Progressivism in Texas: Politics, Reform and Regulation

Flashcards about Politics, Reform and Regulation during the Progressive Era

Joseph Sayers and S. W. T. Lanham

Last former Confederates to serve as governors (1899-1907).

Thomas Campbell

Governor of Texas from 1907-1911.

Oscar Colquitt

Governor of Texas from 1911-1915. - GermanAmerican politician and lawyer who promoted progressive reforms.

Electoral Reform

General effort to cut 'undesirables' from voting.

Lodge 'Force' Bill

Bill in 1890; little worry of Federal Government. Vetoed by Republican president

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 court case related to segregation; little worry of Federal Government. Gives us separate but equal

A. W. Terrell

Person associated with Texas electoral reform.

Terrell Election Law 1903

included the poll tax , had to pay $65 to $ 80 to vote & had to have receiptto prove payment. It aimed to limit voter access and was used to disenfranchise many Texas voters, particularly African Americans and poor whites.

Terrell Election Law 1905

included the White Primary, only party that had at least 100,000 people vote can run for primary election

White Justification

Justification for segregation due to fear of violence.

Brownsville Riot

Riot in 1906 involving the 25th Infantry - an African American regiment accused of a shooting incident in Brownsville, Texas. It led to significant racial tension and the firing of soldiers without a fair trial. - bc made ½ the amount of money

Beaumont Riot

Riot in 1908 - racial tensions escalated after the murder of a local African American, leading to mob violence against African Americans in the city.

Bath Riots

Riots including the El Paso Jail Holocaust in 1916. - These riots involved violent confrontations between law enforcement and the Mexican American community, highlighting tensions over racial discrimination and civil rights. - Stripping them 4 disease

The Galveston Plan

Plan in 1901 involving a commissioner system after the Great Storm.

The Council Manager System

System in 1913.

The Home-rule Charter

Charter in 1912. Allowed them to choose any form of government

Thomas B. Love

Person associated with Banking and Insurance Reform. Chartering state banks - over 500 by 1910

Robertson Insurance Law

Law of 1907 related to Texas premiums and national companies. Investing the “three-quarters”. Established codes and classification

Texas Local Option Association

Association in 1903 related to Prohibition

Eighteenth Amendment

Amendment related to Prohibition (Feb. 28, 1918).

La Matanza (“massacre”)

was a series of violent events that occurred in 1915 in South Texas, targeting Mexican Americans, resulting in significant loss of life and impacting community relations. Texas Rangers enforced border rules & about 5,000 people were killed

State and local efforts to legally segregate

Ghetto migration of moving blacks & mexicans to outer parts of the big cities/ segregated everything even state fair

Lynching in Paris and Marshall

14 year old disabled boy was accused of touching a daughter of a high official tried to escape parents sent him on train but train stopped after 15 mins and lynched in Paris

Lynching of Henry Gentry in Belton (1910)

Accused of stealing silverware of old women & supposedly waits for constable to show up & shot constable but really ran away but caught & had mob waiting for him & shot him 400 times & burn him alive

Lynching of Will Stanley in Temple (1915)

A young African American man accused of raping a white woman was taken from jail by a mob, violently lynched, and mutilated, burned alive.

Jesse Washington and the Waco Horror (1916)

A 17-year-old African American boy accused of murdering a white woman, he was brutally lynched by a mob in Waco, Texas, where he was tortured, burned, and mutilated, while a crowd of thousands watched.

Labor Legislation

1. Exemption of unions and antitrust legislation
2. Employers tended to ignore legislation

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

1954 - The Supreme Court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, declared that racially segregated facilities are inherently unequal and ordered all public schools desegregated.