Forum; Ruthe Winegarten: A History of Black Texas Women

from the longhorn radio network the university of texas at austin this is for him there's a different vein is so those records with an important route weingarten writer historian and author of like texas women some black women wear with families to homestead in to settle and little towns in the calendar a canyon in the bt on a lot of cases of black women or launder says for the tan and other cases their company did the army in the phantom arm the forts like fort davis they can both his wives to their husbands as well as maine's so we find some really interesting traces the year of black cinema today a native texan a

feminist and a writer and historian her latest publication is like texas one hundred and fifty years of trial on trial published by the university of texas press buying full of vintage photographs black texas women traces the development of the women of black culture in texas from the days of the republic through the last decade of the century pioneers and heroes all the women in these pages set goals that were unprecedented in all fields of endeavor from aviation to politics many of their accomplishments like rewards of prestige or honor and were sometimes efforts against huge odds to merely make a living and keep a family together records either diligence strength and courage were found all over the state we are were you able to find history of these when every place in the beginning i thought that i would not find enough for a book that many an upturn in a one thousand page manuscript which men are you wrote two books of the same time and realize

a new key press explain that those that was too long or have to divide it up and sell mixture another book will be coming out of documents by radical sketches own timeline that major questions we're already fired and sinister or first we start with a bibliography they came out of the texas women's history project there was an exhibit about texas women traveled around the state about ten years ago and in preparation for the research we kind of the libraries and prepared a fairly lengthy bibliography so they printed sources were one place half and material including feces and dissertations for example ed has a lot of dissertations in theses on the topic of blacks and women and so we were able to glean from those information on major libraries in texas the houston public library the dow's public library boston public library institute of

texan cultures and san antonio have collections of black texans the carver library in austin is a good source of delta sigma theta is here did a wonderful exhibit in nineteen eighty six for the semi centennial in a lot of the information that often comes from there when you were looking for black texas women and began at some point in the nineteenth century where you obliged to to follow every family forward it seems like generations don't stop what where year started stop date i don't approach it from the standpoint of families and approach it from the standpoint of certain teams like free women of color slave women women during the civil war reconstruction link the anti lynching movement women black women fight for the vote the civil rights movement

and in that process i covered some families in which activists and you know extend over generations a good example is the family of monkey here in galveston her father was like a leading republican in texas during reconstruction here like the highest federal appointment in the state he was the customs inspector for the port of galveston which was a very powerful post he was also a businessman a civil rights leader in her but her mother adelaide it it was a very very proper victorian lady dressed and manson that one day she decided to travel by train from galveston houston so she packed her banks get into and out of the train station and she was i'm getting ready to board the white ladies car and conductor said no you know i'm in here so she waited until he turned the corner and then she put her foot on the knee of her

brother in law who accompanied her the station she climbed into the window and she took her seat in the when the conductor enter to take the tickets he was shocked to see her in they're looking very nonchalant and then martini here was sent away to college to boston because professional opportunities for black women were not very great the state since we were segregated and she enter the boston conservatory of music and even there she met with racism and the administration wrote her father lars right unionized that she be removed from the dormitory because some white students were protesting and he refused and modern fusion so she was graduated from here what role do you think segregation had an end and the archival work information to enable decline was it more likely to be available because there were segregated system why this in one way yes and when we

know for example of black churches are right place to wait for black history freeze at emily's america's church here in austin an er in houston dousing of the new hope baptist church so that the church records or rage and i really haven't been explored in great debt afghan a lot of information just from a little tiny booklet in dallas and i happened to find it was it really like a testimonial to one woman in frederick and on the family the wind and the cia mariah martin french and hours but she also been a founder of the delta sigma theta is at howard university saw in that little tiny book with is probably not more than thirty pages long there were pictures of other delta other delta's from texas including myra davis henningsen san antonio including jesse dance from galveston so again looking in those cities for those two women and now began piecing things together and i would talk to people manseau yes

mario means we need to call her church second baptist church in san antonio and she was a leader there galston our family jesse didn't follow the first papal ization sit still help teachers get equal pay so it was a real detective gerry smith is the fed is fm or more information kept about radical cardona found each woman and just keep putting things in those files and eventually was able to flesh out many of their lives do you find one generation to another that that there were networks across those generations beyond just being sorely sisters did these people know each of the texas association of color in women's clothes is a really good example of that in there was one most difficult tests or hand in that was defined with a history that armies asian was in the papers are that are his asian are still some place there in some of these garage and they're inside his dresser drawer and i would hope that the club women and their families would look for those papers bits and pieces i have

added find for example in waco they jesse o'connor collection a fan some minutes in a brief history she was a club a woman in a home demonstration nation yes they didn't know each other and have enough and then out because many of them any that is leaders in the texas commission on interracial cooperation which was why and black men and women we see those names that we go to those communities we see those women are leaders in the texas association of club women so they must have known each other because they saw each other at these meetings with a state the size of texas and did you find that they arrested more concentration in some areas and not another well you know until very recently there've been very few african americans in west texas one woman in enron and carrie hanson did write a book called the storm manners which has a brief history of the texas association called women's clubs as well

