People Of Texas Research Articles

The Re-enslavement of Free Black People in Texas, 1858–1864

The Re-enslavement of Free Black People in Texas, 1858–1864

Trends in HPV-associated cancer incidence in Texas medically underserved regions.

While cervical cancer incidence rates (IR) in the United States have dropped in the last 20 years, non-cervical human papillomavirus (HPV) associated cancers increased. Many people in Texas (TX) live in medically underserved areas and have higher risk of developing HPV-associated cancers. Since previous studies of these regions focused on cervical cancer, we included other HPV-associated cancers in our analysis of IR in East TX and the TX-Mexico Border compared to other TX regions. Cancer data from 2006 to 2019 were obtained from the TX Cancer Registry. Cases of HPV-associated cervical, vaginal, vulvar, penile, anal, and oropharyngeal cancers and corresponding patient-level demographic data were included. We calculated IR per 100,000 and drew heat maps to visualize cancer IR by county. To control potential confounders, we added county-level risk factors: rates for smoking, excessive drinking, obesity, STIs, primary care provider availability and dentist availability, from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program. We reported IRs by region and time and estimated unadjusted and adjusted risk ratio (RR) for association of each type of cancer and region. Lastly, we created adjusted models for each cancer by period to see time trends of regional differences. Risk of anal, cervical, and oropharyngeal cancer was lower at parts of the Border than in the rest of TX in the adjusted model. We also observed increasing anal and oropharyngeal cancer risk and decreasing cervical and vaginal cancer risk over time. Patient sociodemographics, behavioral risk factors, and access to care may contribute to some observed differences in cancer IR across regions. This indicates that targeted prevention efforts towards these regions, especially in low socioeconomic status communities, may benefit future generations.

Occurrence and removal of fecal bacteria and microbial source tracking markers in a stormwater detention basin overlying the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone in Texas.

The Edwards Aquifer is the primary water resource for over 2 million people in Texas and faces challenges including fecal contamination of water recharging the aquifer, while effectiveness of best management practices (BMPs) such as detention basins in mitigating fecal pollution remains poorly understood. For this study, the inlet and outlet of a detention basin overlying the aquifer's recharge zone were sampled following storm events using automated samplers. Microbial source tracking and culture-based methods were used to determine the occurrence and removal of fecal genetic markers and fecal coliform bacteria in collected water samples. Markers included E. coli (EC23S857), Enterococcus (Entero1), human (HF183), canine (BacCan), and bird (GFD). Fecal coliforms, EC23S857, and Entero1 were detected following each storm event. GFD was the most frequent host-associated marker detected (91% of samples), followed by BacCan (46%), and HF183 (17%). Wilcoxon signed rank tests indicated significantly lower outlet concentrations for fecal coliforms, EC23S857, and Entero1, but not for HF183, GFD, and BacCan. Higher GFD and BacCan outlet concentrations may be due to factors independent of basin design, such as the non-point source nature of bird fecal contamination and domestic dog care practices in neighborhoods contributing to the basin. Mann-Whitney tests showed marker concentrations were not significantly higher during instances of fecal coliform water quality criterion exceedance, except for E. coli, and that fecal coliform concentrations were not significantly different based on marker detection. Overall, results suggest that the detention basin is effective in attenuating fecal contamination associated with fecal coliforms and the general markers, but not for host-associated markers. Consequently, management efforts should focus on mitigating dog and bird-associated fecal pollution in the study region.

Use of preferred contraceptive method among young adults in Texas and California: A comparison by state and insurance coverage.

