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Examples Of Texas Historical Resistance To Civil Rights

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QUESTION 1 – APPLY
In this article and from class material what examples can you identify that demonstrate Texas’ historical resistance to civil rights? History shows that it was hard for Texas to get rid of its slave-holding past. The State’s attitude to the process of desegregation was not homogenous. Most Western Texas districts were ready to implement new strategies, and the doors of all-white schools were opened for the representatives of other races. On the other hand, such events as the one in Mansfield took place. As it was stated by McArthur, around 400 white people came to Mansfield High School in order to deny the access of 3 black students there. The South Texas regions insisted on continuing the discrimination of African American …show more content…

After signing the Southern Manifesto, the movement against desegregation caused the intensive development of racist groups, whose actions were based on fear and violence. Traditionalism means that most people were comfortable with the conditions they were living in. According to McArthur, the State’s white population believed that political, social, and economic hierarchy is essential. Conservative view suggests that “the people at the top are inherently more deserving than those below” (McArthur). The economy of Texas was plantation-centered, with only black people working there. In such a way, the traditionalist political culture was based on material benefits rather than moral beliefs. The Mansfield High incident also shows that Texas had a strong individualist political culture, meaning that local people revealed no respect to the declared governmental decisions. Those businesses that were closed as a sign of solidarity appear to be a perfect example of such an …show more content…

In comparison to most of the State, people from East Texas voted for those politicians, whose ideas and promoting campaigns were the most discriminating and conservative. Such a difference is based on the fact that there were some tensions between the local politicians and country’s government. Mostly, Texas had a two-party system, which aimed to establish a balance between opinions on different subjects, including segregation. The eastern part of Texas, on the other hand, was more homogenous, meaning that all local politicians shared the interests of one dominating group of people. These politicians were segregationists because they had segregation promoting campaigns and their own well-being depended on this issue a lot. The process of nation-building requires mutual concessions and compromises. Texan people behaved suspiciously because they were not sure that the official government would take care of their specific interests. Still, most of them preferred rationality to obstinate

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