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Research and writing one chapter of a book on how Tejanos (Texans of Mexican ancestry) worked to include their community in histories of Texas.

This project explores the efforts of scholars to challenge the omissions and negative characterizations of Tejanos in the state’s history and in public school textbooks. By analyzing the scholarship, historical preservation efforts, and activism of Carlos E. Castañeda, Adina Emilia De Zavala, José T. Canales, and María Elena Zamora O’Shea, the book will explore how these intellectuals sought to revise the historical interpretations of Tejanos to prove their loyalty, improve their public image, and advance their education. The state’s Anglo-centric history textbooks, they argued, were biased, and helped justify contemporaneous discrimination (including segregated schools) against Tejanos. The primary sources include Spanish- and English-language correspondence, speeches, organizational documents, newspapers, and essays. The final products will be published articles and a book, which will appeal to students of U.S. history, civil rights, and Mexican American Studies.