Some of this came out from time to time during presidential primary & general election campaigns. I remember in '63 when we moved to Houston from upstate NY, where we remained for 3 years, one Texas politician would say in campaign speeches, "Back in 1845 when we let the United States join us... " (I was in part of 4th grade & all of 5th, 6th, & 7th) My best friend down the street was from a large Catholic family & had a mom who cleaned houses & a dad who was a commercial airline pilot. We would ask each other who our parents were voting for & even though her dad was paid a pittance & her mom was of Mexican genealogy, I was shocked when she told us that they HAD to vote Republican or her dad would lose his job.
My parents, who were from the Pittsburgh, PA area & transferred so my dad could work with IBM at NASA wondered frequently if they had made a terrible mistake moving to Texas.
Then, of course, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, & the others, so we moved to MD just outside DC when I was in 10th grade.
Being from Texas, with an accent, was problematic until I joined a lot of things, & luckily they didn't hold it against me for long. However, some still called me "Tex" at my 45th class reunion.
The LBJ enactment of the Civil Rights Act helped, although it was surprising how many adults in our neighborhood were NOT in favor of it.
The funny thing is that when my dad took early retirement after being a lifer with IBM he & my mom couldn't wait to move back to Texas. (Well, they were golfers & the Texas Hill Country had beautiful courses & was cheap!)
Thank you, Michelle. This is a terrific piece which I just shared to bsky. I had to take Texas History in 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, & 9th grades because we moved so much. Then I had to take it again at SMU & help my 3 Canadian-born kids with their homework & test prep for many more years.
Believe it or not I was aware of most of this, but it's great to see it distilled! I very much appreciated the reminders. There was a curriculum change imposed at some point which dropped or white-washed the worst bits. A really close professor, who became a friend, remembered all the details & used to talk about it at community meetings in our living/learning complex at SMU.
(Some of us noticed in 8th grade American History that the Texas History portion had changed from what we learned previously in the late 60s.)
He was more than happy to debate, answer questions, & to discuss & listen compassionately to community members about it. He recommended sources & taught them in Freshman & Soph required liberal studies courses. (he had a masters in Psych)
Reparations absolutely need to happen!!! Those planks in the D platform are really important. It's high time Texans of all stripes know about these grave injustices.
I remember my 7th grade Texas History teacher so well. Her name was Mrs. Reed at Lowell Middle School in San Antonio Texas. She was a molato and she told us (that meant she was black too.) I remember how happy she was when she spoke of Juneteenth! When Galveston got word that Blacks were free. I went to a school that was 99% Latino. We were Red line in those days. So were our public schools. I wonder if she taught us more than other schools were teaching their students. She would clean the desk with alcohol every day. RIP Mrs. Read. 🙏🏼
I have a history degree and I’m 6th generation Texan, and I never, ever heard of that Ashworth bullshit.
Thank you for writing today ♥️🇺🇸✌🏻
💙 💙
Reparations need to happen. It’s odd when someone suggests this the backlash is vitriolic.
Some of this came out from time to time during presidential primary & general election campaigns. I remember in '63 when we moved to Houston from upstate NY, where we remained for 3 years, one Texas politician would say in campaign speeches, "Back in 1845 when we let the United States join us... " (I was in part of 4th grade & all of 5th, 6th, & 7th) My best friend down the street was from a large Catholic family & had a mom who cleaned houses & a dad who was a commercial airline pilot. We would ask each other who our parents were voting for & even though her dad was paid a pittance & her mom was of Mexican genealogy, I was shocked when she told us that they HAD to vote Republican or her dad would lose his job.
My parents, who were from the Pittsburgh, PA area & transferred so my dad could work with IBM at NASA wondered frequently if they had made a terrible mistake moving to Texas.
Then, of course, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, & the others, so we moved to MD just outside DC when I was in 10th grade.
Being from Texas, with an accent, was problematic until I joined a lot of things, & luckily they didn't hold it against me for long. However, some still called me "Tex" at my 45th class reunion.
The LBJ enactment of the Civil Rights Act helped, although it was surprising how many adults in our neighborhood were NOT in favor of it.
The funny thing is that when my dad took early retirement after being a lifer with IBM he & my mom couldn't wait to move back to Texas. (Well, they were golfers & the Texas Hill Country had beautiful courses & was cheap!)
Thank you, Michelle. This is a terrific piece which I just shared to bsky. I had to take Texas History in 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, & 9th grades because we moved so much. Then I had to take it again at SMU & help my 3 Canadian-born kids with their homework & test prep for many more years.
Believe it or not I was aware of most of this, but it's great to see it distilled! I very much appreciated the reminders. There was a curriculum change imposed at some point which dropped or white-washed the worst bits. A really close professor, who became a friend, remembered all the details & used to talk about it at community meetings in our living/learning complex at SMU.
(Some of us noticed in 8th grade American History that the Texas History portion had changed from what we learned previously in the late 60s.)
He was more than happy to debate, answer questions, & to discuss & listen compassionately to community members about it. He recommended sources & taught them in Freshman & Soph required liberal studies courses. (he had a masters in Psych)
Reparations absolutely need to happen!!! Those planks in the D platform are really important. It's high time Texans of all stripes know about these grave injustices.
I wish Michelle could write the official 7th grade Texas History curriculum.
Now THAT would be a good course!
Do you know how much I would love that? 😁
I remember my 7th grade Texas History teacher so well. Her name was Mrs. Reed at Lowell Middle School in San Antonio Texas. She was a molato and she told us (that meant she was black too.) I remember how happy she was when she spoke of Juneteenth! When Galveston got word that Blacks were free. I went to a school that was 99% Latino. We were Red line in those days. So were our public schools. I wonder if she taught us more than other schools were teaching their students. She would clean the desk with alcohol every day. RIP Mrs. Read. 🙏🏼
I am glad to support a black Texan reparatory commission. I am proud it’s in our new democratic platform💪