Texas Women History

Introduction

Women's history isn't just for women, although many women find that studying women's history helps them realize that women's place is everywhere. Women's History Month honors and celebrates the struggles and achievements of women throughout the history of the United States. The story of the history of Southwest Texas State Normal School properly begins with the state of Texas education immediately following the Civil War. At least 17 percent of the white population and 90 percent of the black population in the State were illiterate. Also, a public education system, which could battle this problem, did not exist in Texas.

Naturally this beleaguered state of Texas education generated debates about how education might address many of the problems that Texans faced (Fifty Years of Teacher Education 1951). For example, some Texans thought that if more people were educated, then violence would decrease. For these and other reasons, the Texas Legislature voted to establish Texas public school education in 1854 (Eby 1925). Once public education was established, teachers were needed to inhabit these newly created schools. Consequently, public opinion for a school dedicated to the education of teachers gained support from at least some individuals (Eby 1925). Many Texans thought that now was the time for state legislators to step in and fulfill their responsibility to ensure a supply of well educated, well-trained, and committed teachers for the state's newly created common schools (Lucas 1997). Influenced by this public opinion, and after many delays and debates, in 1923, the Twenty-third Legislature of the state of Texas passed the following law:

Teachers holding a diploma from a Texas normal school. . . may teach in the public schools of this State during good behavior, and such diplomas shall rank as permanent certificates; and such teachers shall not be subject to examination by any board of examiners; provided, that the State Board of Education, together with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, shall prescribe the course of study which teachers shall complete in the North Texas Normal College .. . before their diplomas from the same shall have the force of life certificates (French, 1939, p. 4-5).

Pecan Shellers' Strike Sparked Hispanic Workers' Movement

In Depression-era south Texas, a young Mexican-American woman broke tradition when she stood up for oppressed workers in her community and made an important contribution to the fight for social justice. Vilified by the conservative establishment that controlled San Antonio, she became a beloved leader to oppressed workers in the Mexican-American community. They called her “La Pasionaria.” 20-year old Emma Tenayuca speaks to members of the National Workers Alliance outside a hearing investigating beatings by border patrol officers, Feb. 23, 1937.

Largely an unheralded figure today, Emma Tenayuca was well known in her day as a fearless and effective union activist at a time when it was rare for women to be accepted as leaders. “She was a woman people attempted to write out of history,” Mexican-American studies professor Carmen Tafolla told the National Catholic Report in 2008. Today, she said, “We're writing ...