Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Forget the Alamo (and the White Supremacist History You Learned in School)

School children in Texas are required to learn about the “Heroes of the Alamo.” But that is a white supremacist myth that the so-called “Texas Revolution” was fought in defense of slavery.

Nathaniel Flakin

June 30, 2021
Facebook Twitter Share
Heroic Mexican soldiers attack white supremacist settlers. Painting from the Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones in Mexico City. (Photo: Nathaniel Flakin)

Growing up in Texas, I had to take a full year of Texas History, a sizable chunk of which was dedicated to the “Texas Revolution” of 1835–36. We were taught to “Remember the Alamo!” The names of the white men who died there were drilled into us: William B. Travis, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie…

But they never explained what exactly the Texians were fighting for. Why were they willing to sacrifice their lives to secure independence from Mexico? The Mexican government, they said, was “oppressive” and they wanted “freedom” — but what does that mean? 

Anglo settlers were invited to the Mexican province of Tejas, as the government in Mexico City was looking to populate its northern provinces and conquer the indigenous peoples there. A condition was that settlers would speak Spanish in public. But was this rule so “oppressive” that people were willing to die over it? Especially considering that many who celebrate the Alamo today believe that immigrants to the United States should only speak English?

I only learned what the “Texians” were actually fighting for many years later. Kurt Vonnegut, in his 1990 novel, Hocus Pocus, wrote: 

I might have added, but didn’t, that the martyrs at the Alamo had died for the right to own slaves. They didn’t want to be a part of Mexico anymore because it was against the law in that country to own slaves of any kind.

Vonnegut’s passage is true. Mexico’s government had abolished slavery in 1829 and was attempting to enforce the ban in its northern province. The leaders of Mexico’s independence had tried to get rid of slavery as early as 1810. Today, this truth is well hidden. In the permanent exhibition at the Alamo today, there is only a single reference to slavery, tucked away at the bottom of a display in the back.

The “martyrs of the Alamo” were indeed fighting for “freedom” — their “freedom” to own human beings! The aid that the U.S. government provided for these settlers proves the Texan “independence” was part of a long campaign to conquer territory for slave plantations.

These Anglo separatists were, tragically, successful. It would take another 30 years and a further war to abolish slavery in the region. Juneteenth now serves as a reminder that Texas was the last place in the United States where Black people remained enslaved.

Black Lives Matter has led to a massive shift in consciousness in the United States. Millions of people are looking at the country’s history of racism, colonialism, and imperialism with new eyes. Last year, anti-racist slogans were sprayed on the Alamo Cenotaph dedicated to these enslavers. This led to mobilizations by heavily armed white supremacists. The monuments to Travis, Crockett, Bowie, and their ilk are every bit as offensive as monuments to the Confederacy.

The Alamo myth, as we know it today, was created by a Disney series from 1954–55 and a terrible movie by John Wayne from 1960. Today, in a state where Latinos almost outnumber white people, this myth serves to reinforce white supremacy. Children are taught that the Mexicans were not only bloodthirsty, but also lazy — another famous element of the story is that the Mexican army was defeated because they all took a siesta. This myth is combined with racist conspiracy theories about working-class immigrants from Mexico attempting to reconquer the territories — as if they were planning to do what the Anglo settlers had once done.

A time of great upheaval will inevitably produce great art. It can only be hoped that we will see new films and TV series about the Alamo, from the opposite perspective, showing the stories of brave Mexican soldiers fighting for liberty against the evil enslavers. The Mexican soldiers putting down the Anglo separatist revolt deserve just as much honor today as Union soldiers fighting to defeat the slaver class in the South.

This would also be a good opportunity to remember the St. Patrick’s Battalion. This unit was made of Irish immigrants who were sent to fight in the U.S. army’s war of conquest against Mexico in 1846–48. They defected, and alongside escaped slaves and other immigrants, the San Patricios fought on the Mexican side. David Rovics has a moving ballad about them.

Hopefully, kids growing up in Texas won’t have to learn these racist myths anymore. They will learn that “freedom fighter” William B. Travis was in fact an enslaver. After he was — justifiably — executed, the Mexican forces liberated Travis’s slave, a man only known to history as Joe who later escaped from bondage.

Perhaps in the not too distant future, downtown San Antonio will see new monuments dedicated to the Mexican troops fighting for liberation. And who knows? After that, maybe people will want to rename cities dedicated to enslavers like Houston and Austin.

Facebook Twitter Share

Nathaniel Flakin

Nathaniel is a freelance journalist and historian from Berlin. He is on the editorial board of Left Voice and our German sister site Klasse Gegen Klasse. Nathaniel, also known by the nickname Wladek, has written a biography of Martin Monath, a Trotskyist resistance fighter in France during World War II, which has appeared in German, in English, and in French, and in Spanish. He has also written an anticapitalist guide book called Revolutionary Berlin. He is on the autism spectrum.

Instagram

United States

A UAW sign is held next to a "Free Palestine" sign

The UAW Has Called for a Ceasefire. It’s Time for All of Labor to Stand Up.

The UAW International union has joined calls for a ceasefire and is exploring how to divest from Israel. This is a step which should inspire union activists to take up the fight to bring their union into the fight against Israel's attack on Gaza and the struggle against imperialism.

Rose Lemlich

December 2, 2023

A Pause in Genocide Is Not Enough: Jewish Voice for Peace Shuts Down the Manhattan Bridge

Amid a pause in Israel’s offensive on Gaza, Jewish Voice for Peace is showing that the movement for Palestine will continue. Civil disobedience must lead to broad protests which bring all sectors of the movement together.

Samuel Karlin

November 26, 2023
Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid, and Tahseen Ahmed wearing Keffiyes. They were shot in Burlington, Vermont, USA.

The Three Palestinians Shot in Burlington Are Victims of Rising Islamophobia

Three Palestinian men were shot in Burlington Vermont while walking down the street. The campaign against Palestine has dehumanized all Palestinians and left them more vulnerable to these types of attacks.

Sybil Davis

November 26, 2023
A rally with people holding signs and a banner reading "Full funding"

Student Workers Stand Up for CUNY and Palestine

Attacks on CUNY and CUNY activists are an attack on all working people and students. Workers and students united can fight back.  

Olivia Wood

November 25, 2023

MOST RECENT

Robert Habeck Wrote a Play Praising a Right-Wing Mass Murderer

Germany's Green vice chancellor strikes many as an idealist who has been struggling with the tough realities of government. Yet before he was a national politician, he wrote a play that opens a window into a dark soul.

Nathaniel Flakin

December 1, 2023

The World Kissinger Built Must Die Too

Henry Kissinger died at 100 years old. But his legacy remains in the brutal world system he built and the future generations of imperialist ghouls he inspired. They all must go.

Samuel Karlin

November 30, 2023

Fact Check: Did German Leftists Try to Bomb West Berlin’s Jewish Community Center in 1969?

Answer: No. The bombing was undertaken by West Germany’s domestic secret service, originally founded by Nazis.

Nathaniel Flakin

November 29, 2023
Protesters in NYC for Palestinian liberation.

Uniting Workers for Palestine Is a Fight for the Future of Labor

The struggle for Palestine shows the potential for the rank and file to push unions to break with imperialism and to build a new, combative, and internationalist unionism.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

November 27, 2023