The books “Fertile Ground, Narrow Choices” by Rebecca Sharpless and “The Path to a Modern South” by Walter L. Buenger paint a picture of what life was like from the late 1800’s to the 1930’s. Though written with their own style and from different views these two books describe the modernization of Texas through economics, politics, lifestyles and gender roles, specifically the roles of women during this era. Rebecca Sharpless’ book “Fertile Ground, Narrow Choices” tells the stories of everyday women in Central Texas on cotton farms. She argues that women were not just good for keeping house, cooking, sewing and raising children but that they were an essential key to the economy. Whether they were picking cotton alongside men or bearing children …show more content…
Farm women according to Sharpless, lived within small, segregated circles and stayed connected by the telephone, mail and communal activities. Mexican and African Americans created their own communities but often were often mixed in vast majorities of whites who typically shunned them. The minority groups had to work to maintain a sense of community in schools and church. Church brought relief from work on Sundays but it also maintained social structure by reinforcing discipline and morality. For example Baptist and Methodist were against alcohol consumption and social dancing, while Lutherans and Roman Catholics were tolerant of alcohol. Many Texas women relied on faith to help in a time of need, like the death of a child, while African Americans often prayed to God for strength through racial discrimination and violence. Connection between groups would increase with the improvement of technology and the invention of the …show more content…
Sharpless tells how life in the city became more convenient due to easier access to electricity and running water. Women began moving into town not just for personal but economical and political reasons. Politics held a great responsibility in modernizing Texas. As Buenger emphasizes throughout his book “The Path to a Modern South” the importance of politics and how it changed culture is ultimately what set Texas apart from the rest of the southern states. By the 1920’s politics had changed dramatically in Texas, women were allowed to vote almost 2 years before any other state in America. Democrats were able to gain women as voters by winning them through topics such as Prohibition in the 1918 Primary Elections. How could a southern state be the first to allow women to vote? Where they more advanced, educated, or prosperous than others? The most likely answer is the changes in society due to technology. A new culture and the move from rural areas to urban cities created new gender roles. As women became more in the public sphere, especially through politics, Texas began to move further away from the
Students are always taught about slavery, segregation, war, and immigration, but one of the least common topics is farm women in the 1930’s. Lou Ann Jones, author of Mama Learned Us to Work, portrayed a very clear and clean image to her readers as to what the forgotten farm-women during the 1930’s looked like. This book was very personal to me, as I have long listened to stories from my grandmother who vividly remembers times like these mentioned by Jones. In her book Mama Learned Us to Work, author Lou Ann Jones proves that farm women were a major part of Southern economy throughout the content by the ideology and existence of peddlers, the chicken business, and linen production.
The people of Texas are diverse and carry their “big can-do attitudes and accents” (Pearson); making Texas a bigger than life state. The political culture of Texas is impacted by two different subgroups of individualistic and traditionalistic characteristics. The combination of traditionalism and individualism has had a huge impact on the state and Texas’ seven different constitutions. The shift in power between 1827 and 1876 has impacted the political diversity Texas has today. Looking at the specifics of these subcultures, the traditionalists believe government should benefit the wealthy and powerful, and that government services must be limited.
Up until and during the mid -1800’s, women were stereotyped and not given the same rights that men had. Women were not allowed to vote, speak publically, stand for office and had no influence in public affairs. They received poorer education than men did and there was not one church, except for the Quakers, that allowed women to have a say in church affairs. Women also did not have any legal rights and were not permitted to own property. Overall, people believed that a woman only belonged in the home and that the only rule she may ever obtain was over her children. However, during the pre- Civil war era, woman began to stand up for what they believed in and to change the way that people viewed society (Lerner, 1971). Two of the most famous pioneers in the women’s rights movement, as well as abolition, were two sisters from South Carolina: Sarah and Angelina Grimké.
Throughout the first half of the 19th century, and especially after the War of 1812, America has taken on yet another revolution. In this time period, the country saw a rapid expansion in territory and economics, as well as the extension of democratic politics; the spread of evangelical revivalism; the rise of the nation’s first labor and reform movements; the growth of cities and industrial ways of life; a rise in abolitionism and reduction in the power of slavery; and radical shifts in the roles and status of women.
As many women took on a domestic role during this era, by the turn of the century women were certainly not strangers to the work force. As the developing American nation altered the lives of its citizens, both men and women found themselves struggling economically and migrated into cities to find work in the emerging industrialized labor movement . Ho...
