During the world wars, many African Americans and Mexican Americans realized the unfairness of...
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Civil Rights in Texas Unit
During the world wars, many African Americans and Mexican Americans realized the unfairness of fighting and dying for democracy when many of their civil
During the world wars, many African Americans and Mexican
Americans realized the unfairness of fighting and dying for
democracy when many of their civil rights were denied at home. The
progressive movement spawned groups that promoted racial equality
and assisted minority AmericansAmerican GI Forum and LULAC (Mexican
Americans) and the NAACP (African Americans).
Slide 3
Early Civil Rights activists included African American Lulu B.
White and Mexican American Dr. Hector P. Garcia.
Slide 4
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Republican and Democrat
parties both became divided over world issues, New Deal programs,
and segregation. Southern Democrats who favored segregation
supported the new Dixiecrat partythis split in the Democratic Party
caused a power shift towards the Republican Party in Texas (as
evidenced by Republican candidate Eisenhower being elected as
President in 1952).
Slide 5
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Slide 7
People continued to develop differences over a variety of
issues and started identifying themselves as liberal (loose views
on tradition), conservative (strong views on tradition), or
moderate (neither liberal nor conservative). Most political offices
in Texas were held by conservative or moderate Democrats.
Slide 8
In his first term, President Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren
as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Warren Court in the
1950s and 1960s consistently decided in favor of those seeking to
end discrimination.
Slide 9
In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation
was legal as long as the facilities of both races were equal. In
the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, case, the
Supreme Court ruled racial segregation in public schools was
unconstitutional and ordered schools to desegregate.
Slide 10
Slide 11
The Mansfield Independent School District quietly desegregated
in 1965. The District was the last public school system to
integrate in the United States of America. Overall, it took 20
years after Brown, until the mid-1970s, for desegregation to
occur.
Slide 12
Minorities were also denied access to public facilities, parks,
libraries, and swimming pools even though their taxes helped
support these facilities. They sued to gain access. Some private
clubs and facilities maintained segregation.
Slide 13
The fear about the rise of communism in the 1950s led to many
people, including labor unions and civil rights workers, to be
accused of Communist ties. This era was called the Red Scare. In
1953, the Texas legislature passed a law requiring all state
employees, including teachers, to sign a loyalty oath to the USA
before they were paid.
Slide 14
Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin accused U.S. Army leaders of being
Communists. The word McCarthyism was used to describe the
activities.
Slide 15
John Henry Faulk, an Austin native and radio star for CBS in
New York City, was fired when a group claimed he was a Communist.
He sued for libel and won, thus protecting freedom of speech.
Slide 16
After John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963,
Lyndon B. Johnson became President. He was elected to serve a full
term as President from 1964 to 1968.
Slide 17
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During Johnsons administration, Congress passed many laws
comparable to Roosevelts New Deal. His programs were called the
Great Society. Johnson declared a war on poverty because so many
people were poor, despite the countrys general prosperity. He
stressed education as the cornerstone of his program.
Slide 19
He supported laws that created Head Start, Job Corps, and
federal aid for college students. He also helped pushed the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, which is an act of Congress that prohibited
discrimination in public places, education, or employment on the
basis of race, color, sex, nationality, or religion. Johnson also
supported the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which is an act of
Congress that eliminated literacy tests (used to determine the
literacy of black voters); and provided for federal rather than
state examiners to register qualified voters.
Slide 20
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Slide 22
In 1966 Barbara Jordan became the first African American
elected to the state Senate since Reconstruction ended. In 1972,
Houston voters elected her to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Her abilities were noted during the congressional hearings over the
Watergate scandal involving President Nixon.
Slide 23
James Farmer of Marshall, Texas founded the Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE). He organized boycotts, sit-ins, and freedom rides,
all nonviolent methods to oppose segregation.
Slide 24
In 1948, Raymond Telles became the first Mexican-American mayor
of a major U.S. city El Paso, TX.
Slide 25
In 1961 Henry B. Gonzlez of San Antonio was the first Hispanic
from Texas elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. By the
mid-1960s, Mexican American candidates were winning seats on
several school boards and city councils.
Slide 26
In 1978 Raul A. Gonzlez became the first Hispanic appointed or
elected to statewide office in 1978. He later served as Texas State
Judge for the Court of Appeals and Texas Supreme Court.
Slide 27
In the modern era, Texan politicians George H.W. Bush (Bush 41)
and his son, a former Texas Governor, George W. Bush (Bush 43),
have served as U.S. Presidents.
Slide 28
Other Texan politicians have also distinguished themselves in
CongressPhil Gramm in the U.S. House of Representatives and Kay
Bailey Hutchison in the U.S. Senate.
Slide 29
Former Secretary of State James Baker, III is also well- known
for serving in the Reagan and Bush Administrations in the 1980s and
1990s.
Slide 30
Democrat Ann Richards served as governor of Texas in the early
1990s.