Oil, Prohibition and Women's Sufferage

You may know Texas as a state that is popular in terms of football, cowboys, and oil, and when you think "Texas" that's probably the first thing that comes to your mind. The truth is, Texas was a lot different before our generation's people came along.

Oil has been known and used in Texas for hundreds of years, however the use of oil was a lot different back then than it is now. Native Americans used to collect oil from seeps and use it for medicinal purpose. This means healing properties. Oil was not seen as a profitable business opportunity until the late 1850s'

Throughout the development stage of Texas, men and women were equal in terms of hardship and work, but not in terms of the right to vote for political purposes.

As an independent republic, and as a state in the union, Texas legally granted women no voting rights.

Timeline of this era:

• after the civil war, Susan B. Anthony an outspoken advocate of womens rights demanded that the 14th amendment grant woman and african american males equal rights. this affects us today because if it wasn't for her, woman and african american men could not vote for political purposes. This occured before this era encouraging more protests and movements.
• 1901-Theodore Roosevelt became president. He supported many progressive forms. He was also a conservation movement. He expanded the amount of land used for national parks and forests realizing that natural resources especialy forests required management in such a way that they would not be depleted. if it wasn't for his realization of how important conservation is, our lives would be affecting today by humans not knowing how to treat nature and the world around us.
• 1906-the meat inspection act and pure food and drug act are passed. the meat inspection act set sanitary (meaning clean and healthy) standards for the meat packing industry. the pure food and drug act required merchants to lable ingredients of food and drugs correctly. this impacts us so we can eat meat processed in a sanitary habitat and know what is inside our food and medication.
• 1911-Triangle shirtwaist factory fire. a fire broke out in a factory in new york causing 146 garment workers to die. The workers were unable to escape the building. the fire spread quickly because of the flammable material located throughout the factory. workers could not escape because of the doors had been locked to prevent workers from stealing materials. fire ladders were not tall enough to reach the upper levels for the workers to escape.the factory brought attention to the unsafe conditions the many workers faced. so, the international ladies garment workers union staarted to advocate reforms to improve working conditions for the garment industry leading to new safety regulations. this changes our lives today because incedents like that in the past forced people to modify the working conditions leading to much safer factorys and work spaces today.
• 1916- Alice paul forms the national womens party. Alice paul was a suffragist leader in the early twentieth century. she formed the national womens suffrage party and her and fellow women worked hard to gain a constitutional amendment allowing women the right to vote. if it wasn't for leaders of protests like her, what people were protesting for would have never happened to make our country better.
• 1920-19th amendment is passed allowing women the right to vote. after all the protests and strikes, finally women were allowed the right to vote at last. everyone that was part of the protests and strikes had helped to make it possible and if they hadn't, our state would not have granted women the right to vote.

throughout the age of women's' suffrage and whatnot, it was also referred to as the gusher age because of the fact that when the Texans arrived and discovered oil and the fact that it could be a brand new business opportunity, the oil was practically gushing out of the ground. The people discovered oil could be a chance to earn money and the sales of oil were extremely profitable too. This age is also referred to as the Texas oil boom.

So, to sum it all it up the age of oil, prohibition,and women's suffrage was full of conservation movement, advocates of women's rights, safety being established, modification, and a whole new business opportunity regarding oil which led to safer working conditions, sanitary food habits and factories devoted to safety which were some of the big changes that occurred in the future which is why are life is different today.

Thank you for watching this presentation by Claire!

Untitled Slide