The broader history of Texas has slowly started to emerge across the state in the form of artwork in public spaces and institutions.
The San Pedro Creek Cultural Park showcases San Antonio’s history dating back over 12,000 years through a blending of art and nature.
The Witte Museum is showcasing the story of Black cowboys of Texas.
However, these diverse stories are often still absent in classrooms.
Becoming Texas, a podcast published by the Institute of Texan Cultures at the University of Texas at San Antonio, aims to re-examine significant moments in Texas history.
Writer and documentarian John Phillip Santos hosts the podcast.
Santos, a professor of Mestizo Cultural Studies at UTSA , has worked with his students on the podcast to re-interpret historical moments, including the undertones of racism in the famous “Come and Take It” flag.
“[It’s] a history allure, a legacy largely forgotten, largely lost, and how people then find a way to contextualize it and situate it to understand the diversity of experiences that made up the Texas epic,” he said.
Santos said the podcast helps evoke a sense of borderlands humanities — a broader understanding and study of the communities that make up Texas.
“We’re in an era where we’re just beginning to get a sense of something that’s possible in terms of new ways of understanding ourselves,” he said. “Not just as Chicanos, but as people of South Texas of every cultural origin.”
The podcast’s first episode, “Tejano Tales” is out now. Future episodes will be unveiled over the next few months.
Listen to part one of the conversation with Santos here.
