Copyright by Joseph Michael Phillips 2002 The Dissertation Committee for Joseph Michael Phillips Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: THE FIRE THIS TIME: THE BATTLE OVER RACIAL, REGIONAL AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES IN DALLAS, TEXAS, 1860-1990 Committee: ___________________________________________ Neil Foley, Supervisor ___________________________________________ Douglas E. Foley ___________________________________________ Gunther Peck ___________________________________________ James Sidbury ___________________________________________ Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo THE FIRE THIS TIME: THE BATTLE OVER RACIAL, REGIONAL AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES IN DALLAS, TEXAS, 1860-1990 by Joseph Michael Phillips, M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May, 2002 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Assembling the names of the people who helped me on this eight-year project reminds me a little of my wife’s family Christmas gatherings. It involves a cast of thousands, with talents ranging from the eccentric to the inspiring to the profound. The following represents an incomplete, wholly inadequate attempt to thank those who helped me on that long and winding road called a doctorate. For obvious reasons, this project would not be possible without my immediate family. My maternal grandmother, Annie Loiacano Touzet, the child of French and Sicilian immigrants born in late nineteenth-century New Orleans, was forced to leave school in the fifth grade when her father died and her family needed her to work in a factory. That one of her grandchildren received a Ph.D. is a tribute to the patience and commitment of my parents, Joseph Touart and Marie Louise Phillips. Both endured poverty in the Depression-era Deep South as children, yet both devoted their full energies to seeing that their children enjoyed a life filled with greater opportunity. My mother generously supported every step of my education both financially and emotionally and even served as a typist when I indulged in my short-lived career as an over-wrought teenage novelist. My father was a true working class hero. His father had abandoned him and five siblings during the depths of the Great Depression. My father spent part of his iv childhood in a Catholic-run orphanage in Mobile, Alabama. Inspired by patriotism and a desire to find work, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, where he served for 22 years, seeing combat action in both Korea and Vietnam. When Joseph Phillips got back from the Vietnam War, he realized his dream of getting an associate of arts degree. My father was the ultimate history buff and I think in his 68-year life he read every book published on the Civil War and World War II. I hold an enduring image of him returning from the library on Saturdays with huge stacks of books under each arm. My father inspired both my love of reading and my fascination with history. I must also thank my sister, Marie Diane Pugh, who served as my first literary audience and who patiently plowed through some of the worst fiction and poetry ever written, all scrawled in my unreadable calligraphy. My deepest appreciation goes to John Dycus, the extraordinary editorial adviser to the Shorthorn, the student newspaper at the University of Texas at Arlington, where I worked as an undergraduate. Dycus, more than any other person, helped me discover my voice as a writer and hone my skills so that all my profound insights would not be lost in a flood of clumsy verbiage. I must also extend thanks to friends and colleagues who read portions of the dissertation and gave advice: Carman C. Curton, Patrick Cox, Lee Thompson, Lore Kuehnert, Mary Shomon, Kelly Bender, Steve Bender, Linda Van Ingen, Janet Neff and my uncle Patrick Phillips. Julia Hickman’s support was of incalculable value. Special thanks goes to my sister-in-laws, Stephanie v Camfield, for being a patient and kind listener, and Sara Weeks for running down Dallas crime statistics while I was still living in California. I also owe a debt to Jerome Weeks for his discussions of Dallas cultural life and the State- Thomas neighborhood, which inspired a portion of this dissertation. Alice Shub, Becky Spicer, Bill Neff, Jeff West, and Dave Garrett all shared memories of Dallas and its natural setting, and pointed me towards important primary sources. William Farmer, Donald Payton, Darwin Payne, Rebecca Bennett, Lewis Johnson and Debra Bryant offered hours of their time in answering questions about Dallas history, helping with translations, or guiding me to archives and newspaper accounts of past Dallas events. The students in my American history survey course at the University of Texas at Austin gave me boundless enthusiasm and energy during the semester I completed my dissertation, a time I was close to completely burning out. In an ideal classroom, the students teach the teacher. I was blessed with that