Falling Stars in the Lone Star: Texas - Essay Example

Since Texas won its independence in the mid 1800's, people from Mexico have been under fire from many violent racial groups. It was the worst shortly after Texas had won the war with the Mexican Army. Soldiers were raiding homes with Mexican families and killing or forcing said families to leave. They would restrict their rights, imprison many of them for supposed "treason", and lynching became a popular activity for many of the soldiers. This, however, would not stand with those who were truly innocent, which happened to be just about everybody who was prosecuted.

Since 1836, Mexican groups had been fighting for their freedoms in Texas. However, luck just wasn't on their side, as the Klu Klux Klan, the Texas Rangers, and the White Caps all controlled the power in Texas around this time. They held many of the political positions of power, and like Blacks in many other parts of the South, Mexicans were receiving the same harsh treatment. Even in 1865, Blacks had begun fighting with the Mexicans for their civil freedoms. Schools were being segregated, restaurants were being selective as to who could come in, and public restroom facilities were also being "quarantined" off from the people of color.

In 1902, Texas even released the poll tax law, which helped to stem off the swing of political power from the Blacks and Mexicans. According to this law, Mexic. Effectively, this reduced the number of Black voters from 160,000 down to a meager 40,000 or so, or about one quarter of the original count. Many of the Jim Crow laws came into effect in the twentieth century as well, which had several negative effects. While aimed specifically at African Americans, they also indirectly affected the Tejanos living in Texas at the time.

These laws had a huge impact on the lives of colored people. They could no longer live where they wanted to, they could be assaulted for no reason by a White person, and many people from the country were forced to live in urban ghettos. In fact, the laws were so bad and bigot groups had such an influence that Governor R. Shivers, who was totally against the Brown V. Board case, was using the Texas Rangers to prevent African Americans from entering certain schools. Seeing this as a huge step backwards socially, many things would happen in the following years that would change the quality of life and civil liberty for everyone.

No longer were the people of color going to stand for this kind of treatment, and it was about time to do something about it. Many acts and cases would follow which would change the face of the Lone Star State as everyone knew it to be. It began with many of the Mexicans and Tejanos acting out. In 1919, Brownsville legislator J. Canales opposed the Texan Ranger organization and worked to reduce their numbers drastically for all of the atrocities which they had spread. He had succeeded, and the numbers filling the ranks in the Rangers had plummeted in the following years.

In 1929, the group called the League of United Latin American Citizens had been volleying for racial equality in education for Tejanos, and had been succeeding as well. The Tejanos