Race relations in Austin, Texas, c.1917-1929

Abstract

This thesis studies the dynamics of race relations in Austin, Texas, during a period of rapid social and demographic change. A principal objective has been to assess the impact that a massive influx of Mexican immigrants had upon what was formerly a biracial society, composed of whites and blacks. Such areas as education, residential patterns, employment, politics, and law enforcement have been examined to determine whether or not the segregation and discrimination traditionally faced by blacks were also extended to the newly-arrived Mexican immigrants.

Austin was chosen for this study because of its unique position, being located in both the American south's `black-belt' region and the `Mexicanized' area of the Southwest. Moreover, by the end of the 1920s Austin resembled a microcosm of Texas in terms of the proportion of African-Americans and Mexicans in the population. Austin was also at the centre of two major demographic movements affecting the United States between World War I and the onset of the Great Depression: unprecedented levels of Mexican immigration and the Great Migration of southern blacks to the industrial centres of the North.

Bearing in mind the multiracial character of American society and the fact that African-Americans and Mexican-Americans are presently the nation's two largest - and among the most deprived - ethnic `minorities', this study aims to shed light upon the historical origins of some of today's most pressing social issues in the United States.

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