Young people's ability to use their preferred contraceptive method is an indicator of reproductive autonomy and healthcare access. State policies can hinder or facilitate access to a preferred contraceptive method. This study compared use of preferred contraceptive method in Texas and California, states with contrasting health policy contexts that impact health insurance coverage and access to subsidized family planning services. We used baseline survey data from an ongoing cluster randomized controlled trial of sexually active students, assigned female at birth, ages 18-25, at 29 community colleges in Texas and California (N = 1,974). We described contraceptive preferences and use, as well as reasons for nonuse of a preferred method. We conducted multivariable-adjusted mixed-effects logistic regression analyses for clustered data, and then calculated the predicted probability of using a preferred contraceptive method in Texas and California by insurance status. More Texas participants were uninsured than Californians (30% vs. 8%, p<0.001). Thirty-six percent of Texas participants were using their preferred contraceptive method compared to 51% of Californians. After multivariable adjustments, Texas participants had lower odds of using their preferred method (adjusted odds ratio = 0.62, 95% confidence interval = 0.48-0.81) compared to those in California. Texas participants in all insurance categories had a lower predicted probability of preferred method use compared to California participants. In Texas, we found a 12.1 percentage-point difference in the predicted probability of preferred method use between the uninsured (27.5%) and insured (39.6%) (p<0.001). Texans reported financial barriers to using their preferred method more often than Californians (36.7% vs. 19.2%, p<0.001) as did the uninsured compared to the insured (50.9% vs. 18.7%, p<0.001). These findings present new evidence that state of residence plays an important role in young people's ability to realize their contraceptive preference. Young people in Texas, with lower insurance coverage and more limited access to safety net programs for contraceptive care than in California, have lower use of preferred contraception. It has become urgent in states with abortion bans to support young people's access to their preferred methods.

Understanding the Experiences of Latinx LGBTQ Texans at the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT Marginalized communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, including both racial/ethnic minority and sexual minority populations. To date, there has been little research examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at the intersections of marginalized identities. Furthermore, available national data on COVID-19 outcomes may obscure our understanding of region-specific outcomes, particularly in the U.S. South. Using an intersectional approach, we explore differences in worries over COVID-19, preventative behaviors, and COVID-19 outcomes in the early months of the pandemic in a diverse sample of LGBTQ people (N = 1076) living in Texas. Our findings indicated that LGBTQ Latinx people in Texas reported more COVID-19 related worries and adverse outcomes than non-Latinx LGBTQ people. These findings are in line with previous research that found that the increased risk to Latinx and LGBTQ populations in public health crises is often overlooked and can be attributed to many factors such as socioeconomic status, occupational propensity, disparities in physical health, and barriers to healthcare access. Furthermore, our findings suggest the necessity of utilizing an intersectional approach when examining the disproportionate burden marginalized communities face in public health crises.

P054Medication abortion via telemedicine: Interest among young people in texas and california

<h3>Objectives</h3> With growing abortion restrictions in the US, medication abortion via telemedicine may become an important way to access services. However, 19 states ban telemedicine for abortion. Little is known about interest among young people who comprise the largest share of abortion patients. <h3>Methods</h3> We used supplementary data, collected November 2021–May 2022, in a randomized trial of community college students at 29 sites, aged 18–28, who were assigned female at birth, and were sexually active with a male partner (n=1,210). Online surveys contained a brief explanation of medication abortion via telemedicine and assessed interest level. We used mixed effects logistic regression with random effects for site to estimate interest in medication abortion via telemedicine. <h3>Results</h3> Almost two-thirds of participants (64%) reported that they would be interested in medication abortion through telemedicine if they wanted an abortion. Multivariable results showed that interest levels in Texas were significantly higher than in California (adjusted OR (aOR), 1.5; 95% CI, 1.0–2.1), as well as among young people identifying as queer (aOR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.4–1.7). Interest in telemedicine for medication abortion did not vary by measures of socio-economic adversity, including food or housing insecurity, lack of insurance, or by race/ethnicity or language barriers. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Results showed that in the wake of Texas Senate Bill 8, interest in telemedicine for medication abortion was widespread among students, and particularly high in Texas, as well as among queer students, who may face greater barriers to care. These findings highlight the importance of continued advocacy for access to telemedicine for medication abortion in all states including where restrictions exist.

Patterns in Mental Health Symptomatology and Cigarette, E-cigarette, and Marijuana Use Among Texas Youth and Young Adults Amid the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.

