Culture, People, HistoryCulture, People, History

Texas ProudTexas Proud

• Break up into small groups– 5 – 7 in each group

• For each of the regions in Texas, provide one cultural/social and one political characteristic

• What does a Texan “look like” in each of these regions?

• East Texas• Gulf Coast• South Texas• Southwest Texas• German Hill Country

• West Texas• Panhandle• North Texas• Central Texas

HistoryHistory

• Cabeza de Vaca -- 100 years before the Mayflower

• Native American tribes displaced – Cherokees and Caddos -- eastern pine

forests– Karankawas -- coast– Comanches, Apaches, Kiowas -- western

plains

Immigration baseImmigration base

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 -- Mexico to Texas

• Texicans

• first “immigrants”

CultureCulture

• No typical Texan

• Cultural diversity and homogeneity

• Diversity runs along cultural regions

• Express culture, attitudes, beliefs

East TexasEast Texas

• Same characteristics of old South

• rural, biracial, segregation

• wealth -- old money from real estate, banking, construction, retail

• agriculture-- cattle, poultry, timber

• heavy brain-drain and migration to Dallas

• Fundamentalist Protestantism shapes:

– attitudes, beliefs, values

– political, social, cultural activities

Gulf CoastGulf Coast

• Spindletop and oil boom contributed to economic expansion (recession and energy crises)

• important shipping center

• population migration and urban economic development (Houston)

• Rural Texas in an urban setting

• wealth from oil, construction, land development

• now has a more diversified economic base

South TexasSouth Texas

• Rancheros and cattle country

• Rio Grande Valley, the maquiladoras and NAFTA

• heavily Hispanic and very low SES

• colonias and environmental pollution

Southwest TexasSouthwest Texas

• Also bicultural and Roman Catholic

• agricultural base -- sheep, goat, cattle

• also part of Texas border region or la frontera

• same problems as South Texas -- heavy dependence on Mexican economy

German Hill CountryGerman Hill Country

• European culture and flavor

• arts and crafts

• socially and politically conservative -- Texas republicanism

• encroachment of urban development from San Antonio and Austin

West TexasWest Texas

• Settled by Anglo population -- Fundamentalist Protestantism

• conservative Democrats; moderate Republicans

• large agricultural area--sheep, cattle, goats

• oil production (Midland and Odessa)

The PanhandleThe Panhandle

• Midwestern in character

• movement to secede from Texas (along with Oklahoma)

• social and political conservatism -- Republicans

• agricultural base -- cotton and grains

North TexasNorth Texas

• French socialist colony in Dallas -- distinctive character of area

• medicine, education, music, science

• Ft. Worth more like West Texas

• economy--defense, aerospace, electronics, aircraft; financial center

• Very urban character

• migration from Frost Belt areas

Central TexasCentral Texas

• Triangle -- Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, San Antonio

• Austin in center (State capitol) -- high tech industries; highly educated workforce

• San Antonio -- tourism, military, medical

• very diverse -- no single dominant trait