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***The Galveston Storm (Hurricane)
This was a major natural disaster for Galveston city. Waves battered Galveston, drowning people and destroying buildings. Some 6000 to 8000 people lost their lives, and half the city lay in ruins. To rebuild the city, a new form of local government called the commission was established. -
Spindletop Oil Strike
Spindletop was discovered with oil when the Gladys City Oil, Gas, and Manufacturing Company put up three wells and had Anthony F. Lucas drill for oil alongside them. Eventually Anthony hit a gusher. The giant plume of oil shooting into the air at Spindletop could be seen from more than 10 miles away. Over the next nine days, 800,000 barrels of oil shot out of the Spindletop well before workers could cap the gusher. -
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***Worrld War I
The Allied Powers - Great Britain, France, and Russia - battled the Central Powers. These were Germany and its allies - Austria-Hungary, and Turkey. The German government also tried to ally itself with Mexico, promising to help it regain territory lost to the United States - including Texas. The US declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. -
18th Amendment
The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol. It started when many Texans worried about the effects alcohol abuse had on families. This led to the growth of the temperance movement, a social reform movement that encouraged people to drink less alcohol. In 1895 more than half of the state's counties had placed limits on the production and sale of alcohol. -
19th Amendment
An overriding issue of the time was the effort to gain the right to vote. The Texas Woman Suffrage Association (later the Texas Equal Suffrage Association believed that "no state can be true democracy in which one half of the people are denied to vote." It was ratified in Texas in 1919 and nationally ratified in 1920. -
First Woman Governor of Texas: Mariam A. "Ma" Ferguson
Mariam Ferguson won the election and became the first female governor of Texas and the second female governor in US history. She was a controversial governor. She also did very little to help Texas education. She was also accused of giving Highway Department contracts to friends instead of to the lowest bidder. In 1926, Ferguson lost her bid for re-election to Moody. -
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***The Great Dpression and the Dust Bowl
The Great Depression was a time when the stock market crashed when all the people tried to earn the money from their stock bonds. It was a national crisis and set thousands unemployed. The Dust Bowl was when their were very plants that covered the soil underneath and wind came along and blew the sand around creating major dust clouds, blackening the sky. -
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Vietnam War
The Vietnam War started when Ho Chi Minh helped find the Indochinese Communist Party. The War lasted 19 years, 5 months, 4 weeks and 1 day. The War ended when Vietnam was unified as a communist country, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. -
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***World War II
This occurred 20 years after the WWI. It was a long and bloody war that lasted for six years. Officially beginning on September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, World War II lasted until both the Germans and the Japanese had surrendered to the Allies in 1945. -
Sweatt vs. Painter
(This date recognizes the date when he filed a lawsuit against the UT Director). In 1946, Heman Sweatt applied for admission at the University of Texas School of Law. The school denied his application but created a separate law school for African Americans. Sweatt argued that he would receive better education at the regular law school. Then the Supreme Court ruled that segregated facilities in professional schools violated the US Constitution. -
Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka
The Sweatt decision led the way for the Brown vs. Board of Education, a lawsuit that challenged the segregation of public schools. It started when in 1954 the US Supreme Court "separate educational facilities are inherently [by definition] unequal." This shocked and angered white Texas. In Texas, segregation in schools remained until the 1960s. -
Henry B. Gonzalez Elected to US Congress
(This recognizes is when he was sworn in for the first time into the US Senate, 56th & 55th Legislatures and ended his second term 11/5/1961) In 1957, he was the first Mexican American into the US Senate. He served for 37 years (according to http://www.cah.utexas.edu/feature/0611/grade11_biography.pdf). -
Presidential Election
It was one of the closest elections in American history. John F. Kennedy was president and the vice president was Lyndon B. Johnson. While visiting Dallas, President Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullet. Millions of Americans had indelible images burned into their memories. The bloodstained dress of Jacqueline Kennedy, a mournful Vice-President Johnson swearing the Presidential oath of office, and dozens and dozens of unanswered questions. -
Assassination in Dallas - Texan in D.C.
In 1963, Kennedy came to Texas to attend several political gatherings. As he was riding in a motorcade through downtown Dallas on November 22 with Texas Governor John Connally and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, shots rang out. Kennedy and Connally were hit. Kennedy died a short time later at a Dallas Hospital. -
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Civil RIghts & Voting Rights Act
Congress passes the Civil Rights Act on July 2 1964, making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, religion, and gender in voting, public places, the workplace and schools. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law, permanently barring direct barriers to political participation by racial and ethnic minorities and much more. This happened on August 6, 1965 -
Barbara Jordan Elected to US Congress
With the successes of the Civil Rights movements, African Americans, African Americans gained more positions in the government. In Texas, African Americans began to win state offices for the first time since Reconstruction. In 1966, Barbara Jordan of Houston was elected as a state senator. In 1972, she became the first African American to represent Texas in the US Congress. -
1st Republican Governor of Texas since the 1870s
Dolph Briscoe ran for re-election in 1978 but the Democratic nomination to Attorney General John Hill. Texas had not had a Republican governor since 1874, and many people thought that Hill could not lose. They were wrong. Republican William Clements won by nearly 17000 (16909, to be exact) votes. -
Vice President George Bush in Reagan Administration
George [H.W.] Bush, who had run on the Republican ticket in 1980 and in Ronald Reagan’s successful re-election bid in 1984, served as Reagans vice president for eight years. Americans chose Bush as president in 1988. As Vice President, Bush generally took on a low profile while recognizing the constitutional limits of the office; he avoided decision-making or criticizing Reagan in any way. -
George H.W. Bush as President
(The date given is when George Bush was inaugurated/sworn for president). He was President during the Persian Gulf War and during the 9/11 attacks. He served two terms of presidency. The timespan is January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993. -
Operation Desert Storm
In mid-January the international coalition launched Operation Desert Storm. Aircraft and missiles from navy ships bombarded Iraq for six weeks. Ground forces from the United State and other coalition nations then attacked. They swept through Kuwait, quickly freeing the nation from Iraqi control. -
Bonus: Governor Rick Perry
In his speech, Governor Perry pointed to the various challenges facing the state. He cared for Texas education (such as the TAKS). He helped create roads for better and faster transportation. Some Texas cities created pubic transportation with the help and encouragement of Governor. -
Bonus: George W. Bush as President
(This date recognizes when George W. Bush was sworn into office). In 2000 George [H.W.] Bush’s son, Governor George W. Bush of Texas, ran for president against Vice President Al Gore. The race was extremely close. George W. Bush was sworn into office on January 20, 2001 (as stated). He beat Gore by 537 votes, thus gaining 25 electoral votes that made him win the presidential election. -
Bonus: *** 911 Terrorist attack upon US
On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001 it was business as usual in the financial district of New York City. At 8:48 am, an American Airlines jet, Flight 11, crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. A second plane – United Airlines Flight 175 – slammed into the South Tower. A third plane – American Airlines Flight 77 – hit the West side of the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed southeast of Pittsburgh after the collapse of the World Trade Center.