This study examined patterns in mental health symptomatology and smoking and vaping behaviors among youth and young adults over a 1-year period from before to during the first year of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Participants (n = 2148) were 16-24-year-olds who completed three waves of the Texas Adolescent Tobacco and Marketing Surveillance Study (TATAMS). Descriptive statistics and mixed effects logistic regression models were used to examine changes in anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and cigarette, e-cigarette, and marijuana use from before COVID-19 (fall 2019) to 6-month follow-up (spring 2020) and 12-month follow-up (fall 2020) periods during COVID-19. Longitudinal associations between mental health symptomatology and smoking and vaping were examined. Modest increases in symptoms of anxiety and depression were observed from before to during COVID-19. Perceived stress remained high and unchanged. Ever marijuana use increased at 6- and 12-month follow-up, while ever cigarette and e-cigarette use increased significantly only at 12-month follow-up. Marijuana use frequency increased significantly at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Adjusting for sociodemographic factors, increased symptoms of anxiety and depression predicted increases in ever cigarette, e-cigarette, and marijuana use, and past 30-day cigarette and e-cigarette use, but not past 30-day marijuana use. Higher perceived stress predicted increases in ever use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes and past 30-day cigarette use. Changes in mental health symptomatology and smoking and vaping behaviors among young people in Texas varied during this period of the COVID era. Increases in mental health symptomatology predicted increases in cigarette, e-cigarette, and marijuana use behaviors. This study adds to the limited research on the longitudinal impact of anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress on cigarette, e-cigarette, and marijuana use from before to during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings warrant health messaging and interventions that address the significant impact of worse mental health on increased smoking and vaping behavior, especially during crises like COVID-19 that may exacerbate mental health and substance use behaviors.

Impact of name change and gender marker correction on identity documents to structural factors and harassment among transgender and gender diverse people in Texas

AbstractThis study explores associations between name change and gender marker correction (NCGMC) on identity documents (IDs) with structural factors and harassment. Among 1301 transgender and gender diverse participants in the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey in Texas, only 22% reported NCGMC on all or some of their IDs. Adjusted odds show that many participants who have NCGMC in all or some of their IDs reported having been fired at some point in their lives due to transgender identity or were denied services/benefits when self‐identified gender did not match documents. Having NCGMC was associated with lower odds of harassment in public settings, fewer housing‐related issues due to gender identity, being treated with more respect by doctors/health care providers, and feeling more comfortable asking police for help. Despite many positive outcomes, having NCGMC was associated with higher odds of health care providers asking intrusive questions and struggling with insurance coverage for gender‐affirming care.

Exploring health care experiences of transgender people living in Texas

BackgroundAlthough the transgender population in the United States is greater than 1.4 million, health care experiences in this group are underaddressed. PurposeTo explore the health care experiences of transgender people in Texas. MethodsThis was an exploratory, sequential multimethod study. In Phase 1, to identify key health-related topics, a self-selected sample of 14 participants completed an online survey. In Phase 2, the focus was understanding care experiences for 12 participants using audio-recorded interviews and theme identification. NVivo software was used for data management. FindingsIn Phase 1, findings included needing to: educate providers (89%), correct care staff on pronoun use (75%), tolerate staff's refusal to use one's preferred pronoun (50%). In Phase 2, four themes emerged: discrimination, provider practices, challenges to navigating the health care system, and gender identity. DiscussionValuing transgender experiences is a first step in addressing care gaps. Change will require provider introspection and application of care guidelines.

The Texas Rangers in Transition: From Gunfighters toCriminal Investigators, 1921–1935 by Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler

