Texas and American Identity at the Turn of the Twentieth Century In 1875, Texas and Abilene relied on a frontier economy, but with the rise of railroads and Texas’ oil dominance after World War I, new economic changes challenged the state’s self-reliant identity. With this economic shift, daily survival was no longer the priority, which allowed time for cultural advancement through leisurely activities such as art, literature, and movies. In the early 1900s, industrialization created more job opportunities in the North and West, increasing Southern out-migration. In addition, immigration from European countries increased during the 1870s to 1930s, which strongly influenced cultural shifts in the early Twentieth Century. Texas exceptionalism contributed to a larger cultural evolution in America.
Literature: Texas literature thrived on the mythological frontier identity; authors often utilized cowboys as revered frontier figures. Mollie E. Moore Davis’ The Wire Cutters (1899), renowned, as one of the first westerns relies on Texas’ frontier image for its narrative. Other authors such as Roy Bedichek, J.Frank Dobie, and Walter Prescott Webb adopted their home’s past and put it into written form, helping early Texan literature to flourish at the turn of the Twentieth Century. These writers influenced future authors like Cormac McCarthy, who wrote No Country for Old Men and All The Pretty Horses.
Art: Texas has a rich art history, but it was not until the late 1880s that Texans began to commemorate their past through material culture. They relied on their cultural heritage, such as buffalo hunts and trail drives, for focal points of their pieces. The Bickerstaff Painting in the R. Lee and Ann Rode Gallery at the Village epitomizes this new art movement based on the frontier identity. The painting hung in the Wooten Hotel’s lobby in downtown Abilene exposing visitors to the “way it was” before settlement. The Frank Reaugh, a migrant from Illinois, known as the “Dean of Texas Painters,” had a strong impact on West Texas art, through his numerous paintings of cattle on the open plains. Reaugh soon founded the Dallas Art Association, which eventually became the Dallas Museum of Art.
Music: Twentieth-Century Texans also had a large impact on the founding of Jazz and Country Music. Texas blues traditions helped mold the changing trends of the musical genre. While many influential musicians originated from eastern Texas, such as Eddie Durham, the Jazz age strongly influenced other parts Texas. In West Texas, citizens became aware of music through film and other types of media. Just as Jazz musicians of the Northeast influenced the genre, musicians took note of the unique Texas styles that developed from migrant cultures such as German Polka, Delta Blues, and Appalachian Blue Grass.
Film: Early on, the film industry perpetuated the persona of the Western identity. In 1898, Thomas Edison produced film that highlighted ranching activities such as cattle branding and roping, cementing Texas legacy in film. Movies romanticized cowboys, and frontier life, portraying an idealized past. Often the actors, like Reaugh, were from the East, having little experience with Western life. In the early 1900s, Tom Mix popularized the image of the cowboy in Texas through silent films. Mix showed many accurate elements of the cowboy image, even with his Pennsylvanian past. Migrants shaped much of Texas’ history, however, in the Twentieth Century, the state thrives at molding the identity of second and third generation Texans. Over time, Texas’ exceptionalism evolved from its own identity, to an integral part of the American personality. This convergence of Texas mythology with American identity can be seen through the images of American Athletes wearing cowboy hats at the 1964, 1992, and 2000 Olympic ceremonies. Texans rely heavily on their past to create their present and future identities. The Western Heritage Classic in Abilene exemplifies this characteristic. The annual event relies on preserving cowboy culture and demonstrates life “how it was back on the ranch generations ago.” The frontier ideology will always be an important part of Texas identity, but through material culture in the Twentieth century, it is also distinctly American.