Mexican Americans in Texas History, Selected Essays

By Emilio Zamora

Book Overview

The contributions and influences of Mexican Americans in Texas history have been many and significant. Only in recent decades, however, have historians adequately told this story. The enormous strides made in the study of Mexican-origin people in Texas are reflected in this important new book of essays. In May 1991 the Texas State Historical Association cosponsored a conference, "Mexican Americans in Texas History," which brought together some six hundred participants, including nearly one hundred leading scholars in the field of Mexican American Studies. In the words of the editors' introduction, this highly successful conference "confirmed and celebrated the existence of a substantial body of literature in Mexican American history." It showed that "Mexican American history was on its way to assuming its rightful place of importance." This groundbreaking volume, which contains eleven essays from that pivotal conference, corrects and amplifies the historical record. Mexican Americans in Texas History will be of great interest to students, scholars, teachers, and general readers, and it is well adapted to classroom use. Selected essays include: * Old Roads, New Horizons: Texas History and the New World Order, by David Montejano * Occupied Texas: Bexar and Goliad, 1835-1836, by Paul Lack * Mexicanos in Texas During the Civil War, by Miguel González Quiroga * Union, Paz y Trabajo: Laredo's Mexican Mutual Aid Societies in the 1890s, by Roberto R. Calderón * Mutualist and Mexicanist Expressions of a Mexican Political Culture in Texas, by Emilio Zamora * The Tejano Revolt of 1915, by Rodolfo Rocha * Agents of Americanization: The Houston Settlement Association and the Mexican Community, 1900-1950, by María Cristina García * Trini Gamez and the Texas Farm Workers: Toil and Trouble on the Texas Plains, by Yolanda García Romero * Carlos E. Castañeda: The Historian and the Critics" by Félix D. Almaráz * The Borderlands of Culture: Americo Paredes's George Washington Gomez, by Ramón Saldívar * Estudios Tejanos: A List of Historical Literature on Mexican Americans in Texas, by Arnoldo de Leon * Selected Bibliography on Mexican American, Tejana, and Tejano History, by Cynthia Orozco

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0876111746
• ISBN13: 9780876111741
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Texas State Historical Assn
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent!

Divided into four sections (the 19th century, the 20th century, biography and literature, and bibliographies), this book covers a wide array of topics concerning the lives of Mexican Americans throughout the history of Texas. This book is a compilation of papers that were originally presented at the 1991 "Mexican Americans in Texas History". As such, I have a few favourites that I found particularly well-written and interesting. One of which is "Agents of Americanization: Rusk Settlement and the Houston Mexican Community, 1907-1950" by Maria Cristina Garcia, which traces the history of settlement houses in Houston. Not only does this piece present how Mexican Americans were victims of racism in Houston society, but it also demonstrates how they resisted and negotiated such views. This article also indicates how settlement workers, arguably possessing good intentions, were attempting to 'americanize' early immigrants. Another excellent piece is entitled "Mexicanos in Texas During the Civil War" by Miguel Gonzalez Quiroga. This article not only discusses the role northeastern Mexico played during the Civil War (the provision of goods to the South), but also why individual Mexicans joined the war. In the third section (Biography and Literature), there are three biographies. Yolanda Romero writes of Trini Gaamez, a community activist from Hereford; Felix Almaraz writes of Carlos E. Castaneda, the first Mexican American to achieve success as a professor in Texas; and, Ramon Saldivar analyzes the work of Americo Paredes and his early novel "George Washington Gomez". This book will be of immense benefit to anyone interested in the roles Mexican Americans played throughout the history of Texas.