Black Texans By Alwyn Barr: Book Review

Alwyn Barr validated his thesis by putting the names of the people who he got his information from. Barr showed multiple primary sources by showing dates and costs. I also believe Barr did a superior job creating this second edition book. In the thesis Barr talks about what is going to be in the book and who he got the information from. Barr also talks about the first edition book in his thesis. The setting takes place in Texas, United States. This is significant because African Americans have lived in Texas for more than four hundred years. The setting shows how different the past was from now. It is also significant because Texas wasn’t like any other state in the US. Another significant thing about the setting in Texas is that Texas went through so many changes in those periods of time; so many event happened that changed the world today.
Black people could not vote, nor own land. They cropped ears and left scars if you thought about escaping. Slavery was happening at this time, so African Americans were property and didn’t have a say so. After the texas revolution most texans would run away to mexico. Slaves later became free June 19, 1865 which led to the thirteenth amendment; that abolished slavery. Discrimination started at the end of the reconstruction era; white southerners was angry. Lynching also started after the reconstruction era. Residential segregation did not exist in 1870. The buffalo soldiers were the first blacks in the US army. For black votes they would supply things like better schools and street paving. The fourteenth amendment protected equal civil rights for black people. Later on African Americans could participate in politics but only a few participated. Later the Voting Rights Act showed minority voters couldn’t be forced. Between 1970 and 1995 became less discrimination and more job training