current progress report

Philomena Buxton
History 388
Dr. Littlejohn
20 October 2009

The Wildest Show Behind Bars

The Texas prison system was still in it’s early stages when 1931 came around. It was in finical ruin. Marshall Lee was appointed to be head of the Corrections department. Lee hatched an idea along with an inmate to crate a prison rodeo that was comprised of rodeo events and that showcased different inmates participating in the events. It was an idea that at its conception was only meant to be seen by the officers and families that worked for the prison system, but turned into a huge show that would last for decades. He was trying to find a way to get the corrections department out of a sticky finical situation. The true start of the depression had just happened and most of America was broke.
The first decade of the rodeo from 1931-1941 saw that rise of what the rodeo would become. It was a huge success. In its fist few years the rodeo went from being held on one Sunday in October to every Sunday in October. The community around the Huntsville area was also allowed to attend. The public loved the rodeo and would flock to the town when it would happen. The only year that it was not held was in 1942 due to the United States entering into World War II. The rodeo showcased many talents. The riders would get a small prize for winning. The thrill of the rodeo was not extended to all inmates however. They had to have go behavior, be trustworthy , and have special clearance to participate.
The Huntsville Unit in Huntsville Texas were the grounds for where the rodeo was held every year. Lines would wrap around the block of people trying to get tickets. Every year they would have to add on to the structure. The rodeo was wildly popular with the Goree gals. They were women who were incarcerated who would go and perform at the rodeos. Some of other most popular events were the made scramble. Men would get on wild broncos and the last one to get bucked off would win. In 1931, at the start the men who were in the rodeo were a small group of inmates but the amount of inmate participation grew every year. Income brought in by the rodeo was immense. In the time of the depression, there was still a steady income from the rodeo coming in. Marshall lee had fulfilled his idea of the rodeo becoming famous. The inmate who had helped him was a ranch owner from west Texas who had killed a cattle inspector and had then been incarcerate.
They had many talents come to the rodeos. Heartthrob, Tom Mix, asppeared at many rodeos in the early years. He was a rodeo cowboy and a movie star. Women poured out to see him.

Peer Review

For this, i still had a rough draft and no citations. I know that i need to add them but Jacob gave me some good ideas on what i can do to improve my paper and help the overall flow of what i am trying to get across to the audience.

Photochopshop

I am really wanting to use the picture of all of the men from the first rodeo. I love that picture! It is great! I am also using the picture of the gorre Gals who are on the grounds singing and preforming!

research DAY

For this I got some more things on the HUntsville Item to use in my project. I have all of the years covered in the project and am going through stuff to see what is miscellaneous.

Dreamweaver is no dream!

Dreamweaver is givng me a hard time. I am not too technologically inclined as far as this goes. Jacob and have John been having to help me most of the time. THANKS GUYS. i can see how it could be fun i am just having a hard time with it.

Progress Report

My paper is going good. i found a book written by Marshall Lee and a few other cool things i am pretty excited. I still have lot of pictures that i am planning on using.

Coolest room in the Library

The Thomason is pretty much the coolest room in the building. The people there were extremely helpful and funny! Although there was nothing for my project in the room, the things that they had in there were amazing and the history taht has been preserved up there is somthing to be admired.

IT'S OVER

I think it was a HUGE hit. Everyone did great on their projects and the food was good and well orginized. BUCKEYES TO EVERYONE!!! The speaches were great and the class worked well together to get it pulled off in 2 weeks. The geocashing sounded like it went off with out a hitch and the people who came seems to really enjoy it.

t-2 days

We only have a few days til the projects are due, and I am worried about is not getting anyone where sick. I am getting a hold of the last few pictures and trying to finish up my board to get it done. I think people will like my topic. everyone likes cowboys and rodeos. They are fun and draw interest. especially including them with the prison will make it go over well!

i love this park.

