Focusing upon the interaction between ethnic political elites in Austin, Texas, during the early twentieth century, this study examines (1) the impact of migration upon the dominant white elite's attitudes towards and dealings with the city's subordinate nonwhite ethnies, and (2) the agendas adopted by local African-American and ethnic-Mexican leaders. The article explains why in their efforts to improve conditions for their respective ethnic communities, the African-American and ethnic-Mexican leaderships pursued very different strategies from each other – the former concentrating upon the attainment of more universalist goals, the latter on more multiculturalist ones – and evaluates the effectiveness of these contrasting policies.