labor rights – Interpreting Texas

School, War, and Law
Beauford Jester was born into a political family: his father had been lieutenant governor under Governor Culberson. Following in the tradition, Jester attended Harvard Law School, but put his studies on hold to serve in World War I as a captain in the Army. When the war ended, he returned to his studies at the University of Texas. He earned his law degree in 1920 and returned to Corsicana to start a practice and help run the family ranch. Jester served on the UT Board of Regents and, in 1933, became the youngest chair of that board. He undertook a massive building campaign, giving the UT campus many of its iconic buildings, including the UT Tower.

Campaign ad for Beauford Jester, [source]

Politics
In 1942, Jester was appointed to the Railroad Commission, a position he kept in the next election. From there, Jester campaigned for governor in the 1946 election. There was a wide field, but he won the Democratic primary and then the state election. Jester’s two terms saw a few milestones in Texas history, including the first budget over $1 million. He worked for increased funding for education, rural roads, and state parks. Jester supported anti-lynching measures and a repeal of the state poll tax, though he opposed civil rights legislation on the national level. He also supported making Texas a right-to-work state, preventing union dues from being deducted automatically from paychecks, and prohibiting mass picketing, all of which earned him a reputation as anti-union.

A Fateful Train Ride
A few months into his second term in office, Jester took the train from Austin to Houston to take advantage a vacation after the legislative session and complete what he called a “secret mission.” It had been a hectic session, with members of the legislature calling for Jester’s impeachment and Jester threatening a special session. Jester was supposed to stop at a Galveston clinic for a physical, something he needed after the stress of the session. He would never make it to his appointment. Sometime after leaving Austin late on the night of July 10th, Jester suffered a heart attack and died, presumably in his sleep. Despite traveling with several state troopers as bodyguards, Jester’s death wasn’t discovered until a porter attempted to wake him at the train’s arrival in Houston.

Jester’s body was flown back to Austin, where a short funeral service was held in the Senate Chamber. It was then taken back to his home town of Corsicana where he was buried. Jester was succeeded as governor by a man with perhaps one of the most appropriate last names, Allan Shivers.

Martyr of the Haymarket Affair

*Engraving of the Haymarket Affair from Harper’s Weekly [source]*

Haymarket Square Bombing
On May 4th of 1886, a group of labor activists met in Haymarket Square in Chicago to protest abysmal working conditions and petition for legislation protecting workers. At 10:30pm, as the speeches were wrapping up, police began to disperse the crowd. A bomb was thrown into the police formation and confusion and gunfire reigned. Seven policemen and at least 4 protesters were killed and more than a hundred others were wounded. Eight men were eventually arrested and tried for the conspiracy. Four men were hanged, including Albert Richard Parsons, who had spoken earlier that night.

*Albert Richard Parsons, c. 1880 [source]*

Albert Parsons
Parsons was born in Alabama in 1848, but moved to Texas to live with his brother when he was five. When the Civil War broke out, he followed his brother into the Confederate Army, eventually serving in his brother’s brigade as a scout. After the war, he became a Radical Republican, advocating for African-American rights and even traveling around central Texas to registered newly freed slaves to vote. He married a mixed-race woman, Lucy Eldine Parsons, and the couple faced incredible prejudice and violence in Texas. In 1871, the Parsons moved to Chicago to work with the Labor movement. Albert Parsons attempted to run for public office, but had much more success as a union organizer. On May 1st, 1886, Parsons, his wife Lucy, and their children led a march of 80,000 people in support of the eight hour workday. A few days later, violence between police and workers prompted another rally, the May 4th Haymarket Square Affair.

*The execution of August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, and George Engel on November 11th, 1887. Artist unknown. [source]*

Trial and Execution
Parsons was charged in the Affair and gave himself up voluntarily, in solidarity with his fellow protesters. Throughout the trial, Parsons declared that he was innocent, even refusing to ask for mercy from Governor Richard J. Oglesby of Illinois, though Oglesby had commuted the sentences of two of the other men. Parsons was hanged with three other protesters. The four men were buried in the Forest Home/Waldheim Cemetery in Forest Park and a monument was later erected. Governor John Peter Altgeld would later pardon the men still living, declaring that “the evidence does not show any connection whatsoever between the defendants and the man who threw [the bomb].”