

praised him, saying, “He is not a Republican except in name; he is not a Democrat,

except in practice.”

Following a parade, TR spoke to a crowd of thousands

outside the Oriental Hotel. That evening, he attended a

banquet in his honor, attended by civic leaders.

“This afternoon I passed through a

veritable garden of the Lord, and it

is only a few weeks since I signed

the bill under which the Trinity

River will be improved, and I was

mighty glad to do it, for I think that

we Americans have learned the

lesson that whatever is good for

some of us is good for all.”

--Theodore Roosevelt, Dallas, Texas April 5, 1905

At Austin, TR addressed the state

legislature and then gave a public

speech outside the capitol.

At San Antonio, TR gave a speech in

front of the Alamo and attended a

reunion of the Rough Riders.

In May 2019, a statue of TR, as leader of the Rough Riders,

was installed outside San Antonio’s Menger Hotel.

The Brownsville Affair

1906

In 1906 TR dishonorably discharged 167 black soldiers

(including 6 medal of honor winners) stationed at Fort Brown,

Texas for an alleged riot. There was no court martial.

1 min. 40 sec.

A New Form of Transportation

The Interurban

In the early 1900s a new form of public transportation

began to appear in Texas, the Interurban.

In 1902 a regular electric Interurban service began

operating between Dallas and Fort Worth.

6 min. 25 sec.

The Big Chief Speaks

Quanah Parker visits the State Fair

Some Indians adjusted to their new life better than others.

One was Comanche Chief Quanah Parker.

Quanah (fourth from left) became the recognized spokesman for his people.

Although he continued to wear his

hair long and in braids, practiced

polygamy, and used peyote,

Quanah urged the Comanches to

live like whites. On many

occasions he wore a white Stetson

and a 3-piece suit. Quanah also

raised cattle and lived in a

wooden house.

Quanah Parker’s “Star House” in Cache, Oklahoma, at the foot of the Wichita

Mountains, was built for him about 1884 by Cattleman Burk Burnett.

Quanah Parker’s “Star House” today, on the

grounds of an old amusement park in Cache.

Quanah often traveled to Washington on behalf of the Comanches.

In 1885 Quanah’s father-in-law Yellow Bear died in a tragic accident

when he and Quanah visited the Fat Stock Show in Fort Worth, Texas.

In 1905 both Quanah and the Apache Chief Geronimo rode in President

Theodore Roosevelt’s inaugural parade in Washington. Later, “TR”

hunted wolves with Quanah in Oklahoma and was entertained at the Star

House for dinner. Although he genuinely liked the Progressive Republican

president, Quanah was himself a Democrat.

Quanah had a North Texas town and a short-line railroad named for

him. He was one of its best-known promoters.

In 1909 and 1910 Quanah Parker visited

the Texas State Fair in Dallas to promote

the Quanah and Acme Railroad.

During one of his visits, Quanah and his wives

toured the fairgrounds in an automobile.

Quanah Parker died in 1911. This is his grave at Fort Sill,

Oklahoma. His mother, Cynthia Ann, is buried here too.

10 min. 01 sec.

Trouble in Mexico

1913-1914

In 1913 President Francisco

Madero was overthrown and

murdered in 1913 by General

Victoriano Huerta.

President Wilson refused to

recognize Huerta’s government

and supported Mexicans who

sought to overthrow him.

Villa

Zapata

Obregon

Carranza

1914: To stop a German ship carrying

arms for Huerta’s government U.S. troops

seized the port of Veracruz.

In a booklet published by the Democratic National Committee, President Wilson and

others explained the his actions in Mexico were always well-intended.

After Venustiano

Carranza overthrew

Huerta in 1914, the

U.S. withdrew its

troops and restored

diplomatic relations..

3 min. 02 sec.

The Border or “Punitive” Expedition

1916-1917

March 9, 1916: Mexican

presidential aspirant

Francisco “Pancho” Villa

leads a raid on Columbus,

NM, destroying property

and killing 17 Americans.

1916: Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing leads

U.S. “Border Expedition” (5,800 troops) into

Mexico to find Villa. Some of those troops

came from Texas and were stationed in Texas. 2 min. 28 sec.

