The murder and lynchings of ethnic Mexicans in South Texas during the early 1900s is seldom explored in state-published history books.
In 2016, the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin took the bold step to acknowledge this complex history in the exhibit Life and Death on the Border: 1910-1920.
It touched on topics from the history of la matanza (the massacre) to the 1919 legislative hearing from Texas State Representative J.T. Canales, and featured rare photos, postcards, and court documents.
The exhibit was arranged by Refusing to Forget, a group of historians who work to bring awareness to the state-sanctioned violence committed against Mexicans and Mexican Americans in Texas.
The panel exhibit is on display through March 31 at Our Lady of the Lake University’s Sueltenfuss Library in San Antonio.
Christopher Carmona, a member of Refusing to Forget and visiting associate professor of Comparative Mexican American Studies and English at OLLU, said the period of anti-Mexican violence is a holocaust of sorts.
“It really deals with a very touchy part of Texas history that obviously the Texas Rangers don’t want told, but it was something that affected literally thousands of people’s lives,” he said.
Christopher Rose, assistant professor of history and head of history at OLLU, and Valerie Martínez, associate professor of history at OLLU, both emphasized the importance of the exhibit.
Rose said students at OLLU can learn to connect with important parts of their history.
“History is not something that happens once upon a time to people you have no connection to,” he said. “Your own stories have power and your own stories are important. Your own stories are history.”
Tune in to Fronteras on Jan. 5 to hear a walkthrough of the exhibit.
