Tejanos

History

The roots of Tejano heritage derive from the indigenous cultures of Texas and the Spanish settlers who colonized Texas during the 16th and 17th centuries. Tejano identity was further reshaped by Mexico's independence from Spain (1821), the Texas Revolution (1835–36), and the Mexican-American War (1846–48). Texas existed as an independent republic for nine years prior to its admission to the Union as the 28th state in December 1845. A substantial portion of the Anglos (non-Hispanic whites) who settled in Texas during its time under Mexican rule through its early years after gaining statehood were current or former slaveholders who held views of racial inferiority toward their Mexican neighbors. After Texas gained statehood, Mexicans in Texas experienced an increase in social, economic, and educational discrimination at the hands of Anglos. During the early 20th century, the Mexican Revolution (1910–20) brought thousands of additional immigrants from Mexico into Texas, and the Lone Star State remained the home of the largest Mexican American population until it was surpassed by California prior to World War II.

Tejanos differed in their approaches toward combating the prejudice and discrimination they faced. Some, particularly those who were lighter complexioned and middle-class, advocated assimilation as a means of countering racism. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), established in Corpus Christi in 1929, strongly promoted an assimilation-based ideology prior to the 1950s and even accepted proposals to restrict immigration from Mexico. Other Tejanos took a more aggressive approach against anti-Mexican discrimination. Hector García, a World War II army veteran and LULAC president, founded the G.I. Forum in 1948 to challenge the Veterans Administration's neglect of Mexican American servicemen. The landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case Hernández v. Texas, in which prosecutors contended that Mexicans Americans in Texas experienced widespread and systematic inequalites, ruled that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment also applied to Mexican Americans.

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