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History

2021

Texas A&M University-San Antonio

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in African American Studies

Progressive Era Black Midwives And Healthcare In San Antonio, 1892-1920, Gloria Edwards Apr 2021

Progressive Era Black Midwives And Healthcare In San Antonio, 1892-1920, Gloria Edwards

Methods of Historical Research: Spring 2021

An African American midwife was a revered woman who was seen as a wise and knowledgeable person in her respective community, an essential healthcare worker long before the term was ever conceived. For many, a midwife was the only healthcare option for maternity care and would remain so into the mid-20th century, decades after the growing professionalization of the medical field discredited their work. These developments were especially pronounced in progressive-era San Antonio, Texas, where African Americans did not have the option to use a professional healthcare facility. Black women, then, most of whom suffered from poverty and discrimination, were …


Lafayette Walker: Not A Republican Lapdog, But A Pitmaster, Joseph R. Vasquez Apr 2021

Lafayette Walker: Not A Republican Lapdog, But A Pitmaster, Joseph R. Vasquez

Methods of Historical Research: Spring 2021

Lafayette Walker (1822 – 1902), an enslaved black man in Tennessee before the Civil War, became a soldier for the Union in 1861. After the war, he was regarded as a political activist, as a community leader capable of controlling who the next mayor of San Antonio would become, blacksmith, and a “barbecue artist.” The argument here does not lie in what exactly his bbq tasted like or what a black man was doing identifying as a republican. The argument goes much deeper and shows that he did not care he was black or a slave, but instead he showed …


Separate Showing Times, Elyse Rose Echevarria Apr 2021

Separate Showing Times, Elyse Rose Echevarria

Methods of Historical Research: Spring 2021

Nowadays, when you go to watch a movie, it does not matter who you are, what you are, or especially what skin color you are. You can walk into a movie theatre, buy a ticket, and go watch your movie. Unfortunately, this was not the case for all movie theatres in the first half of the twentieth century. San Antonio theatres were segregated throughout in this era, which encouraged segregation throughout the city. Segregation occurred in many places, but who could have thought that segregation could have occurred at family-oriented places such as the Majestic Theatre, the Rex Theatre, and …


One Man’S Fight Was A Fight For All: The Story Of I.H. “Sporty” Harvey And His Battle Outside The Ring, Ryann D. Garza Apr 2021

One Man’S Fight Was A Fight For All: The Story Of I.H. “Sporty” Harvey And His Battle Outside The Ring, Ryann D. Garza

Methods of Historical Research: Spring 2021

The Story of I.H. “Sporty” Harvey And His Battle Outside The Ring


Music Hears No Color, Nicholas Laurel Apr 2021

Music Hears No Color, Nicholas Laurel

Methods of Historical Research: Spring 2021

Growing up on the westside of San Antonio off of Rounds Street, my friends and I played basketball at Ojeda Park nearby. Across the creek from the park sat an old, funky blue building. Some nights we would pass by this blue dome-shaped building and hear the roars of a crowd yelling and cheering for their favorite luchador. From time to time this mysterious blue building hosted outdoor wrestling matches on the weekends. You would have never imagined that this building had been a place where racial barriers were broken down. It was a place where local law enforcement and …


The Shields Family: A Dichotomy Of Race In Us Society Through Two Family Lines, Joseph C. Platt Apr 2021

The Shields Family: A Dichotomy Of Race In Us Society Through Two Family Lines, Joseph C. Platt

Methods of Historical Research: Spring 2021

The history of the Shields families of North and South Carolina, beginning with William Bryant Shields Sr. and Moses Shields respectively, offer dichotomous responses to American racial hierarchies over the decades. Generations of race mixing within the Shields family has its roots in the sons of Irish immigrants pursuing relationships with enslaved women. The one-sided nature of the power dynamic in these relationships takes on different dimensions in the lives of the mixed-race children of William Bryant Shields Sr. and the lives of Moses’ son, Henry Wells Shields, Henry’s slave Melvinia Shields, and her children. Both family lines take efforts …


George E. Banister, Casandra Gutierrez Apr 2021

George E. Banister, Casandra Gutierrez

Methods of Historical Research: Spring 2021

Whenever we think about African American history, we put our focus straight to slavery or the civil rights era, though it is much more than that. African American history in San Antonio has impacted the city’s business and economics, education, religion, migration, and foodways. Regarding foodways, I chose to research the life of George Banister, an African American man who became a well-known fraternalist and chef from working at the Argyle Hotel for over 30 years. George Banister used his expertise as a chef to offer support to the education system, church, social clubs, and actively integrating Black foodways into …