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Reverberations of Racial Violence: Critical Reflections on the History of the Border
Current price:
$45.00
Publication Date: June 15th, 2021
Publisher:
University of Texas Press
ISBN:
9781477322680
Pages:
328
Description
Between 1910 and 1920, thousands of Mexican Americans and Mexican nationals were killed along the Texas border. The killers included strangers and neighbors, vigilantes and law enforcement officers—in particular, Texas Rangers. Despite a 1919 investigation of the state-sanctioned violence, no one in authority was ever held responsible.
Reverberations of Racial Violence gathers fourteen essays on this dark chapter in American history. Contributors explore the impact of civil rights advocates, such as José Tomás Canales, the sole Mexican-American representative in the Texas State Legislature between 1905 and 1921. The investigation he spearheaded emerges as a historical touchstone, one in which witnesses testified in detail to the extrajudicial killings carried out by state agents. Other chapters situate anti-Mexican racism in the context of the era's rampant and more fully documented violence against African Americans. Contributors also address the roles of women in responding to the violence, as well as the many ways in which the killings have continued to weigh on communities of color in Texas. Taken together, the essays provide an opportunity to move beyond the more standard Black-white paradigm in reflecting on the broad history of American nation-making, the nation’s rampant racial violence, and civil rights activism.
Praise for Reverberations of Racial Violence: Critical Reflections on the History of the Border
By refusing to acknowledge and recognize others' perspectives and sufferings, we increase the likelihood of not recognizing and, thus, resisting and stopping the repetition of past horrors. That's why it's important we refuse to forget. One way to start is by reading this collection.
— San Antonio Review
[An] excellent collection of essays...Few edited collections are as cohesive and substantive as Reverberations of Racial Violence...The book balances to great effect hard examinations of state-sponsored violence while avoiding sensationalism. Collectively, the book presents tangible facts and detailed truths that will resonate with readers familiar with the matanza as well as those learning of it for the first time.
— Southwestern Historical Quarterly
[Reverberations of Racial Violence] is a critical addition to Latina/o/x and borderlands studies, given its thoughtful and exceptionally argued premise that the reverberations of racial violence extend well into the Southwest region of the United States.
— New Books in Latino Studies
[Reverberations of Racial Violence] boldly and unapologetically places the reader in the middle of what is perhaps one of the greatest debates in the discipline of history: what to remember and what to forget...by tendering the history of Mexicans in Texas as a case study, the authors invite the reader to rethink the narratives of how the state was settled and built, and what those 'in charge' of its official history choose to remember and what they choose to forget. It is at this intersection where the greatest contribution of this edited volume is found...Through its 328 pages, the book convincingly shows that the state has never fully acknowledged the legacy of its past of racism, violence, and exclusion on a community that was already there when Anglos first arrived.
— Journal of Arizona History
An excellent collection that can be easily adopted in undergraduate and graduate courses focusing on Texas history; Chicanx, and Latinx Studies; U.S.-Mexico borderlands studies, and more specialized courses that focus on topics such as violence, memory, and public history...As the debates around ethnic studies education continue to intensify across the country, books like Reverberations of Racial Violence are more than ever a compelling reminder of the importance of critical public scholarship.
— Western Historical Quarterly
A model for rigorous and thoughtful public-facing and public-engaging historical reflection...Volume contributions compellingly demonstrate how the project of unsettling and recovering border history produces its best work when it is collective, multi-modal, and multi-sited...Reverberations is a great teaching resource for undergraduates and graduates alike. It is also a must read for border historians (North American and otherwise) because it respects the multiformity of evidence and readily confronts the challenges of making history count outside of academic circles.
— Journal of Borderlands Studies
This comprehensive collection of essays, carefully selected by Sonia Hernández and John Morán González, underscores a brutal history that remains largely unknown to the public. These essays should be read by those who want to better understand the history of modern America through the bloody experience of the Mexican people of Texas. As the various authors make clear, ethnic Mexicans know their history, it only remains hidden to those who do not want to face the American past.
— Journal of American History
While some may view these essays as sharing an untold story, others write and read to reshape the dominant historical narrative to remember those who have been forgotten. With this book, I will refuse to forget.
— E3W
