The Cuneys: A Southern Family in White and Black

Posted in History, Media Archive, Slavery, Texas, United States on 2011-03-06 22:03Z by Steven

The Cuneys: A Southern Family in White and Black

Texas Tech University
August 2000
289 pages

Douglas Hales, Professor of History
Temple College, Temple, Texas

A Dissertation in History Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial FulfiUment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

[Note from Steven F. Riley: See the book based on the dissertation titled, A Southern Family in White and Black: The Cuneys of Texas.]

The study begins with Philip Cuney. He had much in common with other paternalistic slaveholders of the South. He believed in the institution of slavery and had grown accustomed to the lifestyle that the peculiar institution afforded him. By Texas standards, his large tracts of land and his large number of slaves made him a wealthy man. He became a respected and prominent leader in Austin County. Cuney also went into Texas politics and gained some success both before and after Texas became a state. Cuney, like many Southern planters, used his powerful position as a slaveholder to begin a sexual relationship with one of his female slaves. His relationship with his slave Adeline Stuart produced eight slave children. Along with his white wife and children, Cuney in effect had two families, one white and one black.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  • CHAPTER
  • I. INTRODUCTION
  • II. PHILIP CUNEY: POLITICIAN AND SLAVEHOLDER
  • III. NORRIS WRIGHT CUNEY: LABOR AND CIVIC LEADER
  • IV. POLITICAL EDUCATION, 1869-1883
  • V. NEW LEADER OF THE PARTY
  • VI. PARTY AND PATRONAGE
  • VII. MAUD CUNEY: EDUCATION AND MARRIAGE
  • VIII. MAUD CUNEY-HARE: MUSICIAN, DIRECTOR, WRITER
  • IX. CONCLUSION
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY

…[Norris Wright] Cuney, as an urban black, seemed far removed from the mass of nineteenth-century black Texans who lived in rural areas pursuing agricultural endeavors in impoverished conditions. In many ways, Cuney represented a new urban black middle class. As a mulatto he represented a minority within a minority. Cuney strongly identified himself as a “Negro.” Many men of mixed heritage within the first generation of black leadership following the Civil War became a black elite both culturally and politically. As the son of an upper-class white man and a mulatto slave, Cuney represented an even more select group of blacks who received an education and freedom from their white fathers. According to Joel Williamson, “It was almost as if mixing of this special sort in late slavery had produced a new breed, preset to move into the vanguard of their people when freedom came.”

White southerners, steeped in the ideology of slavery and black inferiority, and feelings of guilt over miscegenation, refused to see a difference between mulattoes and darker skinned blacks. Most Southern states codified this view into law. Some Antebellum mulattoes, especially house servants and others in close contact with their white fathers, often viewed themselves as distinct from other blacks; but following the Civil War, their interests fused with those of the black community. When freedmen entered the political arena they shared common enemies and objectives that made this fusion permanent. Dark-skinned blacks viewed this relationship as positive. According to Williamson, “they needed verbal and mathematical literacy, economic, political, and social education, and people to teach their teachers.” The mulatto elite along with Northern missionaries provided that help.”…

Read the entire dissertation here.

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Ethnic Identity of Biethnic Mexican American/European Americans Raised in Texas

Posted in Dissertations, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Texas, United States on 2011-03-06 20:53Z by Steven

Ethnic Identity of Biethnic Mexican American/European Americans Raised in Texas

Texas Tech University
May 2005
73 pages

Kristal L. Menchaca

A Thesis in Human Development and Family Studies Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science

The primary purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of Mexican American/European American biethnic individuals raised in Texas. The present study looked at the applicability of Poston’s (1990) five-stage model of biracial identity development to the experiences of 8 Mexican American/European Americans.

Results indicated that Poston’s (1990) model was applicable to this cohort. The respondents gave responses indicating progression through the five stages of Personal Identity, Choice of Group Categorization, Enmeshment/Denial, Appreciation and Integration. These responses were narrations of current involvement or memories of childhood experiences. Also, Poston’s (1990) suggestion that biracial individuals experience confusion and maladjustment because of their ethnicity was also applicable to the biethnic individuals in this study.

Other themes that influenced identity development of the respondents and also considered salient to their experiences were family experiences and what it means to be Mexican American and European American, separately. Respondents were aware of family’s experiences with discrimination. There was an overall positive meaning assigned to being Mexican American and European American, however, it was not as strong for the latter.

Table of Contents

  • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  • ABSTRACT
  • CHAPTER
    • I. INTRODUCTION
      • Statement of the Problem
    • II. LITERATURE REVIEW
      • Mexican Americans in Texas
      • Definition of Terms
      • Identity Development
      • Model of Biracial Identity Development
      • Biracial Identity Development
      • Purpose of Current Study
    • III. METHODS
      • Qualitative Research
      • Phenomenology
      • Participants
      • Measures
      • Ethnicity Survey
      • Autobiographical Interview Probe
      • Procedures
    • IV. RESULTS
      • Data Analysis
      • Personal Identity
      • Choice of Group Categorization
      • Enmeshment/Denial
      • Appreciation
      • Integration
      • Confusion/Maladjustment
      • Family Experiences
      • What it Means to be Mexican American
      • What it Means to be European American
    • V. DISCUSSION
      • Personal Identity
      • Choice of Group Categorization
      • Enmeshment/Denial
      • Appreciation
      • Integration
      • Confusion/Maladjustment
      • Family Experiences
      • What it Means to be Mexican American
      • What it Means to be European American
      • Conclusions
      • Strengths of Study
      • Limitations of Study
      • Recommendations for future research
  • REFERENCES
  • APPENDICES
    • A. TABLE ONE
    • B. EMAILS FOR RECRUITMENT
    • C. CONSENT FORM
    • D. ETHNICITY SURVEY
    • E. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTERVIEW PROBE

Read the entire thesis here.

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