Texas and the Great War

1917-1918

During the First World War, some

200,000 Texans served in the armed

forces of the United States. About

450 women served as nurses. 3 min. 14 sec.

During the First World War, there

were several Army forts and

National Guard camps in Texas.

There were also a number of

military aviator training fields.

Some of these facilities are still in

existence today.

Love Field in Dallas was one of the

aviator training fields.

Camp Dick, located in the infield of the race

track at Dallas’ Fair Park, was named for a

pilot killed in a crash at Love Field.

Camp Logan, in Houston, was another training

camp, remnants of which can still be seen today.

4 min. 10 sec.

World War One also brought a lot of social changes

to Texas and the nation. One was women working

in munitions factories.

3 min. 20 sec.

Prohibition in Texas

Prohibition vs. Local Option

The Prohibition Movement of the 1890s and early twentieth

century was led by the Women’s Christian Temperance

Union and the Anti-Saloon League. Their goal was to rid the

entire United States of intoxicating beverages. 8 min. 54 sec.

Employing a state-by-state strategy, the movement put pressure

on individual states to pass statewide Prohibition laws.

In Texas, a battle broke out

between “Wets” and “Drys,”

people who either supported

“Local Option,” allowing

individual communities to

decide for themselves whether

to allow intoxicating

beverages, or Prohibition, a

statewide ban on intoxicating

beverages. This 1908 map

shows which counties had a

ban, and those that allowed

local option.

On July 22, 1911, Texans went

to the polls to vote on a

proposed statewide Prohibition

amendment to the Texas

constitution. The “wets” won.

By 1917, Texas was one of 20 states that still had local

option. 26 states were completely “dry” and 2 were

completely “wet.”

In 1917, the Eighteenth Amendment, calling for

nationwide Prohibition was passed by Congress and

submitted to the states for ratification.

On March 4, 1918, Texas became

the eighth state to ratify the

proposed federal amendment.

And in 1919, when statewide

Prohibition was voted on again in

Texas, this time the “Drys” won.

On January 16, 1919, Nebraska became the 36th state

to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment, and a year later,

nationwide Prohibition took.

13 min. 20 sec.

Woman Suffrage in Texas

A Hard-fought Battle for Equality

When the twentieth century began, the

National American Woman Suffrage

Association was working for state-by-

state enfranchisement of woman.

Women Reformers

In Texas, woman hoped to add their state to the

white states on the suffrage map (states that had

given women the right to vote).

Women Reformers

In 1903, the Texas Woman Suffrage

Association was formed in Houston, Texas.

In 1908, NAWSA President Anna

Howard Shaw toured Texas.

In 1918, Governor William Hobby

signed a bill, giving women the

right to vote in party primaries (but

not in general elections).

In May 1919, when a state

constitutional amendment giving

women the right to vote in all elections

in Texas was voted on, it lost.

Ironically, on June 28, 1919,

Texas became the ninth state to

ratify the national woman

suffrage amendment, which had

passed Congress, and then had

been submitted to the states on

June 4, 1919.

On August 18, 1920, Tennessee

became the 36th state to ratify the

nineteenth amendment.

In the 1920 election, all American women were allowed to vote.

4 min. 49 sec.

“Jim Crow” in Texas

Racial Discrimination and

Segregation

In 1883, by a 8 to 1 vote, the Supreme Court ruled

the 1875 Civil Rights Act unconstitutional.

“The 1st and 2nd sections of the Civil Rights Act passed March 1st, 1875 are

unconstitutional enactments as applied to the several States, not being authorized

by the XIIIth or XIVth Amendments of the constitution.”--1883 Supreme Court Decision

And in 1896: the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy vs. Ferguson gave further

federal sanction to the doctrine of “separate but equal.”

In the wake of the Supreme Court rulings of 1883 and 1896, all the

former slave states (plus Oklahoma) enacted “Jim Crow” laws that:

• Made separate public accommodations for blacks and whites lawful

• Required businesses to treat black and white customers differently

• Made interracial marriage unlawful

Texas had 29 “Jim Crow” laws. Here are just a few.

