How "Texas-y" is Austin? (Midland, Victoria: house, public school, college)

[doctorjef]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Which is why you don't live in Texas any more, but in the Northeast, presumably. I can see if what your perception of what is symbolic of Texas is Baptist churches and bad TexMex, why you'd want to be somewhere else.

It's far more complex than that; yet I do find them rather apt symbols.

Don't take it too seriously; there's a lot of good, endearing, interesting and engaging stuff in Texas.

[Meyerland]

Texas is a tiny bit bigger than France, so it is it's own geographic area. It's a mix of southwest, southern, and hill country German. El Paso, Houston, and Austin are very different places.

I was born in Texas and have lived all over this state. Corpus, Austin, Victoria, Houston, and midland. Each place is unique, but what ties Texas together is an identity of being Texan and an independent spirit and a melding of cultures. Texas has had 6 flags fly over us:Spain, France, Mexico, The Republic of Texas, The USA flag and the Confederacy flag during the civil war. On a side note, there wasn't as much slavery in Texas as in the rest of the south. I believe there really was only a small section along the gulf coast and far eastern Texas, that had many slaves. I personally believe that Texas fought in the civil war to protect states rights vs? protecting slavery.

Here is a snippet of the history of Texas and the 6 flags.
A Texas Scrapbook: San Antonio's Military Plaza

[muppets]

Didn't realize that's where "Six Flags" came from -- thank you! Always fascinated to learn stuff like this.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by Meyerland

I personally believe that Texas fought in the civil war to protect states rights vs? protecting slavery.

Stand by for the blast. The Borg doesn't approve of that off the reservation thought.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by muppets

Didn't realize that's where "Six Flags" came from -- thank you! Always fascinated to learn stuff like this.

If you move here, you will need to get a Texas history book. There are things here even today that are rooted in Texas history.

You also might consider this recent, pretty even handed treatment: Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right. Still will need a history book if you move. Recommend TR Fehrenbach.

[TexasHorseLady]

Thanks for the link, scm53! I'm going to have to get a copy of that book!

[Meyerland]

Originally Posted by scm53

Stand by for the blast. The Borg doesn't approve of that off the reservation thought.

I don't mean to stir up trouble. There was slavery in Texas but it was not as prevalent as the other southern states. In fact the cotton farming did not go down past Victoria and mainly was in a small section of east Texas. There just weren't enough slaves in Texas for that to be a main issue and most people were subsistence farmers. Were they racist, maybe. Did they believe slavery was wrong? Who knows?

I do know it was the last state to outlaw slavery and many slaves were sent here from other southern states so they wouldn't be emancipated.

[love roses]

Originally Posted by muppets

You're absolutely right, I couldn't care less what kind of car people drive or whether or not they're vegetarian or go to a shooting range on the weekends. This whole thread was started more out of genuine interest than any actual concern; I have read so much about Austin being a liberal stronghold in a conservative state and just wondered what that was like, how one influences the other or if there were any conflicts between the two.

I currently live in Toronto (am a dual citizen of the United States and Canada), which in itself is very liberal, but so is the entire country (even though our Prime Minister is technically from the "conservative" party). I think it would be interesting to see how people here would react if liberalism was the exception instead of the status quo, because it's not as tolerant as many make it out to be. What I like about your post is the sense of "live and let live" which you describe in Texas. I think there is a faux sense of liberalism here (much more so in Toronto than anywhere else in Canada, except for possibly Montreal), as in, "live and let live... as long as you're not a religious, conservative gun-person". I am critical of this hypocrisy and the ignorance that so many Canadians have towards Americans (unless you're from New York or L.A.; then you'll receive a modicum of respect).

As for the blank stares, you have no idea.

My Paternal Grandfather left Killam, Alberta as a teenager during the depression. He came to Texas to a CCC camp. He never left the State to return to Canada but brought his siblings to Texas after he saved some money.

[doctorjef]

My maternal forebears came to Texas before the Civil War and settled in North Texas - Denton and Wise counties. They brought enslaved African-Americans with them and the free progeny of some of these folk were still living on my gradparents' land decades after emancipation. Slavery was widedpread in Texas, even in the more frontier areas of north Texas that were much less settled than the original Anglo-American settlement areas in SE and South Central TX.

Sorry about the typos. Doing this on my iphone and though it is underlining typos it is not letting me go back snd correct them. I will try after I post this.

[Meyerland]

Yes, that is true about slavery being all over Texas, but not to the extent of the other slave states. I am in no way defending the early texans who had slaves, but Texas is not a "true" southern state. It's more of a mix between the SW, German hill country and southern. I was just trying to explain how it is unique.
Here is a map that shows where slaves were in the US through 1860.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...lavery_map.jpg