Texas went through a great amount of political change from being dominated by the Democratic Party during the 1960s and 70s, from the Republican Party taking over in the 80s. One of the big reasons for this change was due to the political party’s views. Throughout this essay I will discuss the changes of the political stances in Texas as well as the present day factors that affect America.
In the United States, for the last four decades, from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan through the two Bush Presidencies, the Republican Party won the White House by amassing large margins among white voters (Lizza.) The state of Texas has been reliably Republican since the 1970s and there are various elements to Texas political culture that can be narrowed down to three essential ideological trends: economic liberalism, or faith in the free market economy, social conservatism, or favoring traditional values and moralism, and populism, or promoting the rights and worthiness of ordinary people (Texas Political Culture.) As a result, the dominant political mood in Texas favors low taxes, minimal government services, and policies that are pro-business. This phenomenon is not static, however, since changing demographics in the state are causing changes in the profile of Texas in reference to electoral politics, among other major issues. This paper will explore different perspectives about the changing demographics of Texas, and where they might lead the state politically, and will present a variety of viewpoints regarding this complex subject.
Growing up in McKinney, Texas, Lewis did many odd jobs before he was in the Texas National Guard. He was a bread truck driver for a bakery and worked on cars, to name a few . The life in Texas at the time of Lewis’ high school years was about economic expansion, with petroleum being the basic regional builder in the south west. Oil made the region’s economy different, where as it used to depend on agriculture and timber. But oil fueled the growing automobile industry, with every 4.3 Texans having a car by 1929. By 1930, Texas...
In the youth of Texas, the Democratic Party enjoyed electoral dominance on all levels of state government and in the representation in the national government. Democratic rule was dominated by a conservative white political elite that strongly promoted economic development, but that resisted change either in race relations or social programs for the poor ("Texas Politics," 2009). Republicans were not completely absent during this period, but their electoral victories were few and limited in scope ("Texas Politics," 2009). In every election after 1980, however, the Republican strength grew into the now dominant rule that currently reigns in Texas. Since the 1990’s, the Republican Party, despite the attempts of others, has had a stronghold on the state government. With that being said, the Republican Party has dominated the overall elections.
“The Pastoralization of Housework” by Jeanne Boydston is a publication that demonstrates women’s roles during the antebellum period. Women during this period began to embrace housework and believed their responsibilities were to maintain the home, and produce contented and healthy families. As things progressed, housework no longer held monetary value, and as a result, womanhood slowly shifted from worker to nurturer. The roles that women once held in the household were slowly diminishing as the economy became more industrialized. Despite the discomfort of men, when women realized they could find decent employment, still maintain their household and have extra income, women began exploring their option.
...wler-Salamini and Mary Kay Vaughan, eds Creating Spaces, Shaping Transitions: Women of the Mexican Countryside, 1850-1990 Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994.
Before the 1920s men and women were thought to have two separate roles in life. People believed women should be concerned with their children, home, and religion, while men took care of business and politics. In 1920 there were significant changes for women in politics, the home, and the workplace. When the 19th amendment passed it gave women the right to vote. “Though slowly to use their newly won voting rights, by the end of the decade women were represented local, state, and national political committees and were influencing the political agenda of the federal government.” Now a days it’s normal for women to be involved in politics and it’s normal for women to vote. Another drastic change
Women in Texas were fighting to have the right to vote and one of those women was Minnie Ficher Cunningham. She was a pharmacist who quit to become the president of the Galveston Equal Suffrage Association. Her efforts would help Texas women win the right to vote in the primary election of 1918. But the win didn’t come easily. She triumphed by spending endless hours and trying to build support and making savvy political alliances. The 19th Amendment would later be ratified in 1920. The Marital Property Act also helped women own their own property. From 1929 to 1968, property was vested in the husband. Later on property can be divided between spouses. Each spouse would have control over his or her own earnings. Minnie
Texas is one of the strongest republican states in the country. Texas had made a big swing from democratic dominance to republication controlling both states legislatures and have huge majority in congressional delegates. From the end of Reconstruction in 1874 until the 1960s, Texas was a one-party Democratic state. It always stunned me that in such small period of time in a historical context that the state completely changes its political party. The first indication of political change was the fact Texans voted for Republican presidential candidate Dwight Eisenhower in the elections of 1952 and 1956, and after that, Texas become more and more republican and less and less democrats.
As written in Literature and it's Times, a distinct place where racism and prejudice took place was the South. In the early 1900's, the South remained mostly rural and agricultural in economy. Poverty was everywhere, and sharecropping had replaced slavery as the main source of black labor. Blacks who remained in the South received the burdens of poverty and discrimination. The women faced sexual and racial oppression, making th...