Lone Star Iconoclasm: Race and the Decline of Confederate Statues at Texas Universities, 1865-2022

This thesis analyses the erection and long decline of Confederate iconography on university campuses in Texas from the late nineteenth century until today. The central argument is that racial integration and the following social diversification of universities' students and faculties constitute a crucial cultural factor in explaining a shift in perspectives around Confederate monuments and their ultimate social pressures for removal. To support this argument, the analysis includes employing demography and statistics to illustrate the correlation between demographic and cultural shifts on university campuses. Additionally, the argument is built upon newspaper articles, census records, and university reports released during the national discourse on racial violence.