Cotton supplied the Native Americans with clothing fibers before the Spanish ever entered Texas. It drew Southern settlers fleeing U.S. antislavery trends during the Mexican Republic in the 1820s. By the early 1930s, cotton was produced in 223 of the 254 counties in Texas and was a central element in the Texas economy. The Great Depression created a major disruption that threatened to destabilize the entire Lone Star State.
In this book, Keith J. Volanto relates the story of the New Deal's efforts to aid Texas cotton farmers, specifically with the production-control policies introduced...

In Houston, as in the rest of the American South up until the 1950s, the police force reflected and enforced the segregation of the larger society. When the nation began to change in the 1950s and 1960s, this guardian of the status quo had to change, too. It was not designed to do so easily.
Dwight Watson traces how the Houston Police Department reacted to social, political, and institutional change over a fifty-year period--and specifically, how it responded to and in turn influenced racial change.
Using police records as well as contemporary accounts, Watson astutely analyzes the...

Some five hundred miles of superhighway run between the Rio Grande and the Red River--present-day Interstate 35. This towering achievement of modern transportation engineering links a string of Texas metropolises and some 7.7 million people, and yet it all evolved from a series of humble little trails.
The I-35 Corridor that runs north-south through Texas connects Dallas and Fort Worth with Austin, San Antonio, and Laredo en route to ancient towns in Mexico. Along its path lie urban centers, technology parks, parking lots, strip malls, apartment complexes, and vast open spaces. In this...

When their country calls, Texas Aggies go to war. From the Spanish-American War and World War I to Operation Iraqi Freedom, Aggies have been in the forefront of America's armed forces, producing more officers than any other school outside the service academies. More than 20,000 Texas Aggies served in World War II, for instance, including more than 14,000 as commissioned officers. Trained in leadership and the knowledge required for warfare, Aggies have served with distinction in all branches of the military service.
In this first-ever compilation of the impressive war record of Texas...

For more than fifty years, the Memorial Student Center--the MSC--has served as the "living room" of the Texas A&M University campus. Beyond its lounges, dining, and recreational facilities, though, the MSC has played a vital role in the transformation of Texas A&M from an all-male, all-military, rural college to a university internationally recognized for excellence in a variety of fields.
The MSC, conceived as a memorial to Aggies who lost their lives in the two world wars, opened its doors in September 1950. More than just a monument to fallen comrades, however, the MSC and the...

Gene B. Preuss examines not only the public policy wrangling and historical context leading up to and surrounding the Gilmer-Akin legislation, but also places the discussion in the milieu of the national movement for school reform.

In essays, scholars demonstrate that the history of Texans' quests to secure inalienable rights and expand government-protected civil rights has been one of stops and starts, successes and failures, progress and retrenchment.

In essays, scholars demonstrate that the history of Texans' quests to secure inalienable rights and expand government-protected civil rights has been one of stops and starts, successes and failures, progress and retrenchment.

New in paperback " . . . skillfully analyzed hundreds of primary source documents and integrated contemporary political, social and cultural elements in bringing to light the values, customs and controversies which have shaped the Corps' 125-year history.""--Texas Aggie"
"If you are an Aggie, or a non-Aggie as I am, who holds the Cadet Corps of Texas A&M University in high regard, then buy this book."-"San Antonio Express-News"
"It is the rare reader who will not be struck by Adams's extensive research.""-""Southwestern Historical Quarterly"
"Adams provides vivid images of early...

In the summer of 1955, early in the modern civil rights era, six African American golfers in Beaumont, Texas, began attacking the Jim Crow caste system when they filed a federal lawsuit for the right to play the municipal golf course. The golfers and their African American lawyers went to federal court and asked a conservative white Republican judge to render a decision that would not only integrate the local golf course but also set precedent for desegregation of other public facilities, as well.
In "Fair Ways"," " Beaumont native Robert J. Robertson chronicles three parallel stories...