Reviewed by: The Texas Rangers in Transition: From Gunfighters toCriminal Investigators, 1921–1935 by Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler Mitchel P. Roth The Texas Rangers in Transition: From Gunfighters to Criminal Investigators, 1921–1935. By Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2019. Pp. xii, 640. $34.95, ISBN 978-08061-6260-7.) The Texas Rangers in Transition: From Gunfighters to Criminal Investigators, 1921–1935 chronicles an era in Texas Ranger history that has received little attention, a period that encompasses both Prohibition and the Great Depression. The book is organized according to the six gubernatorial administrations of this era. Its thirty-six chapters capture every major and, sometimes to its detriment, every minor incident involving Texas Rangers from this period. The chapters are bookended by an introduction, offering capsule biographies of the iconic Rangers from this era, and an epilogue following their careers after the formation of the Department of Public Safety in 1935. One of the repeated themes of the book is how Rangers "bounced in and out," often leaving for better-paying jobs (p. 15). Indeed, one of the biggest challenges for the force was policing such a large state with an underfunded and undermanned Ranger roster, usually consisting of fewer than fifty men. The authors are on target when they note that "Texans might love their Rangers, but the legislature sure hated to spend money on them" (p. 31). Moreover, "the prestige of being a Texas Ranger was sometimes more important than the low pay" (p. 82). But it was rare for a lawman to leave a better-paying job to join the Rangers in any case. During the transition era, the Rangers were mostly tasked with enforcing Prohibition and gambling laws. Among the most difficult Ranger tasks was policing the boomtowns created by major oil discoveries. Contrary to presentday expectations, communities often resented, rather than welcomed, the Rangers, since they were often investigating local law enforcement. One of the more contentious oil boomtowns was Borger, where the Rangers issued a "'sundown order'" mandating "prostitutes and other undesirables" leave town within twelve hours, leading to an exodus of at least 1,200 prostitutes "'strung out along the highways'" (p. 306). Residents, though, were more than ready for the Rangers to move on, claiming their "presence had reduced property values by 50 percent and was bad for business" (p. 310). Many residents and peacekeepers did not like outsiders coming in to keep the peace. But the attitude toward the Rangers varied according to the city. While Dallas was generally enthusiastic, El Paso and San Antonio were among the more "Ranger averse" cities (p. 184). The book covers the state, section by section, enumerating the challenges that the behind-the-times police force faced. East Texas, for example, was particularly troublesome. The authors point out that this region "was really a part of the South" and was behind only Mississippi and Georgia in its number of lynching victims (p. 152). When they were not protecting black prisoners, the Rangers were chasing moonshiners, car thieves, and bootleggers. The start of the 1930s saw increased calls for modernization and reorganization, leading to the creation of the Department of Public Safety in 1935. Within a year, the Ranger force "was operating as an efficient, modern, and integral part of the Texas state police system" (p. 521). One politician asserted before the reorganization, [End Page 744] "The people of Texas cannot expect a constabulary of the saddle horse and sixshooter age to keep pace with ultra-modern criminals" (pp. 485–86). The Texas Rangers might have lost some of their autonomy, but by the time the transition took place, the force was "'only a shadow of its former greatness'" (p. 486). Moreover, most supporters agreed that if Texas was to have a bona fide "'state police force, the Rangers offer[ed] the best nucleus'" (p. 486). The Texas Rangers in Transition is admirably researched and incredibly detailed. Having scoured archives from around the state, using documents, letters, and newspapers, the authors scrupulously paint a portrait of the Ranger force on the cusp of modernization. Mitchel P. Roth Sam Houston State University Copyright © 2020...

The Civil War on the Rio Grande, 1846–1876 ed. by Roseann Bacha-Garza, Christopher L. Miller, Russell K. Skowronek

