By Bob Ray Sanders
bobray@star-telegram.com
Long before Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Sam Houston and all the other now-famous and non-native heroes arrived in Texas, many other pioneers had struggled to occupy and tame this rugged land.
Of course, indigenous people in what is now Texas date back thousands of years, and for hundreds of years before the first Europeans set foot here, numerous Indian tribes called this part of North America home.
Spanish explorers arrived on the scene in the early 1500s. Although many were looking for gold and silver, the expeditions began laying the groundwork for future settlements.
Most school kids can pick up the story from there and talk about the Alamo, Texas independence and the six flags that have flown over this grand territory.
But the part of history that isn't talked about very much, because it generally is not taught, is the contribution of Tejanos, those early settlers of Spanish and Mexican descent. Oh, most know that Texas "used to be Mexico," but not much more than that.
That learning deficit is what some Hispanic leaders wanted to rectify when more than 10 years ago they came up with an idea for a Tejano Memorial on the state Capitol grounds.
After a decade of planning, hard work and fundraising, state officials, community leaders and descendants of early Tejano residents dedicated one of the largest sculptures ever erected at the Capitol. Located on the south lawn, Laredo sculptor Armando Hinojosa's work definitely fulfills the planners' mission: "to establish an enduring legacy that acknowledges and pays tribute to the contributions by Tejanos as permanent testimony of the Spanish-Mexican heritage that has influenced and is inherent in present-day Texas culture."
The mammoth work of art, covering 525 square feet, has 12 life-sized bronze statues mounted on a 250-ton granite base.
Represented in the sculpture are a mounted vaquero, similar to the controversial statue commissioned for Fort Worth's north side, except this "cowman" doesn't have a gun and bullets. Other figures include a Spanish explorer looking toward the future, a young boy herding a goat, two longhorns and a family with a young child.
Several mounted plaques give a brief history of Hispanics in Texas from 1519 to the present, but organizers understood no single monument can tell the whole story.
A $100,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation will fund an educational project to develop curriculum materials for social studies classes in the Austin school district.
Cost of the monument was $2 million, with just over $1million appropriated by the state Legislature.
Appropriately, it was dedicated during the week when many Americans celebrate the birthday of another Hispanic hero, César Chávez. The late United Farm Workers leader, who in recent years has had schools named for him and a statue dedicated in his memory at the University of Texas at Austin, would be proud of what the state has done to honor Tejanos.
The Tejano Monument naturally will be a symbol of pride for those who are Hispanic, but every Texan should embrace it as part of all of our history, regardless of our ethnic backgrounds.
Perhaps it might even help us get back to the serious discussion of immigration, remembering that many of those we cherish who fought and died for Texas' independence
migrated here. And, for the most part, they were welcomed by the folks who already called this place home.
Think what the state's future would have been like if the Tejanos had said to Crockett, Bowie and Houston: "Go back to Tennessee." "Go back to Kentucky." "Go back to Virginia."
If that had happened, we might be telling a little different history today.
Bob Ray Sanders' column appears Sundays and Wednesdays.817-390-7775Twitter: @BobRaySanders
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