• 1891: Separate railroad cars for blacks and whites

• 1907: Separate sections on streetcars for blacks and

whites

• 1909: Separate waiting rooms at train stations for

blacks and whites

• 1915: Intermarriage between blacks and whites made

punishable by prison term of from 2 to 5 years

• 1919: Separate libraries for blacks and whites

• 1922: White only primary law; blacks not allowed to

vote in primary elections

3 min. 20 sec.

Racists attitudes were also manifested in

lynching. Between 1882 and 1968, 4,742

people were lynched, mostly in the South. The

majority (3,445) were African-American.

“Lynching” means unlawful execution, without

due process of law.

In one notorious case, on March 3,

1910, Allen Brooks was thrown with a

rope around his neck from an upper

floor of the Dallas County Courthouse.

His body was afterward hanged from a

downtown lamppost.

In another notorious case, in 1930, an

overzealous Sherman, Texas mob burned

down the Grayson County courthouse while

lynching a black man.

The Rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan

1920s

By the early 1920s the Ku Klux Klan had become a

powerful organization with 4 million members.

Klansmen saw themselves as

patriots and the upholders of

Christian moral values.

The “new” Klan was a national phenomenon,

attracting members from all over the country.

The reason for the Klan’s national appeal was due

to the fact that it was not only anti-black but also

anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, and anti-immigrant.11 min. 43 sec.

In 1924 the Klan’s anti-immigration

policy inspired Congress to pass a

restrictive law setting quotas that favored

immigrants from Northern Europe.

The Ku Klux Klan in Texas

1920s

From 1923 to 1939. the KKK Imperial Wizard (national

leader) was Hiram Wesley Evans, a former Dallas dentist.

The KKK was particularly active in Texas,

committing all sorts of outrages.

The KKK was also very active in Texas politics, backing

candidates who supported their agenda.

October 24, 1923 was “Klan Day” at the State Fair. Thousands

attended and Imperial Wizard Evans held a nighttime rally (complete

with burning cross) at the racetrack grandstand, during which more

than 7,000 new Klansmen were initiated.

That same day (October 24, 1923) Evans and other klansman attended

the dedication of “Hope Cottage,” a home for unmarried mothers,

which was built with funds provided by the Dallas klavern (#66), in an

effort to provide the KKK with a more positive image.

“Ma” and “Pa” Ferguson

“Two for the Price of One”

Pa (Jim) Ferguson was elected governor in 1914. He was inaugurated in January 1915.

Pa was only the third native Texan to hold the office and his inaugural ceremony was the briefest.

Pa Ferguson’s time in office was also one of the briefest.

In 1917, he was impeached. Following a trial in the Texas Senate, he was removed from office and barred from holding any future office.

Pa Ferguson was impeached on 10 counts of illegal behavior, including misapplication of public funds and receiving $156,000 from an anonymous donor.

In 1920, Ferguson ran for President on the American Party ticket. Texas was the only state on which his name appeared on ballots.

In 1922, Pa Ferguson tried and failed to win the Democratic nomination for Senator from Texas.

Two years later, his wife, Miriam or “Ma” Ferguson, ran for governor, and won!

In 1924, Pa’s wife, Miriam (“Ma”) Ferguson, was elected governor, the first woman to hold the office of governor in Texas and one of the first two woman governors anywhere in the United States. She was inaugurated in January 1925, serving until January 1927.

During “Ma’s” administration, her husband Jim (“Pa”) served as her

advisor. He even had an office in the capitol. During her campaign she

said she would seek his advice and that if elected, the people of Texas

would have “Two [Governors] for the price of one.”

During her term, “Ma” managed to win passage of an anti-Klan law that forbade the wearing of masks in public. However, opponents thought she was a little too generous in granting pardons and of irregularities in granting road building contracts. She was threatened with impeachment, but no charges were brought.

In 1926, “Ma” lost her bid for re-election, but ran again in 1932 and won. She served a second term from January 1933 to January 1935.

During her second term, “Ma” held the line on state spending and advocated a state sales tax and income tax (which the legislature did not pass). She continued a generous pardon and parole policy.

After “retiring” from politics for the remainder of the decade, “Ma” tried and failed to win the Democratic nomination for governor in 1940. After “Pa” died in 1944, she retired for good.