Texas Labor History

Too Often, Observers And Writers Of Texas History Have Accepted Assumptions About Labor Movements In The State?both Organized And Not?that Do Not Bear Up Under The Light Of Careful Scrutiny. Offering A Scholarly Corrective To Such Misplaced Suppositions, The Studies In Texas Labor History Provide A Helpful New Source For Scholars And Teachers Who Wish To Fill In Some Of The Missing Pieces. Tackling A Number Of Such Presumptions?that A Viable Labor Movement Never Existed In The Lone Star State; That Black, Brown, And White Laborers, Both Male And Female, Were Unable To Achieve Even Short-term Solidarity; That Labor Unions In Texas Were Ineffective Because Of Laborers? Inability To Confront Employers?the Editors And Contributors To This Volume Lay The Foundation For Establishing The Importance Of Labor To A Fuller Understanding Of Texas History. They Show, For Example, That Despite Differing Working Conditions And Places In Society, Many Workers Managed To Unite, Sometimes In Biracial Efforts, To Overturn The Top-down Strategy Utilized By Texas Employers. Texas Labor History Also Facilitates An Understanding Of How The State?s History Relates To, Reflects, And Differs From National Patterns And Movements. This Groundbreaking Collection Of Studies Offers Notable Opportunities For New Directions Of Inquiry And Will Benefit Historians And Students For Years To Come.--amazon.com. Introduction: The Neglected Heritage Of Texas Labor / James C. Maroney And Bruce A. Glasrud -- The Early History Of Labor Organizations In Texas, 1838-1876 / James V. Reese -- On Empire's Shore : Free And Unfree Workers In Galveston, Texas, 1840-1860 / Robert S. Shelton -- The Cowboy Strike Of 1883 : Its Causes And Meaning / Robert E. Zeigler -- The Radical Potential Of The Knights' Biracialism : The 1885-1886 Gould System Strikes And Their Aftermath / Theresa A. Case -- Underground Patriots : Thurber Coal Miners And The Struggle For Industrial Freedom, 1888-1903 / Marilyn D. Rhinehart -- The Gospel Of Wealth Goes South : John Henry Kirby And Labor's Struggle For Self-determination, 1901-1916 / George T. Morgan Jr. -- Tenant Farmer Discontent And Socialist Protest In Texas, 1901-1917 / James R. Green -- The Texas-louisiana Oil Field Strike Of 1917 / James C. Maroney -- Opening The Closed Shop : The Galveston Longshoremen's Strike Of 1920-1921 / Joseph Abel -- Tejana Radical : Emma Tenayuca And The San Antonio Labor Movement During The Great Depression / Zaragosa Vargas -- Unionizing The Trinity Portland Cement Company In Dallas, Texas, 1934-1939 / Gregg Andrews -- Discord In Dallas : Auto Workers, City Fathers, And The Ford Motor Company, 1937-1941 / George N. Green -- Texas Homeworkers In The Depression / Julia Kirk Blackwelder -- Black Texans And Theater Craft Unionism : The Struggle For Racial Equality / Ernest Obadele-starks -- The Failed Promise Of Wartime Opportunity For Mexicans In The Texas Oil Industry / Emilio Zamora -- No Gold Watch For Jim Crow's Retirement : The Abolition Of Segregated Unionism At Houston's Hughes Tool Company / Michael R. Botson Jr. -- Better To Die On Our Feet Than To Live On Our Knees : United Farm Workers And Strikes In The Lower Rio Grande Valley, 1966-1967 / Mary Margaret Mcallen Amberson -- Adelante Compañeros : The Sanitation Worker's Struggle In Lubbock, Texas, 1968-1972 / Yolanda G. Romero. Edited By Bruce A. Glasrud And James C. Maroney. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 405-420) And Index.