• Galveston was the most modern
Texas City in
1900. It was then struck by a hurricane. The storm killed 6000 and left many homeless.

Disaster Strikes Galveston
– 1900

Disaster Strikes Galveston
– 1900
• To protect Galveston from future hurricanes, they built a sea wall and jacked up houses on stilts.

 Oil was already known about. Natives had used it for medicines, De Soto used it to repair ships, it was used to grease wagon wheels and it was used for kerosene lamps.

Spindletop – the First
Gusher – 1901
• Near Beaumont, on a small hill named Spindletop, after digging for oil a little over a 1000 feet, mud, oil and gas came shooting as high as a 100 feet.

Spindletop – the First Gusher –
1901
• Spindletop Oil Field yielded more than
4 times the amount of oil that had been produced the year before by all
Texas oil combined.

Spindletop – the First Gusher –
1901
• Spindletop increased the economic development. Beaumont’s population increased from 9,000 to 50,000. Oil companies called the Texas Company
(Texaco) were started.

Spindletop – the First Gusher – 1901

• Houston was booming thanks to the oil production in that area and it became a major city in the U.S.

• The lumber industry took off in East
Texas. Rail lines went through East
Texas making it easy to get the lumber to the market.
• Life as a lumber worker was tough.
There were several job related injuries and this had Texas to come up with workers’ compensation.

• Dallas emerged as a major city. Dallas became a center for banking, insurance, legal services, and retail.
• Their location was key for Dallas. It was located on the rails.
Neiman – Marcos department store was established in Dallas.

The Progressive Movement



The Terrell Election Law
This insured that elections would be fair. Secret ballots and restricted campaigning near polling booths were part of the reforms.
Major political parties had to hold primary elections so individuals would know the party’s official candidate.

Women Suffrage
– Women wanted the right to vote and not be represented by men. People fought for women to have equal rights. (for good and for bad)
– 1918 in Texas, women got the right to vote in party primaries. They did this by making a deal to pledge support to Governor William
Hobby if he would sign the bill allowing them to vote.

• Women Suffrage
– The 19 th amendment was added to the U.S.
Constitution in 1920 allowing women to vote.

• Prohibition – 18th Amendment – meant no more alcohol.
– People thought that men drinking at saloons were wasting money for their family. Church groups also supported the outlawing of alcohol.

• This law was resented by many and this started people making alcohol illegally.
(moonshine)
• This allowed mobsters like Al Capone to become famous and organized crime became a business.

African Americans Fight
Discrimination
The Jim Crow laws required segregation.
Hotels, restaurants, and events were closed to African Americans. They had to sit in the back at theaters and buses. They had separate bathrooms, water fountains, and waiting rooms. African Americans lived in the poor parts of town.

African Americans Fight
Discrimination


Racial unrest led to many riots. Blacks who were convicted of even minor crimes were lynched by white mobs.
A poll tax (fee for voting) kept out poor minorities

African Americans Fight
Discrimination
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) was created to protect African
Americans.

 Many Mexican American faced the same challenges as African Americans
 Many Mexicans came to Texas to escape the Mexican Revolution of 1910
– 1920.