West Side rising : how San Antonio's 1921 flood devastated a city and sparked a Latino environmental justice movement / Char Miller, forward by Julián Castro.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miller, Char, 1951- author.

Contributor:

Castro, Julián, writer of foreword.

Maryann B. Sudo CW'63 and John B. Baxter, Jr., American History Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Floods--Texas--San Antonio--History.

Floods.

Human ecology--Texas--San Antonio--History.

Human ecology.

Environmental justice--Texas--San Antonio--History.

Environmental justice.

Environmental policy--Texas--San Antonio--History.

Environmental policy.

Community activists--Texas--San Antonio--History.

Community activists.

History.

Texas--San Antonio.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

ix, 245 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

San Antonio, Texas : Maverick Books / Trinity University Press, [2021]

Summary:

"On September 9, 1921, a tropical depression stalled north of San Antonio and within hours overwhelmed its winding network of creeks and rivers. Floodwaters ripped through the city's Latino West Side neighborhoods, killing more than eighty people. Meanwhile a wall of water crashed into the central business district on the city's North Side, wreaking considerable damage. The city's response to this disaster shaped its environmental policies for the next fifty years, carving new channels of power. Decisions about which communities would be rehabilitated were made in the political arena, where the Anglo elite largely ignored the interlocking problems on the impoverished West Side that flowed from poor drainage, bad housing, and inadequate sanitation. The discriminatory consequences, channeled along ethnic and class lines, continually resurfaced until the mid-1970s, when Communities Organized for Public Services, a West Side grassroots organization, launched a protest that brought much-needed flood control to often inundated neighborhoods. This upheaval, along with COPS's emergence as a power broker, disrupted Anglo domination of the political landscape to more accurately reflect the city's diverse population. West Side Rising is the first book focused squarely on San Antonio's enduring relationship to floods. Examining environmental, social, and political histories, Char Miller demonstrates that disasters can expose systems of racism, injustice, and erasure and, over time, can impel activists to dismantle these inequities. He draws clear lines between the environmental injustices embedded in San Antonio's long history and the emergence of grassroots organizations that combated the devastating impact floods could have on the West Side"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: One. "Death Rides on Waters of Three Streams"

Two. Rescue Mission

Three. Military Intervention

Four. DamtheOlmos!

Five. Construction Projects

Six. Uprising

Seven. Aftermath.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-232) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Maryann B. Sudo CW'63 and John B. Baxter, Jr., American History Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Miller, Char, 1951- West Side rising.

ISBN:

9781595349385

1595349383

OCLC:

1237396455

Publisher Number:

99988783910