Remember the Alamo? A battle brews in Texas over history versus lore

[corbe]

Remember the Alamo? A battle brews in Texas over history versus lore

Jennifer Barger  1 hr ago

“What happened at the Alamo again?” asked my cousin, who was visiting from Missouri. It was sometime in the early 1990s and we were in San Antonio, lined up to see the best-known tourist attraction in Texas.


The reconstructed facade of Mission San Antonio Valero, more widely known as The Alamo. Disputes have arisen as to who decides how this land once inhabited by indigenous peoples is to be used.

As we passed through arched wooden doors into the 18th-century mission chapel, my sister piped in: “This is where Mexican general Santa Anna tried to take Texas back from Davy Crockett!”

Of course, that wasn’t quite right. My sister and I grew up in San Antonio, but she may have been out sick the day her seventh-grade Texas history class covered the Battle of the Alamo. Like many locals, she bought into the narrative of freedom-fighting Texans versus villainous Mexican soldiers. As a kid in the late 1970s, I subscribed to that story too, even begging my mother to buy me a facsimile of Crockett’s coonskin cap at the Alamo gift shop.

The 1836 conflict actually took place in what was then Mexico. Anglo settlers, lured to the steamy, snake-filled state of Tejas by the promise of farmland and autonomy, were rumbling for independence from the increasingly centralized Mexican government. Nearly 200 of these Texians (as both Anglo and Hispanic rebels were known) occupied the ruins of Mission San Antonio de Valero, nicknamed “the Alamo” after the Spanish word for cottonwood.

<..snip..>

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/remember-the-alamo-a-battle-brews-in-texas-over-history-versus-lore/ar-AAKIdP1?ocid=msedgntp

[corbe]

   General Houston appointed James Neill as Commander of the Alamo before Santa Ana crossed the Rio Grand but he had to leave due to a Family Emergency leaving Travis in charge.  There are conflicting reports on whether Gen Houston told Travis it (San Antonio) was a strategic hell hole and get to Goliad with Fannin, regroup and all march east to meet up with his forces, immediately.   They were all killed, over 500 Texians.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

I hesitate any time I see Unesco involved

[skeeter]

As long as UNESCO and other progressives are looking for a "fuller history" of the Alamo battle they might as well mention the 425+ anglo 'rebels' massacred by the Mexican army after surrendering at nearby Goliad.

IMH white supremacist O the mexicans were the bad guys.

These condescending revisionist essays about how we yokels don't understand our true history are tiresome. It is possible to realize the flaws in respected historical figures - and they are well known -  and still admire them for what they did.

[DefiantMassRINO]

We have many attempts to revise popular history aroun the Pilgrims, the Puritans, the colonists' wars with Native Americans, the Boston Massacre, the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill, etc.

Over the past 50 years, the National Park Service has used emminent domain to acquire property to expand the Battle of Concord National Historic site.  Seems like privileged, elites using history as a cloak for snob real estate development zoning.

We also had to endure the insufferable intervention of Don Henley to "preserve" Walden Pond.  Again, working class homesteads were purchased and demolished by privileged elitists using "historic preservation" and "natural preservation" as cloaks for snob real estate zoning.

History is written by the winners.  Legend, lore, and romanticism are used by all sides to rally people to a common cause or against a common enemy.  That legend, lore, and romanticism are elements of history.

What little I was taught about the Alamo was that "Remember the Alamo!" was a rallying cry for Texans during the Texas War of Independence.  Later I learned, Ozzy Osbourne relieved himself there.  It was also featured in Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure.

All the Phil Collins nonsense seems like sour grapes by the losers of history to commandeer it from the winners.  Have the fruits and nuts ever considered that the Alamo could have been an extra-terrestrial alien outpost?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

We have many attempts to revise popular history aroun the Pilgrims, the Puritans, the colonists' wars with Native Americans, the Boston Massacre, the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill, etc.

Over the past 50 years, the National Park Service has used emminent domain to acquire property to expand the Battle of Concord National Historic site.  Seems like privileged, elites using history as a cloak for snob real estate development zoning.

We also had to endure the insufferable intervention of Don Henley to "preserve" Walden Pond.  Again, working class homesteads were purchased and demolished by privileged elitists using "historic preservation" and "natural preservation" as cloaks for snob real estate zoning.

History is written by the winners.  Legend, lore, and romanticism are used by all sides to rally people to a common cause or against a common enemy.  That legend, lore, and romanticism are elements of history.

What little I was taught about the Alamo was that "Remember the Alamo!" was a rallying cry for Texans during the Texas War of Independence.  Later I learned, Ozzy Osbourne relieved himself there.  It was also featured in Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure.

All the Phil Collins nonsense seems like sour grapes by the losers of history to commandeer it from the winners.  Have the fruits and nuts ever considered that the Alamo could have been an extra-terrestrial alien outpost?

For the Alamo, we have to thank the half-breed George P bush who as Land Commissioner, threw out the Daughters of the Republic of Texas who managed the Alamo site and took it over under Unesco authority.

Now this POS wants to be Texas AG.

[thackney]

...All the Phil Collins nonsense...

