Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
lived in the area now known as Texas long before Spanish explorers arrived in the area. However, once Spaniards arrived and claimed the area for Spain, a process known as ''
mestizaje
(; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...
'' occurred, in which Spaniards and Native Americans had ''
mestizo'' children who had both Spanish and indigenous blood. Texas was ruled by Spain as part of its
New Spain territory from 1520, when Spaniards first arrived in Mexico in 1520, until Texas won independence from Mexico in 1836, which led to the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (1848). In 1830, the Mexican population fell to 20 percent and in 1840 down to 10 percent. When Spanish rule in Texas ended, Mexicans in Texas numbered 5,000. In 1850 over 14,000 Texas residents had Mexican origin. During the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) had brought in a lot of movement of Mexicans into Texas, passing through the Rio Grande. Most working opportunities for the Mexicans was working on a ranch or a farm starting from South Texas and ending up in the Panhandle in Northwest Texas to cotton lands. By (1930) the Mexican population grew to approximately 700,000.
In the 2020 Census, 33.3% of Texans identified as "Mexican, Mexican Am., or Chicano".
Media
''
La Prensa ''La Prensa'' ("The Press") is a frequently used name for newspapers in the Spanish-speaking world. It may refer to:
Argentina
* ''La Prensa'' (Buenos Aires)
* , a current publication of Caleta Olivia, Santa Cruz
Bolivia
* ''La Prensa'' (La Paz ...
'' was a daily Spanish language newspaper published in San Antonio. It was started in 1913 by Ignacio E. Lozano and covered the
Mexican Revolution and other stories from Mexico. It was closed in 1963.
''El Bejarano'' (San Antonio) was a Spanish language newspaper published in San Antonio. It was started in 1855 and became a platform for Mexican and Mexican American activism.
Notable persons
*
Plácido Benavides
*
José Antonio Burciaga
*
José María Jesús Carbajal
*
Patricia de la Garza De León
Patricia de la Garza De León (1775–1849) was the matriarch of one of the prominent founding families of early Texas. Doña Patricia raised ten children, some of whom helped change the course of history. At age 49, she uprooted her life in 1824 t ...
*
Martín De León
Martín De León (1765–1833) was a rancher and wealthy Mexican empresario in Texas who was descended from Spanish aristocracy. He was the patriarch of one of the prominent founding families of early Texas. De León and his wife Patricia de ...
*
Luis Jiménez
*
Rafael Manchola
*
Octavio Medellín
*
George I. Sánchez
George Isidore Sánchez (1906–1972) was a pioneer in American educational scholarship and civil rights activism, originally from the state of New Mexico. He served on the faculty of the University of New Mexico, held several concurrent teaching, ...
*
Edgar Valdez Villarreal
Edgar Valdez Villarreal (born August 11, 1973), also known as La Barbie ("The Barbie"), is a Mexican-American former drug lord and high-ranking lieutenant of the now-disbanded Beltrán Leyva Cartel. Valdez is serving a 49-year prison sentence ...
*
Judith Zaffirini
Judith Pappas Zaffirini (born February 13, 1946) is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the Texas State Senate from the 21st District, which includes her home city of Laredo in south Texas. On January 9, 2007, Zaffirini b ...
*
Selena
Selena Quintanilla Pérez (; April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), known mononymously as Selena, was an American Tejano singer. Called the " Queen of Tejano music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mex ...
*
Gloria Anzaldúa
Gloria may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music
* Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise
* Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise
** Gloria (Handel)
** Gloria (Jenkin ...
Geography
Hispanics of Mexican descent dominate
southern, south-central, and
western Texas and form a significant portion of the residents in the cities of
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
,
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
,
Austin, and
San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
, image_map =
, mapsize = 220px
, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, subdivision_t ...
. The Hispanic population contributes to Texas having a younger population than the American average, because Hispanic births have outnumbered non-Hispanic white births since the early 1990s. In 2007, for the first time since the early nineteenth century, Hispanics accounted for more than half of all births (50.2%), while non-Hispanic whites accounted for just (34%).
Lynching of Mexican-Americans in Texas
From 1848 to 1928 there were hundreds of
lynchings of Mexican-Americans across the American West. Many of these lynchings occurred in Texas against people of Mexican descent. One such case was the case of Paulino Serda of Edinburg, a city in south Texas. Paulino Serda was killed by Texas Rangers on his ranch in 1915 during questioning. In September of that same year, Texas Rangers encountered Jesus Bazan and Antonio Longoria riding their horses near their ranch in Edinburg, Texas. Even though they had committed no crimes, the Texas Rangers shot and killed the two men on the assumption that were Mexican bandit sympathizers; they left their bodies where they were shot to be found by locals two days later. Many more Mexican nationals and Mexican-Americans living in the Texas-Mexico border were killed during this period, now designated as
La Matanza
''La Matanza'' (Spanish for "The Massacre") refers to a communist- indigenous rebellion in El Salvador that took place between 22 and 25 January 1932. It was succeeded by large-scale government killings in western El Salvador, which resulted ...
.
See also
*
Hispanic and Latino Americans in Texas
*
History of the African-Americans in Texas
*
Jewish history in Texas
*
German Texan
German Texan (german: Deutschtexaner) is both a term to describe immigrants who arrived in the Republic of Texas from Germany from the 1830s onward and an ethnic category that includes their descendants in today's state of Texas. The arriving Ge ...
*
Tejano
*
Tex-Mex
Tex-Mex cuisine (from the words ''Texan'' and ''Mexican'') is an American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the ''Tejano'' people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern United ...
References
6. Kanellos, Nicolas and Helvetia Martell. 'Hispanic Periodicals in the United States Origins to 1960s: A Brief History and Comprehensive Bibliography'. Arte Publico Press, 1960.
Further reading
* McKenzie, Phyllis. ''
The Mexican Texans''.
Texas A&M University Press
Texas A&M University Press (also known informally as TAMU Press) is a scholarly publishing house associated with Texas A&M University. It was founded in 1974 and is located in College Station, Texas, in the United States.
Overview
The Texas A& ...
, March 1, 2004. , 9781585443079.
* ''
Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986''
* ''
"Let All of Them Take Heed"''
* ''
Tejano South Texas''
External links
*
Mexican Americans" ''
Handbook of Texas''.
Mexican-Americans
Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican ...
Mexican-American history
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