"We'll get married if it rains": Farm women, courtship, and marriage in 1950s west Texas

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2007-08

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Abstract

This thesis is a study of courtship and the development of dating in 1950s West Texas. But aside from simply looking at courtship, this project is also a community study as it focuses mainly on life in and around Sudan, Texas. My grandmother’s hometown is a tiny farming community in the Panhandle of West Texas. Sudan is far removed from the bustling urban centers and college campuses that previous studies of courtship and dating have focused on. How did love and romance develop in such an unromantic place? Previous studies have shown us that urban areas with their dance halls, amusement parks, and rich sense of youth culture were the perfect places for romance to be found. This study looks at an area where romance seems unlikely if not impossible. It looks at the reasons why farming communities are seen as unromantic and the ways in which young men and women find and create love and how they make it last.

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Farm, Women, Courtship, Marriage, Texas

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