The Czech-Moravians in Texas

 

Czech Pioneers of the Southwest by Estelle Hudson and Henry Maresh and published by South-West Press, Dallas, 1934.

[This is the "first" book. Provides background information and information on specific families. Narratives detail the hardships of early Texas-Czech settlers including establishing homesteads and enduring the American Civil War.]

Czech Texans: The Texas and the Texians and Texans Series  published by the University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio. Second edition 1998.

[This book was originally published several decades ago. This slender volume is another early reference (and the earliest in my personal collection.]

Krásná Amerika: A Study of the Texas Czechs, 1851--1939, by Clinton Machann and James W. Mendl and published by Eakin Press, Austin, Texas; 1983.

[As the title states, this is a study of the Texas Czechs. Chapter titles include: Emigration from Europe and Early History in Texas, Movement and Growth, Social Structure, Religion, Folk Culture, Czech Language, Journalism, and Literature, and Czech Identity and Assimilation. This is a thorough, footnoted book.]

We're Czechs by Robert L. Skrabanek and published by Texas A & M University Press, College Station, 1988.

[On the dust-cover jacket of this book it states, "Robert L. Skrabanek was born into the Czech community of Snook, Texas, when it had no electricity, no running water, and nor hard-surface roads. With warmth and familiarity, he describes how immigrants and their families held on to their cultural heritage by attending worship services conducted in the Czech language, choosing friends and spouses from the Czech community, working the land in the traditional ways, baking kolaches, and dancing the polka."

I found this an easy-to-read book that provides so very specific details as to how the Texas Czechs of Snook lived their lives in the 1920's and 1930's.]

Czech Voices, Stories from Texas in the Amerikán Narodní Kalendár translated and edited by Clinton Machann and James W. Mendl Jr. and published by Texas A & M University Press, College Station, Texas, 1991.

[This book contains ten, first-person accounts of early Czech immigrants to Texas. The accounts start in the 1850's. The articles were first printed in the Midwestern Czech-language journal Amerikán Narodní Kalendár. According to the dust jacket themes include "hardships of the immigrants, religious conflicts, the American Civil War, farming practices, and attitudes toward the land." I actually found a great deal of background information in this book. It is one of my favorites.]

Our Czech-ered Past  by Bessie Ancinec Sisson and published by Millenia Press, Lubbock, 1996.

[This book provides an up-close and personal view of what the world and life was like for the early Texas Czech immigrants, I recommend it as one, which helps you, get a "feel" for the time and the people.]

Journeys into Czech-Moravian Texas by Sean N. Gallup and published by Texas A & M University Press, College Station, Texas, 1998. 

[According to the dustcover of this book the author "honors the multicultural richness of rural America by revealing the rich and still flourishing culture that is relatively unknown. Through a combination of more than one hundred poignant photographs and detailed captions, he gives visual evidence of the traditional connections and variety of contemporary Texas-Czech life and culture. He also shows the power of ethnic belonging as well as the forces of Texas-Czech cultural decline and rejuvenation."]

To Reap a Bountiful Harvest: Czech Immigration beyond the Mississippi, 1850 - 1900 by Štěpáka Korztová-Magstadt and published by Rudi Publishing, Iowa City, Iowa, 1993.

[This book, according to the introduction "tells the tale of the Czech immigrants to the Great Plain states during the latter half of the nineteenth century and answers questions concerning the dates of their arrival, the places they came from and where they settled, and finally, it gives the character of the migration." It also has several sections on the Czech-Moravians in Texas and the background information as to the whole immigration situation is very informative.]

Czech-Americans in Transition by Clinton Machann, of the  Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences and published by Eakin Press, Austin, Texas, 1999.

[This book compiles papers presented at a Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences conference and includes one by Leo Baca on documenting immigrant arrivals (contained elsewhere on the site) as well as one by Woody Smith on the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center in La Grange.]

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