Amid the Shadows of Progress: Race and the Struggle for Metropolitan Democracy in Twentieth Century San Antonio by Stephen Arionus A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) in The University of Michigan 2019 Doctoral Committee: Professor Matthew Lassiter, Chair Associate Professor Maria Cotera Associate Professor Matthew Countryman Associate Professor Anthony Mora Stephen Arionus
[email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6634-7208 © Stephen Arionus 2019 Acknowledgements Graduate school is a collaborative process and I would not be here without the support, guidance, and friendship of so many wonderful people and terrific institutions along the way. My circuitous route to graduate school began at the University of Texas at San Antonio where I met a cadre of wonderful scholars and teachers. Marian Aitches encouraged her students to think broadly about the world and our place within it. She introduced me to the writings of Malcolm X, Sherman Alexie, and Winona LaDuke. But it was reading Howard Zinn’s words that changed my life. Kolleen Guy, Wing Chung Ng, Catherine Nolan-Ferrell, Brian Davies, and Anne Hardgrove taught me the fundamental skills of historical analysis. As did Elizabeth Escobedo, but she also taught me the importance of empathy. Pat Kelly was the consummate teacher and mentor. His zest for teaching and love of history was infectious, but it was his compassion and care for his students that made a nontraditional student like me dream bigger. There was no one more excited about my decision to go to graduate school than Pat Kelly.