The University of Texas at Tyler Libraries

Women, culture, and community : religion and reform in Galveston, 1880-1920 / Elizabeth Hayes Turner.

By: Turner, Elizabeth HayesMaterial type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 1997Description: x, 371 p. : ill. ; 24 cmISBN: 0195086880 (hc : alk. paper); 9780195086881 (hc : alk. paper); 019511938X (pbk. : alk. paper); 9780195119381 (pbk. : alk. paper)Subject(s): Middle class women -- Texas -- Galveston -- History | Middle class women -- Texas -- Galveston -- Social conditions | Middle class women -- Political activity -- Texas -- Galveston | Social problems -- Texas -- Galveston -- History | Social action -- Texas -- Galveston -- History | Galveston (Tex.) -- History | Galveston (Tex.) -- Race relations | Galveston (Tex.) -- Social conditionsDDC classification: 305.4/09764/139 LOC classification: HQ1439.G35 | T87 1997Other classification: 15.85
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Book University of Texas At Tyler
Stacks - 3rd Floor 		HQ1439 .G35 T87 1997 (Browse shelf) Available 0000001935683

Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-360) and index.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Turner's exhaustive research in records of Galveston's church societies, benevolent institutions, literary clubs, and civic associations yielded results that challenge the commonly accepted view of southern women reformers as evangelical Protestants leading crusades on moral grounds. According to Turner, elitism more than evangelicalism drove women activists in Galveston. By increasing their public responsibilities in the urban arena, not just as auxiliaries but as builders and primary decision-makers in secular institutions, women secured high status for themselves in the community. The greatest catalyst for their course was the hurricane that destroyed Galveston's infrastructure in 1900 and left 10,000 residents homeless. Turner shows that through careful management of relief efforts and general public health initiatives, white women's organizations mirrored the newly formed, all-male city commission government, which attempted to impose order and efficiency in the political realm. African American women developed separate reform networks because disfranchisement and segregation laws prevented interracial cooperation. This highly readable account reveals how significantly the effects of natural disaster can shape the relationship among politics, gender, and culture. An important contribution to women's history, southern history, and urban history. Upper-division undergraduates and above. M. A. McEuen Transylvania University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Elizabeth Hayes Turner is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Houston.

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