as a biographical sketches of black texans in no camera lubbock so i was able to pull out and there are some pieces and fire and verification most of the information comes from east of i thirty five dallas workers dow's didn't really pick up and publish until the twentieth century so the early histories to houston galveston and then in the counties where there are large slave plantations and pop populations washington county in airstrike wow carr oh what about the the urban centers were these places where as women grow up get their education show went into the work world was this a solid place of existence me women always have to work somewhere somehow is as employed working women did they seek the urban centers and that when it does well it is bush during slavery

there were for a few blacks living in cities there were some free blacks living in cities and there were blacks who serve their masters in the cities and some of those spikes are hard at other people and the wages were paid to their owners who were most interesting stories in the book are the stars of the free women of color in houston and galveston lot of people don't know if you're in the antebellum period some bikes for free they came to texas free are they were freed by their masters because in some cases they were the mistresses of the ministers and sometimes they were freed as a result of the will the master wooden frame his as a loved one during his lifetime because it's a censorship by the community that he would emancipate her in his will so some of the most interesting stories fm with a free women of color and really get attached to all of them and basically when texas was a republic and when texas became a state it was illegal for free people to live here

now there was illegal have if they live here well they were supposed to petition first the congress and in the legislature most of the petitions were demand but the people the women stay anyway now why and how well in galveston for example mary madison was a no erst anderson services were so valued and so scarce that she got eighteen wide galveston means to sign her petition asking if she'd be allowed to remain because of her kindness her petitions one of the few granted in houston there were three women of color oh for longer says he petitioned several times that children it would've been a great hardship for them to move living where they have gone totally the state yes they have or have had to leave the staining go where to another free step to have another slave state where they probably would have been incarcerated or sold so these women also petition and their petitions were denied that they stayed any way in some kind of an ambiguous on between slavery and freedom let me know

on various was in part nike patient because there are a lot of single man in texas and there was nobody to wash the clothes this was a very this was one white and black women always been able to earn a living it was very hard work but it was very valued and some women interesting enough accumulated property when it was first realtors in houston was a black woman a free one of conning fannie macfarlane was able to accumulate enough property to buy lots and she became quite successful what they're women who also the arrived as indentured servants is one of the most famous is the yellow rose of texas family west morgan came as indentured servants servants from the arc with chrome oregon and right before the battle of san jacinto she was captured by santa on his worry so the mettle of sam houston and there's this but he admits it hasn't risen which goes something like this that emily martin so

entranced santa ana that she first of all say whereabouts of his location to sam houston and second she quote distracted him during the mayor of santa santa ana was habits and houston of one and twenty one minutes and obviously the mexican army was very well prepared and after that was over mr li wei is applied for a passport back to new york and that passport application is on file of the texas state library and it's as if her freedom papers were lost on the battlefield but a lot of people down on the yellow rose of texas was really thinking you want a woman let me find out what is the experience with in a life people on the border the commingling of the cultures we're has not left a strong market texas history that there were fewer than well ten percent of the us and other allies is a wage went to

mexico and even today there are settlements in mexico by descendants of farmers' lives three allegro and in towns like ann i didn't do a lot of research along the border in south texas there were blacks who were cowboys and ranchers and victoria for example there is an interesting book called crime for daylight power woman in louise o'connor and there is a great deal in there about the blacks and that's our coastal area who were ranchers and if there's an interesting anecdote in there and it said that the black women playing going to church rather bland singing madman play cowboy even a woman named christian burial became a civil rights leader was from south texas were from and you'd mentioned that area's work or endeavor that we're essential were

important part of what gave the one in texas their livelihood but there was nursing or a meal hundreds what other areas in denver can you identify that were actually unusual at that time for instance cultural art or some activities that showed that civilization was indeed coming to the frontier in there were things beyond just the basics that were supporting people well in the beginning but the first real profession from work when texas a really for one was education and they struggle very hard not only to get an education for themselves and for their children and so black texas hoped after the civil war that they would have the university of the first clients as a matter fact texans white texans voted unlike texas two to one to establish a university the first class like e t but then didn't have on me in the

legislature despite the lovin despite the constitution refused to appropriate funds to prairie view struggle along for decades prairie view norway institute was open very early with an ear to the university of texas but in the beginning actually because most of the slaves have been illiterate they were unable to take advantage of college courses so it took quite a few years and during that time period the colleges taught the basics reading writing arithmetic but they also began painting things like geometry greek latin ethics morals and so on and there are quite a few colleges established all across texas texas both by missionary societies as well as ex slaves so the women were the women so few women established hospitals in the ten nurses a few had unusual it patients like manufacturing seem it works the very first black photographer in the united states was probably

in houston and we know that because her name is a nineteen sixty six houston city directory mary warren and she in an office in downtown houston coming through the halls of education venture some of them stayed in the classroom but also that education was an avenue to post graduate schools and professions law or medicine if women became physicians have some good art and the scientific research and so on how late into the twentieth century did some women make their mark in those kinds of professions well first of all they had to leave the state to get a professional education as professional education is not available in texas and so you know women were white can hear what a