Reviewed by: The Civil War on the Rio Grande, 1846–1876 ed. by Roseann Bacha-Garza, Christopher L. Miller, Russell K. Skowronek Richard B. McCaslin The Civil War on the Rio Grande, 1846–1876. Edited by Roseann Bacha-Garza, Christopher L. Miller, and Russell K. Skowronek. The Elma Dill Russell Spencer Series in the West and Southwest. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2019. Pp. xxii, 326. $45.00, ISBN 978-1-62349-719-4.) The Civil War affected all parts of the United States, but much that occurred far from the major battlefields has slipped from public memory. Faculty at universities, curators of local museums, and community members in southern [End Page 183] Texas have been working to reverse that inattention, developing a Civil War trail that stretches through five counties on the lower Rio Grande (Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Zapata, and Webb Counties) and Kenedy County immediately to the north. The results include a website with a virtual trail, signs for the actual sites, a Facebook page, classroom materials, and a previous book that tells the story of the project (Christopher L. Miller, Russell K. Skowronek, and Roseann Bacha-Garza, Blue and Gray on the Border: The Rio Grande Valley Civil War Trail [College Station, Tex., 2018]), which describes the trail and discusses African American soldiers. Russell K. Skowronek writes the concluding essay in the book under review. His summary adds little except his useful explanation that the work reflects a “‘cubist’ approach” to “the American Civil War era along the Rio Grande” (p. 292). Cubist he defines, from David Hurst Thomas, as “a combination of oral and documentary history, ethnographic analogy,” and archaeology (p. 271). Together, these approaches should provide a better understanding of the conflict and its impact. In truth, this goal has been only partially achieved. Oral history concerning the Civil War has obvious limitations, but all history is only as good as the written corroboration of different sources. The authors of these essays use some great sources, especially Mary Margaret McAllen, who relies on the archives of the McAllen Ranch. But those familiar with Texas in the Civil War era will find a substantial number of important secondary works missing from the bibliography and endnotes, which contain sources not listed in the bibliography. Standard histories of Texas and the trans-Mississippi theater are absent, as well as studies on such topics as blockade-runners and Reconstruction politics. Biographies of important characters who are mentioned repeatedly—Edmund J. Davis, John S. Ford, José María de Jesús Carbajal, Philip Sheridan, Porfirio Diaz, and Benito Juárez, for example—are not cited. This oversight leads to mistakes, such as misidentifying the regiment of Union cavalry that Davis led, declaring that Davis was governor of Texas in 1875, giving the wrong rank for Ford in 1864, and misstating Texas cotton production. Concerning ethnography, several authors, most notably McAllen and Jerry Thompson, provide good insights on the relations between Tejanos and Anglos. But it is on the topic of African Americans that the work becomes too narrowly focused. Roseann Bacha-Garza has an intriguing essay on three mixed-race families, and W. Stephen McBride and James N. Leiker have interesting essays on African American soldiers during the first years of Reconstruction. Apparently, few of the soldiers stayed in the Rio Grande Valley after their enlistment, yet there were other African Americans who were just as vital in shaping the area. While the figures are misquoted several times in this volume, there were fourteen slaves in Cameron, Hidalgo, and Starr Counties in 1860, and the first two counties also had the largest populations of free black people in Texas at that time. Their stories, as well as those of the slaves, would enrich the ethnographic history of the Rio Grande Valley Civil War Trail. This analysis would be much more useful than repeating uncorroborated stories about the Underground Railroad in Texas and how Ford and Santos Benavides worked as slave hunters. Rolando Garza has worked long and hard on military archaeology in the Rio Grande Valley, but the Palmito Ranch battlefield has yielded little. Only forty of the more than three thousand acres of the site have been...

Cervical Cancer Incidence Rates in Texas Counties 1995–2015

As of 2014, Texas has the 6th highest incidence rate and the 5th highest mortality rate of cervical cancer in the nation. In addition, Texas ranks 3rd to last in the United States in human papilloma (HPV) vaccinations, which helps prevent one of the leading causes of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer incidence rates in Texas remain high, despite it becoming one the most successfully preventable treatable cancers in the United States due to a combination of screenings and HPV vaccinations. Furthermore, spatial distribution of cervical cancer is unknown among Texas counties. This study will follow the political ecology model to elaborate on the political, historical, social, and economic factors that may explain why HPV vaccinations are low and the incidence rate remains high despite the interventions available to people in Texas. This study will examine the geography of cervical cancer in Texas counties from 1995 - 2015 as well as its relationship with religious adherence, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and uninsured rates. I will use a bivariate correlation to relate these factors with cancer incidence rates and ArcMap to create maps to illustrate the spatial distribution of these diseases. The data will be obtained from the Texas Cancer Registry, Texas County Health Rankings 2018, and the Association of Religion Data (CDC) Archives (ARDA). I expect that cervical cancer rates will decline after the introduction of the HPV vaccine in 2007, but areas with higher religious adherence will have higher rates of cervical cancer. In addition, I expect that uninsured rates, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors could possibly impact cervical cancer incidence rates.