@DefiantMassRINO

Can you explain to what you are referring?

https://www.thealamo.org/visit/whats-at-the-alamo/phil-collins-collection#:~:text=Phil%20Collin%20at%20his%20press,General%20Land%20Office%20in%202014.&text=In%20the%20summer%20of%202014,of%20the%20people%20of%20Texas.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Why is a British rock star collecting Alamo artificats?  It seems odd that someone with so little connection with Texas and its history is custodian of a significant collection of Alamo artifacts.

[PeteS in CA]

... the half-breed George P bush ...

"Half breed"? What non-human species was his mother, @IsailedawayfromFR?

[thackney]

Why is a British rock star collecting Alamo artificats?  It seems odd that someone with so little connection with Texas and its history is custodian of a significant collection of Alamo artifacts.

He found the story fascinating and had the wealth to accumulate items, even funding digging sites.

No odder than Jay Leno and his cars.  And since he turned over his collection to the museum, a rather generous offer to the public to view.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Jay Leno is not using his wealth, privilege, and car collection to influence how American history is remembered.

The danger of a wealthy foreigner and outsider curating so many artificats is that they can influence and dictate under which conditions they are exhibited without input from locals.  Phil Collins has the power to influence whether "Remember the Alamo!" is remebered as a rallying cry for Texas independence or it was a call to impose Anglo racist hegemony over non-white minorities.

[skeeter]

Jay Leno is not using his wealth, privilege, and car collection to influence how American history is remembered.

The danger of a wealthy foreigner and outsider curating so many artificats is that they can influence and dictate under which conditions they are exhibited without input from locals.  Phil Collins has the power to influence whether "Remember the Alamo!" is remebered as a rallying cry for Texas independence or it was a call to impose Anglo racist hegemony over non-white minorities.

Ive seen no evidence Collins was ever interested in anything other than the (50s) Disney version of the Alamo story. And if it weren’t for his fascination with the story these artifacts would never have been collected and displayed as they have. Anyone interested in this history should thank him for it.

And I really really dislike his music.

[thackney]

Jay Leno is not using his wealth, privilege, and car collection to influence how American history is remembered.

With the amount of press time he gives to cars in his collection, I disagree.

The danger of a wealthy foreigner and outsider curating so many artificats is that they can influence and dictate under which conditions they are exhibited without input from locals.  Phil Collins has the power to influence whether "Remember the Alamo!" is remebered as a rallying cry for Texas independence or it was a call to impose Anglo racist hegemony over non-white minorities.

Would you provide an example of his attempting to modify how the history is remembered?

Are you suggesting private collections need government control?  I guess I do not see the point you are trying to make.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

"Half breed"? What non-human species was his mother, @IsailedawayfromFR?

You want the Merriam Webster definition?  You tell me which is non-human. @PeteS in CA

half-breed noun

\ ˈhaf-ˌbrēd  , ˈhäf- \
plural half-breeds
Definition of half-breed
offensive
: the offspring of parents of different races (see RACE entry 1 sense 1a)
especially : the offspring of an American Indian and a white person

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/half-breed

[PeteS in CA]

Why in Hades does the ethnic heritage of Bush's Mother matter? Are Mexicans less than human? Or less evolved than people of non-Iberian European ethnic heritage? What made that slur necessary or relevant?

[thackney]

https://educationinaction.org/mcardle-paintings

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Why in Hades does the ethnic heritage of Bush's Mother matter? Are Mexicans less than human? Or less evolved than people of non-Iberian European ethnic heritage? What made that slur necessary or relevant?

don't know why you think that is a slur.  It defines who he is every bit as much as saying 'African American'.(Is one African or American or both?)

And his recent actions toward taking over control and redefining the Alamo is awfully suspicious of a mixed attitude toward the entirety of Texas history and its independence.

[Elderberry]

Gov. Greg Abbott signs 1836 Project into law, promotes ‘patriotic education’

MyHighPlains.com by: Jack Kessler 6/7/2021

https://www.myhighplains.com/news/local-news/gov-greg-abbott-signs-1836-project-into-law-promotes-patriotic-education/

AUSTIN, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) —— Monday, Governor Greg Abbott signed a law establishing the 1836 Project, a project that seeks to raise awareness about key events in the state’s history.

Rep. Tan Parker filed the bill just before the state’s independence day and it is named in commemoration of the year Texas gained its independence from Mexico.

Rep. Parker said it would establish a nine-member committee to “increase awareness of the Texas values that continue to stimulate boundless prosperity across this state.”

Earlier this year, the state passed a bill that would ban the teaching of the 1619 Project which examines U.S. history from the date when enslaved people first arrived on American soil, marking that year as the country’s foundational date.

Rep. Parker said that this new project is unrelated to either the 1619 Project or the 1776 Commission pitched by former President Donald Trump which called for a “pro-American curriculum.”

Right now, the project would only be taught at state parks, museums, and landmarks, but one local teacher is joining many across the state who are worried that this could make its way into the class.

“It really important for students and educators to know that the Texas that we have today started well before 1836. Texas has a rich history with many positive things, but also many negative things that have to lead to our society now,” said Amarillo Education Association President Aaron Phillips.