Where Are We Now?

Texas economy began as early as thousands of years ago when Native Americans traded for things they could not make or grow.

In early Texas, cotton was “King.” Enslaved adults labored in the sun as they picked bags of cotton.

(AP Photo)

Plantation owners depended on the labors of enslaved adults. The workers made the owners wealthy, while they remained poor.

After the Civil War, many were freed and began to earn their own way.

Some became sharecroppers.

Others joined the growing cattle industry.

Bose Ikard was born a slave and after he was freed, he rode for years with cattlemen Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving.

(AP Photo)

The cattle industry provided many jobs for Texans.

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Others were able to open their own business.

Sam Harris owned a store in Williamsburg, Virginia.

In 1897 it was described as the largest business of its kind of any African American in the United States.

(AP Photo)

Aunt Clara Brown was a slave freed by her owners.

She went to Colorado by cooking for 26 men on a wagon train.

She opened a laundry business for the miners in the mining community of Central City, Colorado.

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Mass production increased across the country, such as in this factory in 1911…

(AP Photo)

..or in this baseball bat factory,

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and this car assembly line in1945.

(AP Photo)

The free enterprise system allowed job opportunities for all.

But many African Americans and immigrants suffered discrimination: in jobs, education, and in public places.

Many began to work for change, like former baseball star Jackie Robinson.

He carried a sign as he joined a picket line in Brooklyn, New York City, 1963.

He was demonstrating the need for more jobs to be given to blacks. (AP Photo)

Al Hibbler, a blind African American singer, leads a line of demonstrators for equal opportunity in 1963.

(AP Photo)

Today, all children have the opportunity to go to school. They can even start their own business while in school.

Colleges are open to any student who can pay to go.

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In fact, this man graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Business.

He is the son of the man who was the first African American to attend the university.

AP photo

And, Dr. Mae C. Jemison not only graduated, but was the first black female to become an astronaut candidate.

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Today, because of the Civil Rights Act, no one can be denied a job because of race, religion, or gender.

This woman monitors chips as they come out of a fryer at the Frito-Lay plant in Texas.(AP Photo)

Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream workers package ice cream at the Dreyer's plant in Houston, Texas.

(AP Photo)

A worker applies a shipping label to a computer on the assembly line at a Dell Computers plant in Austin, Texas.

(AP Photo)

Even immigrants can own their own business or work for one, such as this man.

He owns the Ba-Le Sandwich & Bakery. The bakery sells Vietnamese-style sandwiches, pastries and noodle dishes. (AP Photo)

This Polish immigrant, who has been making pierogie for more than 70 years, works next to her daughter, at their Perfect Pierogie Shop. Workers from Poland and the Ukraine also work in the shop.

(AP Photo)

To work for others…

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…or to own a business,

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all Americans dream.