| dc.description.abstract | I analyzed how ten weather-related natural disasters in Texas and the Southwest border region between 1899 and 1921 were popularly understood and how newspapers influenced collective memory of disasters. I performed a close textual analysis for language bias in local, state, national, and international newspapers. I found significant variations in descriptions of victims and others based on race, ethnicity, gender, and class.
Newspapers used a wide range of racial and ethnic identifiers before simplifying to white, Black, and Mexican around 1915. They generally described white individuals in detail and flatteringly, while they described other identities by racial or ethnic identifiers and unflatteringly. They frequently identified Black Texans by race only and as objects of white charity. La Prensa resisted bias by describing the 1921 Mexican community in language similar to that used for white Texans. Newspapers treated disaster as an opportunity, using sensationalist language to shape the collective memory of disasters and victims, particularly justifying coercion of poor and non-white victims’ labor by unsupported accusations of looting and violence.
The biased language was undeniable. The actual influence on the collective memory was indicated by editorials written by those whose understanding of a disaster came from articles and by la Prensa’s resistance, while newspapers themselves used prior disasters as gauge of severity. Many of these tactics, conscious or not, are still in use, and modern mass media, including social media, has thrived in an environment with few consequences for bias and misinformation. By studying how these narratives were created in the past, we can educate the public to recognize this bias which creates negative perceptions of marginalized groups and weaken their power to create resentment, fear, and anger. | |
