page_title: History of Marshall, Texas
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: History of Marshall, Texas / 20th century
context_page_description: The History of Marshall, Texas follows the city; from its founding as an administrative center of the Republic of Texas, through its rise to be one of the largest cities in the early State of Texas, to its emergence as a major Confederate city, to its establishment as a major railroad hub of the United States in the late 19th century, through its national influence on the American Civil Rights Movement, through its steady economic decline in the late 20th century, and to the reemergence of growth in the 1990s and early 21st century.
context_section_description: During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, children of both races were raised to accept the status quo of segregation. African American Marshall resident George Dawson later wrote about his childhood experiences with segregation in his book Life Is So Good. He described how, despite African American children's acceptance of segregation, in some instances its demands were too outrageous to follow. For example, Dawson described how he had refused the demand of one employer who expected him to eat with her dogs.
  1913-02-25: Two African Americans were lynched in Marshall this date. Robert Perry was shot to death by a mob after being accused of horse stealing. Another African American, by the family name of Anderson, was hanged by a mob for unknown reasons.
  1914-04-29: Charles Fisher, a young African-American resident of Marshall, was accused of hugging and kissing  the daughter of a white farmer. News of the incident spread widely, and a lynch mob was formed.  Fisher was found, kidnapped, and mutilated both physically and sexually, and then released. Fisher was later examined by Sheriff Sanders and County Health Officer Taylor, who found that the mob had sheared off Mr. Fisher's ears, slit his lips, and mutilated his genitals. Fisher survived, but never totally recovered. None of the mob was ever captured.
  Other known victims of lynching from this time period include:
  Walker Davis October 1, 1903,
  James Hodges April 27, 1909,
  Matthew Chase April 30, 1909,
  "Mose" Creole April 30, 1909,
  "Pie" Hill April 30, 1909,
  1 unidentified black man October 29, 1911,
  Mary Jackson February 13, 1912,
  George Saunders February 13, 1912,
  Unknown Anderson February 25, 1913,
  Charles Jones August 22, 1917.
  In 1949, Marshall banned the movie Pinky from the city because it portrayed an interracial couple, a violation of the city's censorship code. The city was sued and the case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned the city's censorship law.
  Three graduates of Wiley College, inspired by the teachings of Wiley professor Melvin B. Tolson, helped to dismantle Jim Crow at the county, state, and national levels. Fred Lewis, as the secretary of the Harrison County NAACP, challenged the oldest White Citizens Party in the Texas and the Jim Crow laws it enforced, ultimately abolishing Jim Crow in the county with the Perry v. Cyphers verdict. Heman Sweatt tried to enroll in the University of Texas Law school, but was denied entry because of the color of his skin; he sued and the Texas Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of postgraduate studies in Texas in the Sweatt v. Painter decision. James Farmer became an organizer of the Freedom Rides and a founder of the Congress of Racial Equality.
  The progression of civil rights would continue into the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In the 1960s, students organized the first sit-ins in Texas in the rotunda of the county courthouse on Whetstone Square in a move to end segregation of public schools; in 1970, all Marshall public schools were integrated. Also in that year, Carolyn Abney became the first woman to be elected to the city commission. In April 1975, local businessman Sam Birmingham became the first African-American to be elected to the city commission and, in the 1980s, Marshall's first African-American mayor. Birmingham retired in 1989 for health concerns, and was succeeded by his wife, Jean Birmingham, who became the first African-American woman to serve on the commission.
  During the first half of the 20th century, the Texas & Pacific Railroad experienced its height under the leadership of John L. Lancaster. Marshall's industry picked up with the discovery of what was then the largest oil field in the world at nearby Kilgore in 1930. Marshall's railroad industry subsequently declined with the dieselization of most trains, the proliferation of air travel, and the construction of the Interstate highway system after World War II. The T&P Shops closed in the 1960s and T&P passenger service ceased in 1970. The Texas oil bust of the 1980s devastated the local economy and the city's populat
caption: The community has developed in and around Whetstone Square, shown here in 1939. Guests lodged in the Capitol Hotel, right, and the taller Hotel Marshall directly behind it. In the 1960s the Harrison County Courthouse, center, hosted the first sit-ins in Texas.
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