Theses/Dissertations - American Studies
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Browsing Theses/Dissertations - American Studies by Author "Baylor University."
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Item A different kind of reservation : Waco's red-light district revisited.(2018-01-22) Balderach, Amy S.; Parrish, T. Michael.; Baylor University.Similar to other American cities after the Civil War, Waco, Texas, maintained a large red-light district. Commercialized sex boomed in Waco, as hundreds of itinerant prostitutes lived among working-class minorities, plying their trade in brothels in the Reservation, an area sanctioned specifically for prostitution. In 1889, recognizing both the possible ill effects of vice on the population and an easy means to obtain revenue, policymakers required prostitutes and madams to pay tri-monthly licensing fees to operate in the Reservation. Further, law enforcers frequently arrested bawds, gaining consistent revenue for their municipality. By maintaining a contradictory and inconsistent policy toward the bawdy women of the Reservation, Waco developed a method that was conducive to allowing a prosperous, albeit crime-ridden, sex trade to continue in the community until 1917, when the federal government created an army base, Camp MacArthur, which briefly provided a higher boost to the economy than sexual vice.Item A history of integration of the Waco public schools : 1954 to the present.(2018-01-22) Gong, Wei-ling; Baylor University.American public schools were segregated racially in most of the nation for more than a century after the first public school system was established in 1837 in Massachusetts. Desegregation and integration of the public schools nationwide began in 1954 when the United States Supreme Court made its historic decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The process of desegregation in the Waco Independent School District (WISD) actually started in 1963 after many problems and obstacles. By 1968, integration of both teachers and students was virtually completed. Although blacks and Mexican Americans in Waco strongly opposed the WISD's integration plan of 1973, the plan was approved by U.S. District Judge Jack Roberts on 27 July 1973. Dissatisfied with the integration situation and Roberts' order, some blacks and Mexican Americans lodged an appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Louisiana. The case was returned to the District Court. As a result, the school integration plan of 1973 remained largely intact. Now, thirty-three years after the Supreme Court's 1954 decision, both de jure and de facto segregation in the Waco schools are issues of the past. The American public schools as a whole are practicing desegregated education. The issue of school integration, though no longer a main civil rights issue, still demands further attention of both the American people and the American government.Item The Black Community in Waco, Texas: a study of place, family, and work, 1880-1900(1988) Xie, Jingjing; LeMaster, J. R.; Baylor University."The Black Community in Waco, Texas: A Study of Place, Family, and Work, 1880-1900," is a-local study which analyzes residential patterns, family structures, and occupational status of the city's black population in the late nineteenth century. Comparisons between 1880 and 1900 are made concerning these different aspects of life. This study relies heavily on data for Waco recorded in the United States Manuscript Census of 1880 and of 1900. The census documented basic information on family and household composition, kin relations, occupational background, and residential patterns. City directories of Waco for the time period from 1880 to 1900 provided another important source of information. These volumes contain a brief history of the city, identify the location of black businesses, and introduce black social organizations. This research project results in a five-chapter thesis. The introductory chapter provides a brief history of Waco's blacks and discusses the development of the black community from the 1830s (when Negro slaves were brought to the central part of Texas for the first time) to the post-Civil War period, which witnessed a great increase in Waco's black population and brought about a more diversified social life in the city's black community. The 1870 census indicates that the population of Waco was almost equally divided between blacks and whites. Soon the balance was broken as more white people moved into Waco, and the 1880 census shows that blacks represented about one third of the total population. By 1900, black Wacoans made up only twenty-eight percent of the total population. The distribution of these blacks in the city was relatively even among the five wards, and there was not much change in the residential patterns during the twenty-year period under study. Most of the blacks in the city lived on the west side of the Brazos River, with the largest number residing in the Fourth Ward. The findings also suggest that whites comprised a majority of the residents of East Waco, an area traditionally considered as a "black district." Through the distribution of the blacks in the city, the situation of residential segregation was revealed. On some streets, there were no blacks. On others, the only Negroes were single women or men working for white families. On the other hand, some streets were chiefly occupied by blacks, only a few white families could be found. Contributing to the development of a sense of community was the educational and religious life of black Wacoans. After the Civil War, black Wacoans built their own public schools, among which was the first black liberal arts college in the state—Paul Quinn College. They also organized their own church organizations, where ministers and pastors became leaders of black people. There were also social organizations, such as clubs and a musical band. It is through family, education, religion, and other social activities that the black Wacoans began to overcome difficulties on their way to improve themselves. During the last two decades of the nineteenth century, the black family structure in Waco did not change much. Twoparent nuclear families were in the majority, followed by female-headed nuclear families. From 1880 to 1900, however, the number of nuclear families decreased, and the extendedaugmented families increased. Families in this latter category were characterized by the presence of relatives or boarders. Some sociologists suggest that extended-kinship relations played an important part in the black family life, especially in the development of a black child's character. The data also reveals a decrease in the number of families consisting solely of mothers and children. This perhaps reflected the sex and age structure of black Wacoans in which females outnumbered males in almost all age groups. The ratio of females to males, however, decreased from 1880 to 1900. Moreover, Waco's black household size followed the national trend toward smaller households from 1880 to 1900. The largest percentage of households consisted of single blacks who either lived alone or with a white family. An examination of occupational status reveals few surprises. Most black Wacoans worked in the areas of service or manual labor as cooks, servants, washwomen, and laborers, occupations which did not require much skill. Most blackowned businesses were limited to grocery stores, barber shops, and restaurants. The percentage of blacks in professional, proprietary, and skilled occupational categories to the total working population was also limited. The narrow range toward low-paying and less-skilled occupations reflects the blacks' relatively low position in the city's social and economic ladder. It also reveals that the city's black community was not large nor strong enough to reflect a distinct social, political, and economic division within the community. This study suggests that after the Civil War, black Wacoans made some progress in improving their social conditions and organizing their own community life. In order to raise their social status and to become equal to whites in every respect, it seems that they still have a long way to go.Item The Waco lynching of 1916 : perspective and analysis.(2018-01-22) Smith, Rogers Melton; Baylor University.Many lynchings have occurred in the United States. It is the purpose of this study to isolate one incident and compare its characteristics to other lynchings in Waco and to lynchings across the country. Though all lynchings have certain common strains, all vary in some respects. The factors which enter into acts of mob violence help in understanding the racial, political, economic, and social attitudes which have existed in America. In investigating a particular lynching, insight is given to the larger picture of racial attitudes sections of the country. Reaction on the national level exemplifies the anti-lynch stand of the Negroes and many northern whites. However, local reaction shows a more emotional attachment to the circumstances surrounding the incident. While centering the study on one lynching, other Waco lynchings are discussed to give perspective and further understanding to the attitudes of the citizenry.