Galveston on San Francisco Bay: Juneteenth in the Fillmore District, 1945–2016

This article explores the history of Juneteenth—the commemoration of the emancipation of enslaved people in Texas—in San Francisco, California. In 1945, Wesley Johnson, a Texan migrant, introduced Juneteenth to San Francisco’s Black community. The celebration sustained itself over seventy years, making it the longest continuous urban celebration of Juneteenth. Juneteenth remained relevant in San Francisco because it became intertwined with the history of African Americans in the Western Addition neighborhood. Most significantly, the holiday was a key expression of resilience as the city demolished the neighborhood in the 1960s, expelling much of the Black community. Surprisingly, later in the 1980s, the holiday became a key point of contact between the city and the Black community. This unlikely holiday continues in San Francisco to the present day.

When Was the Republic of Texas No More?: Revisiting the Annexation of Texas

When Was the Republic of Texas No More?: Revisiting the Annexation of Texas Keith J. Volanto (bio) and Gene B. Preuss (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution A familiar scene: The last president of the Republic of Texas, Anson Jones, solemnly lowers the Texas flag on February 19, 1846, in a ceremony many have erroneously considered to mark the official end of the Republic. Prints and Photographs Collection, di_05334, The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin. [End Page 30] The scene has been described countless times in Texas history textbooks and classroom lectures. On February 19, 1846, a crowd assembled in front of a two-room dogtrot cabin in Austin, just a few steps from the south entrance of the present capitol building, to witness history as Texas’s first U.S. governor was inaugurated. The structure had been built for the Republic of Texas government after President Mirabeau Lamar convinced the Texas Congress to move the capital from the town named for his political rival, Sam Houston, to the budding community of Waterloo, soon renamed after Stephen F. Austin, on Texas’s western frontier. Just a few months before, members of the constitutional convention had met there to draft a new state constitution. The Republic of Texas would soon be annexed by the United States if the necessary requirements detailed in a joint congressional resolution could be completed by the end of 1845. Texas had met its obligations, and the U.S. Congress had approved the Texas constitution, leading the group to gather for the solemn occasion. “The great measure of annexation, so earnestly desired by the people of Texas is happily consummated,” Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas told the assembled legislators of the new State of Texas, “and I am happy to greet you as their chosen representative, and tender to you my cordial congratulations on an event the most extraordinary in the annals of the world, and one which marks a bright triumph in the history of republican intuitions.” The hyperbole-laden speech was Jones’s valedictory speech before turning the reins of power over to the recently [End Page 31] elected, and now assembled, state government officials. “I, as President of the Republic, with my officers, am now present to surrender into the hands of those whom the people have chosen, the power and authority which we have some time held,” Jones stated. He spent a few moments giving an account of his administration and the steps that he and his cabinet took to make annexation a reality. Then his speech rose to a maudlin crescendo, “The Lone Star of Texas, which ten years since arose amid clouds, over fields of carnage, and obscurely shone for a while, has culminated, and, following an inscrutable destiny, has passed on and become fixed forever in that glorious constellation which all freemen and lovers of freedom in the world, must reverence and adore—the American Union.” Finally, Jones built to the dénouement that has reverberated through Texas history: “The final act in this great drama is now performed: the Republic of Texas is no more.”1 Jones then lowered the flag of the Republic and raised the flag of the United States, when—according to legend—the flagpole split. “During the whole time,” one observer noted, “tears crept unconsciously from the eye of many a weather-beaten Texian, who had toiled and suffered, and bled to establish an independent government.”2 Noah Smithwick, a blacksmith and memoirist, remembered: “Many a head was bowed, many a broad chest heaved, and many a manly cheek was wet with tears when that broad field of blue in the center of which, like a signal light, glowed the lone star, emblem of the sovereignty of Texas, was furled and laid away among the relics of the dead republic.” But, upon reflection, he stated, a happy note was struck, “we were most of us natives of the United States, and when the stars and stripes, the flag of our fathers, was run up and catching the breeze unrolled its heaven born colors to the light, cheer after cheer...