loss of having to go to my hairy she and her twin sister to get their medical degrees in nineteen thirty three come here would return to austin and what worked for the texas department of health or she worked for forty years during segregation she was continually passed over for promotion what's she trained whites and family after the civil rights acts of the sixties she was promoted to head of town family service department lacks came either black women came from other states to texas having received an education for example in dallas dr ali day you open an office around nineteen oh five she was one of the first blanks to graduate from harry others have gone to howard university saw him doctors and dennis coming here we have black women going to other states to study library science to study social work into studying

nursing student like the first black graduate nursing and stays from texas so she's posting best mac os born and she became president of blank nurses association and worked to integrate the white nurses association the first social work and stays within range degree came from houston ellie was montgomery she gets a fur certificate from the columbia university school of philanthropy in nineteen thirteen and she then returned to houston where she taught for forty five years and wrote sociological tracks we've got a lot of leadership coming from texas you have many many black women who are the first in their professions someone went away and remained in their professions in other states some returned one feel that was just might be

surprised to learn to their person firsthand is the military teams still young boy i believe was one of the first to graduate from a military institute what we have dr maya jemison the astronaut from nineteen eighty eight to nineteen and it i don't think she was a native texan but she's in them but nevertheless because she lives in texas now and there was one opportunity for black women was in the western or two there are a number of black women from texas prairie view was one place where many were recruited and they became officers but even there they were segregated regardless of what level of education or what profession they might've ultimately pursued many came from all of those areas and to politic and into the civil rights movement or can you speak to some of the the heroic

care for years in the us here well i think what's really interesting is that there seems to have been less sexism in the african american community than the african american community's seem more willing to let women then the anglo or hispanic community for example the first black stout public office in texas since reconstruction for women ms as charles e y in houston won her election for school board in nineteen fifty eight and she really took her life in her hands a week after she was elected a cross was burned on her front lawn in her windshield was peppered with bullets and she was subjected to constant threats and of course the first congress was actually the first state senator since reconstruction was barbara jordan from houston also a nineteen sixty six she went on to become the first like and the first woman to be elected to congress from texas it also was an appointed areas for instance significant her

contributions host yes we're like we're the first black federal judges in the country was gabriele mcdonald who's served in houston and at that time she was having only the third black female in the country to be appointed to the federal judiciary mara mcdaniel was appointed by mark want to be the secretary of state was the first black and the first woman to open house of representatives' call it harder and wilmington del call from austin was a speaker pro tem another first loss of the first to a chair the house higher education committee for those women who rose to the top of their fields and then the professional entertainment industry i guess one measure their success is that they couldn't come back they have to stay out in in the world but there are still a number of those as well well what we have some very famous entertainers from

texas we have chris danielle on the tv series flying raised so that it all from dancing to choreography either failed to video she has a new film out avocado of sneak her sister felicia rashad plays clarinet plays claire huxtable on the cosby show and their mother who really inspired them billionaires allen who was a point in her own ryan who's appeal a surprise nominee included in langston hughes anthologies and now has a museum in new york and bernie or jennifer holiday of dream girls also from houston our current conrad the opera singer who have a leading role in an opera which is a stigma theorist of texas but because she was cast opposite a white male many of the races legislators threaten to cut off the funds for the rest of texas so that she had to withdraw from her role but she went on to become more famous as an opera star including the metropolitan opera

what kind of message do these women either individually or traveling the few pass on to to the generations to follow is is there something that they even seem to feel it they have received from generations past of successful hardworking citizens my favorite things from the book is a statement that was made by missy cohen one of the first women in the world to be a pilot she said i wouldn't take no for an answer because my mother said be somebody and we get this message from the mother's bessie coleman was that it was the daughter of a slave the age of nine children but her mother made sure she'd bessie learned to read as he grew up and walks ahead she but she went to chicago right before war one and she became

fascinated with aviation and said she could find no school in the united states to accept her she went to france and got a pilot's license and returned to become a very famous aviator she barnstorm now across the country and she was tragically killed at a very early age but the main how i'm the main avenue leading at o'hare airport in chicago scholar bessie coleman and winning in iowa from bessie coleman to someone like winston gene today who was appointed by and richard's remains treasure to be the investments director and to earn billions for the state of texas when winston has said is hope for the future change the rage within its own guest on foreigners than ruth weingarten author of black techies one hundred fifty

years of trial published by university of texas press the views expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect the views of the university of texas at austin or this station technical producer for foreign infidel for its production assistant chris paul's son i'm your producer and host all of graham realistically is this cassette copies by writing for so long radio network communication to the ut austin austin texas seventy seven one to france for him to say it's a longhorn radio network communications building the ut austin austin texas seventy seven one telecommunications

services university of texas at austin this is the longhorn radio network nine years of taxes is that it journalist and historian wrestling this week