How the Mexican revolution spilled over into the United States and was Forgotten
Written: Jul 31 '04 (Updated Aug 01 '04)
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Pros: Excellent background material showing the causes and results of the rebellion.
Cons: Could use more maps.
The Bottom Line: Recommended to anyone interested in the history of Hispanics in the United States, the history of the Texas, or even of the Mexican Revolution. A truly interesting book.
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| szz's Full Review: |
Only a serious student of the Mexican Revolution would know that that Revolution produced a manifesto calling for revolution in the American Southwest by ethnic Mexicans. And even when mentioned in histories of the Revolution it is seldom noted that manifesto was fulfilled by an uprising in the lower Rio Grande Valley that led to the deaths of thousands.
The story of the uprising, called for by the "Plan of San Diego", is the focus of this book. But that story is bracketed by information on why Mexican-Americans in "the Valley", that part of Texas between the lower Nueces and Rio Grande rivers, were receptive to calls for violent revolution, and how the failed uprising affected politics in Texas for decades afterwards. Altogether a very interesting story, well presented by the author of Revolution in Texas.
The uprising lasted from early 1915 into 1916. Forces based south of the Rio Grande consisting of up to 50 to 100 men on horseback burned bridges carrying railroads over creeks and culverts in the valley, attacked the homes and ranches of both Anglos and Mexicans, fought U.S. Army detachments, and otherwise struck at targets of opportunity. These forces received aid from Mexican-Americans in the Valley who provided food and lodging, and refused information to Army units, Texas Rangers, or local Sheriffs. Mexican-Americans in the Valley supplied many recruits to these "Sendicios", which were led by Mexican-Americans from the Valley.
Tejanos, the author's preferred term for Mexican-American citizens of the United States, had maintained land and influence in the Valley throughout the 19th century, if for no other reason that the number of Anglo settlers was relatively small. Anglos dominated the shipping and importing businesses of Brownsville and Laredo, the area's largest cities, but worked through Tejano elites to deliver the votes needed to legitimize their political role. Anglos learned Spanish to be successful. Ranching based on
Spanish/Mexican extensive free-range cattle raising gave way to European intensive ranching on enclosed ranges. (The Valley is where Tom Dunsun built his ranch in the movie Red River: "You mean [Don Diego] took [the land] away from whoever was here before--Indians maybe. Well, I'm taking it away from him.")
Resentful - occasionally rebellious - but still powerful, the Tejanos majority managed to do well in the new political order. And then, in 1904, the railroad came to the Valley. A means of transportation that meant raising market crops - melons, cabbage, onions, sugar cane and cotton - suddenly became a more profitable use of Valley land than ranching. This opportunity brought a flood of Anglo settlers armed with Anglo cash to buy up rangeland from Tejanos without similar access to credit. As land use changed, its value increased so that many Tejanos found their land taxes rise to rates that made ranching unprofitable. More and more land fell into the hands of Anglo farmers, and more and more Tejanos found themselves landless and working for wages as seasonal agricultural stoop laborers on land owned by Anglos. Not a happy situation, just as armies were springing up all over Mexico promising land reform for Mexican peons made landless by 30 years of corrupt rule of Portforio Diaz.
The author of Revolution in Texas mines memoirs, local history journals, government reports, and newspaper files to make sense out of the Revolution. Given that the revolutionaries were not inclined to write out their side of the story - ultimately the losing side - this is a task performed very well. On the side of the local victors there was little room for pride.
Lynch law justice became the norm, especially amongst Texas Rangers, who killed suspects upon capture and then made up weak stories to avoid blame. But the US Army deserves credit for fair treatment of prisoners, including refusal to hand over suspects to state authorities when it was obvious that justice was not intended.
The ultimate defeat of the rebellion ushered in hard times for Tejanos in the Valley, and throughout Texas. I was not aware that Mexican were treated in Texas as bad as Blacks were in other parts of the south. Or that a system of separate schools existed, one for Anglos and one for Mexicans. Or that something named the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) played a role defending the rights of Mexican-Americans similar to that played by the NAACP in defending the rights of Black Americans.
The early leaders of the LULAC decided to embrace American citizenship while rejecting a role for themselves or those they represented as Mexicans citizens in exile. This decision is reflected in the subtitle of Revolution in Texas: "How a Forgotten Rebellion and Its Bloody Suppression Turned Mexicans Into Americans".
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
szz
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Member: Steven Zoraster
Location: Austin
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 2 members
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