03386nam a2200397 i 4500 ebr10806729 CaPaEBR m o d cr cn||||||||| 130911s2014 txua ob 001 0 eng|d 9780292753846 (hardback) 9780292753853 (e-book) CaPaEBR eng rda pn CaPaEBR (OCoLC)899045617 n-us-tx F395.M5 M367 2014eb 976.4/063 23 Marquez, Benjamin, 1953- Democratizing Texas politics : race, identity, and Mexican American empowerment, 1945-2002 / by Benjamin M�arquez. First edition. Austin : University of Texas Press, 2014. 1 online resource (256 pages) : illustrations text rdacontent computer rdamedia online resource rdacarrier Includes bibliographical references and index. "In 1940 there were virtually no Mexican American elected officials in Texas at any level of government. By the turn of the century that was no longer true. In fact, Mexican Americans in Texas had effectively reached parity with their white counterparts in elected office. This book tells the story of this dramatic transition in Texas politics and seeks to explain it utilizing original archival research, hours of interviews with leading figures, and the collected letters of some of Texas' most important politicians and activists. The departure from a racially uniform political class in Texas to incorporate Mexican Americans was slow and difficult. Mexican Americans rarely won easy victories and the concessions they received were often yielded with reluctance. Threatened with racial tension, minority status and political exclusion, it is perhaps surprising that Mexican Americans were so successfully incorporated. I argue that their incorporation was the culmination of six interrelated political processes: the long history of political organization among Mexican Americans in Texas that had established an effective corps of leaders, an increasing proportion of the voting-age population, new Democratic Party policies developed to increase the representation of women and minorities, a reinvigorated Republican Party that absorbed conservative voters and weakened resistance to racial reform in the Democratic Party, the civil rights legislation of the 1960s, and finally, an alliance with Anglo liberals that facilitated the transition to a more representative two-party system in Texas"-- Provided by publisher. Description based on print version record. Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. : ebrary, 2013. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries. Mexican Americans Texas Politics and government. Texas Politics and government 1951- Electronic books. Print version: M�arquez, Benjamin. Democratizing Texas politics : race, identity, and Mexican American empowerment, 1945-2002. Austin : University of Texas Press, 2014 x, 245 pages 9780292753846 (DLC) 2013019910 ebrary. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/rucke/Doc?id=10806729 An electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web; click to view 145908 145908