Life at the Turn of the Century

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Life at the Turn of the Century

• Chapter 15 pages 305- 326
• Texas History

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I. The Galveston Storm of 1900

• September 8- hurricane hits unexpectedly
• Winds- 120 mph, tidal wave sweeps over island
• 6,000 killed
• City in ruins, thousands homeless
• City rebuilds with a sea wall, raise city and
  average of 8 feet
• See Isaacs Storm on DVD 25.00

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II. Living and Working in Texas

• 90 live in rural areas, 6 of ten working in
  agriculture
• Work from daylight to dusk
• Town work centers around father, young people
  could find summer jobs
• Living conditions still without electricity,
  cities did have telephone and telegraph
• Travel- roads still slow, but improving
• Cars and planes begin to come into picture

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III. Urban Texas

• 17 live in cities- 11 have more than 10,000
• San Antonio the larges
• Modern transportation will help cities grow-
  market centers- railroad
• Industrial development- oil helps spur this

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IV. Oil and Industrialization

• Jan. 10, 1901- major oil find- Spindletop- near
  Beaumont
• Natural gas- helps with power supply
• Refineries develop
• Oil companies- Gulf, Texaco, Humble (Exxon)
• Lumber becomes important

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V. Leisure Activities

• Church socials, cotton gin, sewing circles,
  dancing (churches oppose it)
• Holidays- July 4th, Juneteenth- June 19th-
  African Americans, Cinco de Mayo and Diaz y Seis-
  Mexican Americans, Christmas- family
• Sports- horse racing, baseball, football, Jack
  Johnson- 1st American black heavyweight boxing
  champion of the world
• Music, theaters, Circus, motion pictures- short
  and expensive

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VI. Public Health

• Cholera, typhoid, diphtheria, some smallpox,
  yellow fever
• Childrens diseases- measles, mumps, chicken pox
• Few doctors- large towns mainly, more medical
  schools started
• Nurses also trained
• Women still had to treat variety of illnesses and
  act as midwives
• Minorities had few doctors-
• Lots of home remedies-

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VII. Religion

• Baptists- largest church- 33
• Methodists- 27
• Catholics- about 25
• Jewish- 15,000
• Black churches- mainly Baptist or Methodist
• Involved with Prohibition, horse racing and
  dancing also attacked
• Germans and Catholics against prohibition

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VIII. Education

• Law of 1884- put counties in charge of education,
  money was tight
• Urban schools longer year- 162 v. 98 in rural
  areas
• 1900s- Texas begins to see importance of
  educational system- still lags behind country
• AM- 1876, Prairie View AM- 1901
• 1881- University of Texas (opens in 1883)

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IX. Women at the Turn of the Century

• Still could not vote, limited in business
  operations
• Could own land, make contracts, sue
• Property still under management of husband
• Limited educational opportunities
• Texas Women's University- 1903
• Voting and temperance, reform movements, child
  labor
• Minority women organized clubs too

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X. Race and Ethnicity

• Minorities- 25
• Immigrants flow in from Europe
• Blacks- 80 on farms- mostly sharecroppers- very
  poor, urban blacks- laborers- low wages
• Could not join unions
• Small businesses
• Segregated schools- little chance for good
  education
• Law did not protect blacks
• Some progress- NAACP- 1912

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• Mexican Americans-mostly South Texas- faced
  poverty, prejudice and discrimination
• Language a barrier, used inventive ways to cope
• Local politics in South Texas
• Some success in correct abuses by protesting
• Europeans- easier to fit into society
• Jewish immigrants settle in larger cities- opened
  up businesses and stores

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XI. Literature and Arts

• Looked to past for stories- the Alamo, rangers,
  bandits
• H.A. McArdle- Dawn of the Alamo
• Elisabeth Ney- statues of Austin, Houston
• Scott Joplin- ragtime
• Jazz and blues- Blind Lemon Jefferson and Huddie
  (Leadbelly) Ledbetter

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Dawn of the Alamo
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The Battle of San Jacinto