We were supposed to meet at the state park for today's class. yes i have been to this park a few times. I have gone on the trails by the campsites. I have wanted to go camping there but my friends are being dumb and will not go. The geocashing was fun. My team won cause we are just awesome like that.

Minnie Fisher cunningham

We looked up Minnie fisher Cunningham at the court house when we went for class. It was pretty interesting. I found it odd that she left all her stuff to her nephew, but her niece was in charge of all the will stuff. She was the executor of the will and only got minuscule things, while her nephew got the land, the remaining money and the rest of her assets. When we asked the guy about why that could have been, he said that the niece was a little off and that she had been rumored to have thrown precious letters down a well in a fit of rage. I enjoyed learning how to do this so i can go back and look at families records.

We also went over the deed records and found a deed that was sold for a dollar. AWESOME!

Order in the Court

Myself, along with a few other colleges went to the discussion on the Supreme Court. The speech was called "United States Supreme Court as a Cultural Tribunal and was given by Dr. John Domino. He talked about the court has evolved to cultural issues since the 1950ish. He also said that on multiple occasions it has been refered to as a cultural kempf or cultural struggle. he said that some of the major issues facing the supreme court today are the talks to religion and religious influences, ethnic culture, homosexuals, race, and freedom of speech. As assumed, most of these issues are not easily ended and will continue to cause contrivery as long as people are able to make decisions. The court is also notorious for making split decisions. Dr. Domino said tha the court is REACTIVE.It was an intresting lecture and I enjoyed everythign that I learned about during the time spent.~Philomena

What's going down?

So far... for m y project the most I have are Internet sites.. I know we are not supposed to have those or use many of them, but I am meeting with Sandy on the 22ed to help find more sources. I also have a CD with TONS of pictures on it that have been collected thought the years. I am also working on trying to get an interview with one of the rodeo clowns who helped in the rodeos. My project should start getting good after my meeting with Sandy when I am able to knock out some solid sources and get this bull going. (ha ha i thought the pun was funny)


~Philomena

Enola Gay...Here to Stay

This is a picture of the USS Indianapolis which took the Uranuim to the island to be used to make them bombs dropped by the Enola Gay. Had she been sunk 4 days prior, this would be a whole diffrent discussion. Ony 317 survived.. Read "In Harm's Way"






Alright, while i realize this a conversely topic.. which I will hear more about in class tomorrow, here are my pre-class thoughts.

First, I don't see a major reason why this is such a big controversy. It is a part of history, yes, the repercussions of the U.S. dropping the atom bomb are still felt. The pilot was just doing what he was told to do. The bomb was a MAJOR part our history, making the plane so. Yes many of thousands of people were killed (which is tragic) but to not put it up because it offends people? SO WHAT! In today's age people are offended but someone wearing the wrong color of shirt. We need to remember our history, there may be some sore subjects that we are not proud of and don't like to talk about, but that does not merit us and the people at the Smithsonian to not talk about it because it may offend someone.


~Philomena

Ok.. so after class i came away thinking I OBVIOUSLY did not get what the articles were trying to say.. It happens. Based on class discusion I think that they way they were going to show it was a better idea. It was a segway into the Cold War, atomic mtesting had NEVER been used on such a large scale before, and as said in class the firebombing was killing more people than the bombs took out. When they were dropped it opened up a whole new horizion for the world to realize what power was capaple of human beings. I think that showing it was a exibit starting from December 6th was infact disrespectful to the vets who fought. It was not a direct retaliation against the Pearl Harbor bombings, but a warning o what was possible and what could happen with theses weapons.

~Philomena

Remember the Alamo!!!!

For class, and the purpose of this blog, we were to visit the local museum and read about the Alamo. It was an integral part of Texas becoming separate from Mexico and thus, its own republic. I did not learn much that I didn't already know from studing this battle, however, I did enjoy ths pictures and visual aids that were provided. I liked how the artisit who lent a hand in the exibit showed the vast number in the Mexican Army vs. the few hundred men who fought in the Alamo,.

~Philomena