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Tejanos (Texans of Mexican heritage) were instrumental leaders in
the life and development of Texas during the Mexican period, the
war of independence, and the Texas Republic. Jesus F. de la Teja
and ten other scholars examine the lives, careers, and influence of
many long-neglected but historically significant Tejano leaders who
were active and influential in the formation, political and
military leadership, and economic development of Texas. In Tejano
Leadership in Mexican and Revolutionary Texas, lesser-known figures
such as Father Refugio de la Garza, Juan Martin Veramendi, Jose
Antonio Saucedo, Raphael Manchola, and Carlos de la Garza join
their better-known counterparts-Jose Antonio Navarro, Juan Seguin,
and Placido Benavides, for example-on the stage of Texas and
regional historical consideration. This book also features a
foreword by David J. Weber, in which he discusses how Anglocentric
views allowed important Tejano figures to fade from public
knowledge. Students and scholars of Texas and regional history,
those interested in Texana, and readers in Latino/a studies will
glean important insights from Tejano Leadership in Mexican and
Revolutionary Texas. Jesus F. de la Teja is a past president of the
Texas State Historical Association. He is a professor and chair of
the Department of History at Texas State University-San Marcos.
San Antonio native, military veteran, merchant, and mayor pro tem
Jose Antonio Menchaca (1800-1879) was one of only a few Tejano
leaders to leave behind an extensive manuscript of recollections.
Portions of the document were published in 1907, followed by a
"corrected" edition in 1937, but the complete work could not be
published without painstaking reconstruction. At last available in
its entirety, Menchaca's book of reminiscences captures the social
life, people, and events that shaped the history of Texas's
tumultuous transformation during his lifetime. Highlighting not
only Menchaca's acclaimed military service but also his vigorous
defense of Tejanos' rights, dignity, and heritage, Recollections of
a Tejano Life charts a remarkable legacy while incorporating
scholarly commentary to separate fact from fiction. Revealing how
Tejanos perceived themselves and the revolutionary events that
defined them, this wonderfully edited volume presents Menchaca's
remembrances of such diverse figures as Antonio Lopez de Santa
Anna, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, General Adrian Woll,
Comanche chief "Casamiro," and Texas Ranger Jack Hays. Menchaca and
his fellow Tejanos were actively engaged in local struggles as
Mexico won her independence from Spain; later many joined the fight
to establish the Republic of Texas, only to see it annexed to the
United States nine years after the Battle of San Jacinto. This
first-person account corrects important misconceptions and brings
previously unspoken truths vividly to life.
Most histories of Civil War Texas - some starring the fabled Hood's
Brigade, Terry's Texas Rangers, or one or another military figure -
depict the Lone Star State as having joined the Confederacy as a
matter of course and as having later emerged from the war
relatively unscathed. Yet as the contributors to this volume amply
demonstrate, the often neglected stories of Texas Unionists and
dissenters paint a far more complicated picture. Ranging in time
from the late 1850s to the end of Reconstruction, Lone Star
Unionism, Dissent, and Resistance restores a missing layer of
complexity to the history of Civil War Texas. The authors - all
noted scholars of Texas and Civil War history - show that slaves,
freedmen and freedwomen, Tejanos, German immigrants, and white
women all took part in the struggle, even though some never found
themselves on a battlefield. Their stories depict the Civil War as
a conflict not only between North and South but also between
neighbors, friends, and family members. By framing their stories in
the analytical context of the ""long Civil War,"" Lone Star
Unionism, Dissent, and Resistance reveals how friends and neighbors
became enemies and how the resulting violence, often at the hands
of secessionists, crossed racial and ethnic lines. The chapters
also show how ex-Confederates and their descendants, as well as
former slaves, sought to give historical meaning to their
experiences and find their place as citizens of the newly re-formed
nation. Concluding with an account of the origins of Juneteenth -
the nationally celebrated holiday marking June 19, 1865, when
emancipation was announced in Texas - Lone Star Unionism, Dissent,
and Resistance challenges the collective historical memory of Civil
War Texas and its place in both the Confederacy and the United
States. It provides material for a fresh narrative, one including
people on the margins of history and dispelling the myth of a
monolithically Confederate Texas.
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