Exodus From the Alamo: The Anatomy of the Last Stand Myth Read Free Page A

have long been identified by their lineage. Do you come from people who ride horses, a caballero , or are you a person who walks, a peon ? Your status and the opportunities that life can bring are often determined by personal history.
    This is why Dr. Tucker’s book is so important. An entire generation of young Texans is searching for meaning in their lives, just as I did. They are looking for their cultural and historical roots. They want to know where they fit. The sensible choice is to recognize and honor both Mexican and Texas history as “the history of Texas.” Throughout my life, and for reasons I do not totally understand, I have revered history with all its intrigue and failings. I comprehend how things that happened in the past affect people’s lives in the present. History must be constantly called into question and it must be constantly corrected. Dr. Tucker corrects history, and that is serious business in Texas.
    This is all the more true because the books used in Texas classrooms continue to limit the contributions of our Hispanic and AfricanAmerican heroes. When I first learned about the Battle of the Alamo, I believed the account that I read to be true. I was taught that the cowardly Mexican army slaughtered the heroic Texans. But from my perspective, I asked, what had the Mexican army and their leader done wrong in protecting their nation? The response was always the same: the Mexicans were responsible for the deaths of Texas heroes. Must the Texas Hispanic population of the twenty-first century still be held responsible for the deaths of Texas heroes in the nineteenth?
    Simply stated, I don’t want children today to experience the conflict that I experienced. While I do not believe that racism and classism are now actively taught and practiced in Texas classrooms, the icon of the Alamo nevertheless continues as our most important symbol of modern Texas. Its very definition divides us into good and bad, Anglos and Mexicans. Texas mythology is in fact the present and future of Texas. Texans of Mexican descent continue to be stereotyped as treacherous, as cheaters, and as back stabbers, while the heroes of the Alamo are revered as exemplars. What message does this send to our youth?
    Early Texas historians spun their historical narrative of the events of March 1836 for purposes of the past that have no place in the future. We are taught that the evil despot Santa Anna with a huge professional army marched across south Texas, arriving in San Antonio to stage a bloody siege of the old Spanish mission and its defenders. It was there that the valiant and righteous Texans made their last stand in defense of the rights of Texas and its citizens. Bowie, Travis, and the gentleman from Tennessee, Congressman Crockett, defended the Alamo to the death for the glory of Texas. Cry, “Remember the Alamo.”
    But what exactly are we supposed to remember? What really happened? The new information validated and analyzed in Dr. Tucker’s work means we can no longer “remember” or believe what we were told by earlier generations. I exonerate early Texas historians from any mistakes in their original descriptions of the siege and the deaths of the defenders. These early chronicles served the important purpose of building symbols for modern Texas and Texans’ identity. But Exodus from the Alamo breaks new ground and supports a new history of Texas that began to emerge decades ago, and remarkably includes the contributions of Latinos, African-Americans, Native Americans, and others.
    Dr. Tucker examines the real story behind the premier symbol of Texas, a symbol that defines who we are and who we are not, providing us with new information and a fresh way of interpreting the Battle of the Alamo. Additional information most certainly will continue to emerge, the merits of which we must closely examine if we are to continue the task of correcting the historical record for the benefit of future generations. As courageous as