The Lynching of Mexicans in the Texas Borderlands. By Nicholas Villanueva, Jr

Nicholas Villanueva Jr. analyzes the growth of anti-Mexican sentiment in the chaotic decade of the 1910s and how that sentiment subsided by the end of the decade. Villanueva argues that the Mexican Revolution influenced the rise of Mexican lynching in Texas because of the violence against Americans in Mexico. Even though this theme is seen throughout the book, it is most clearly stated in Chapter 1, “Expatriates, Exiles, and Refugees,” in which Villanueva describes how the American press promoted the idea that Anglo Americans in Mexico were victims of indignities and expropriations (p. 49). While there is truth to that claim, Villanueva contends that it was exaggerated, which led to problems for Mexican-origin people in Texas and likely in other regions of the Southwest as well. Chapter 5, “World War I and the Decline of Mexican Lynching,” is the especially enlightening in advancing the idea of the “new other.” Throughout chaotic years of the Mexican Revolution, Mexican-origin people were the “enemy other”; however, that perception declined as Anglo Texas found a new enemy: German Americans (p. 163). While it may have become clear to U.S. historians that anti-German sentiments grew during the World War I, few have made Villanueva’s connection, for which he must be given proper credit.

The Photographer as Cultural Outsider

In 1949, former Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographer Russell Lee was hired to provide photographic documentation for a two-year sociological study undertaken by two University of Texas at Austin researchers that was titled “The Spanish-Speaking People of Texas.” The nine hundred images Lee shot were never published, yet Lee saw them as his finest body of work. A critical-historical examination of these images reveals that Lee worked in the same survey style he had employed during his FSA years. His images indeed demonstrate the lack of social justice and civil rights accorded to Mexican Americans in the late 1940s in Texas, while also displaying his subjects' aspirational nature. Time constraints, a broad shooting script, and the photographer's own lack of a deep understanding of the individuals he photographed worked against Lee, however, since his coverage displays little depth and the richness of Mexican American life is lacking in his images.

Republic of Barbecue: Stories Beyond the Brisket

Pp. xxvii + 227, acknowledgments, intro- duction, photos, index, photo credits.) This beautiful collection, colorful enough to display as a coffee-table book, contributes sig- nificantly to the oral history tradition and the study of barbecue simultaneously. it arrives full of vibrant and artistic photographs delivering as much food for the eyes as the establishments it discusses deliver barbecue to the people of Austin, texas, and its surrounding areas. rec- ognizing the cultural importance of barbeque to the people of texas, Republic of Barbecue: Stories Beyond the Brisket compiles pages upon pages of oral histories from the men and women who have dedicated their lives to the delivery of what has become not only a texas staple, but for many, a way of life. editor elizabeth engel- hardt, an associate professor of American Stud- ies at the university of texas at Austin, com- piled essays, interviews, photographs, and personal narratives collected by 11 graduate students and turned them into a study of the people behind great barbecue that informs, engages, and entertains readers of all spheres.

The 1861 Texas Printings of the Ordinance of Secession, a Declaration of the Causes and an Address to the People of Texas by Everett C. Wilkie Jr. (review)

The 1861 Texas Printings of the Ordinance of Secession, a Declaration of the Causes and an Address to the People of Texas by Everett C. Wilkie Jr. (review)

The History of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Texas

The first branch of the NAACP in Texas was established in El Paso in 1915 and by 1918 four branches called Texas home. But Texas did not provide a welcome to the new Texas branches that were met with bitter racial animus often fostered by white supremacy organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. These organizations were known for their campaigns of intimidation that often kept African Americans from participating in constitutionally guaranteed rights like voting. While other branches of the NAACP emerged in Texas, many disbanded under threat by the government bolstered by the lawlessness of the Ku Klux Klan. By 1923, only five branches existed in Texas and a resurgence of the organization did not begin until World War II and immediately thereafter. By 1945, the Texas state conference of the NAACP was the second largest in the country boasting more than one hundred branches and almost 30,000 members. From that time to this, the NAACP branches in Texas have grown and continue to flourish. The African American Experience in Texas chronicles the creation, development and history of the Texas branches. From Jim Crow to Barack Obama, the NAACP Texas stands as a symbol of freedom, equality and justice in Texas for all.

To the People of Texas, an Appeal: In Vindication of His Conduct of the Navy (review)

To the People of Texas, an Appeal: In Vindication of His Conduct of the Navy (review)