experience. I have to single out two students in particular, Monica Rivera and Jennie Baik, for reminding me that being an historian is a noble and important profession. I used twelve different archives while conducting this research and owe much to the staffs at these fine institutions. I would like to thank Gaylon Polatti for his hard work and extensive assistance at the Dallas Historical Society. I would like to also thank Steve Landregan, the archivist at the vi Roman Catholic Diocese in Dallas; Gerry Cristol, the archivist at Dallas’ Temple Emanu-El; Katherine R. Goodwin of the Labor Archives at the University of Texas at Arlington; the staff at the Dallas/Texas History and Archives Division at the J. Erik Jonsson Library in Dallas, including Gretchen Boettcher, Jimm Foster, Deidra Gill, Sonja Hayes, Meleesia Hill, Linda Mack, Sharon Martin, Rudy Olivares, Prescilla Thomas, Amy Treuer, Sharon Van Dorn and especially Carol Roark; the staff at the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, including Barabara Smith-LaBorde, Ralph Elder, John Wheat, Steve Stappenbeck, Leslie Shores, Stephanie Wittenback and Donald Firsching; Grace G. Charles, the talented library assistant and processor of the Hector P. Garcia collection at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi; and the staff at the Texas State Library, Archives Division, including Donaly Brice, Sergio Valasquez, Eddie Williams, Bill Simmons, Jean Carefoot, Stephanie Schnick, Melissa Laneman, Cynthia Mauk, Sunny Caesarez and John Anderson. I am especially grateful to Paul DeHaven, pastor of communications, and Rae Lamburton, executive secretary, at Scofield Memorial Church in Dallas. I was apparently the first historian from outside the church to investigate this collection. Pastor DeHaven was courteous and extremely generous as he guided me through Scofield’s papers and shared his knowledge about this important Dallas minister. vii The following professors provided invaluable aid, either by writing recommendation letters, answering research questions or by above-and- beyond work as educators: Alan Saxe and Jerry Rodnitzky at the University of Texas at Arlington; Sarah Stage, Sterling Stuckey, Sharon Salinger, Robert Patch and Brian Lloyd at the University of California at Riverside; and Richard Graham, David Montejano, Peter Jelavich, Brian Levack, Joan Nueberger and Norman Brown at the University of Texas at Austin. Patricia Evridge Hill of San Jose State, Walter Buenger of Texas A&M University, Randolph B. "Mike" Campbell of the University of North Texas, Donald E. Reynolds, formerly of what was once called East Texas State University (but which has been re-dubbed Texas A&M University Commerce), and Donald S. Frazier of McMurry University, all thoughtfully responded to e- mail queries regarding nineteenth and twentieth century Texas. Harvey Graff of the University of Texas at San Antonio, gave to me an entire afternoon in which we discussed Dallas' "Origin Myth" and the city’s uneasy relationship with its history. Dr. Graff was friendly, accessible, and offered a treasure of information and guidance as my worked progressed and I owe him my deep gratitude. I was lucky to work with a dissertation committee made up of some of the pre-eminent scholars in the nation. My committee, Douglas E. Foley, Gunther Peck, James Sidbury, Mauricio Tenorio, and particularly my dissertation director Neil Foley, diligently critiqued long-winded drafts, and labored to viii correct faulty reasoning. The flaws in this work are mine, but the final product is much better for their input. I cannot completely express my gratitude to Neil Foley for being an enthusiastic supporter of this project from the beginning. Dr. Foley encouraged me to take chances and to be ambitious and never lost faith in my ability to produce what I hope will be an important contribution to scholarship on Texas and the Southwest. I thank him for being a tireless mentor, coach and friend who turned a clueless former journalist into a professional historian. I would have given up on this project long ago if it were not for my ever- forgiving and always loving wife Samantha Shub. Samantha was not just a thoughtful partner and eagle-eyed editor, but was always a cheerleader in times of despair, an advocate in times of insecurity, and a friend in times of loneliness. Samantha steered me through computer meltdowns, emotional crises and moments of physical fatigue. I can not imagine having written this dissertation without her. Finally, I would like to dedicate this work to Danny Pugh, Jeremy Pugh, Suzanna Weeks, Will Camfield, Olivia Camfield, Celeste Camfield, Laura Shub, Allison Shub, Toby Symonds and Noah Bender, who represent the future and who make the battle for social justice worth the struggle. ix THE FIRE THIS TIME: THE BATTLE OVER RACIAL, REGIONAL AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES IN DALLAS, TEXAS, 1860-1990 Publication No. _____________ Joseph Michael Phillips, Ph.D.