In addition to unions,
get past the poisonous brew of racism. Southern elites really did try to focus the resentment of poor white onto black persons. A fair number of poor whites saw through this as bullshit, but a fair number also went along. When you're almost toward the bottom of the totem pole, yeah, sometimes a person will settle for having someone at the absolute bottom to look down on and feel superior to, and even you and I might not fully have the skills to do something more constructive instead.
Alright, with oil money, starting even in the 40s and increasing into the 50s, maybe Texas could be the one state to do separate but equal in which the separate schools really are substantially equal? ! ?
Now, one might think, then they'll just be more invested. Maybe. But the physical school facilities aren't going anywhere. And with better African-American schools, you take away a lot of the myths and urban legends such as "these kids" aren't prepared well enough or the hygiene isn't to the same level and all the other crude myths claimed by people who want to keep things the same.
I think it would make desegregation easier, and Texas could be a model for a post-Jim Crow future. Now, just to find a couple of PODs!