Forget the Alamo: Race Courses as a Struggle over History and Collective Memory

Abstract

As a child, I learned in school about the Alamo and of the courageous men who fought to their death against the overwhelming forces of the Mexican Army. My classmates and I were told that their defeat became a rallying cry for Texans who sought independence from Mexican rule. The Texans were likened to the founding fathers of our nation who sought independence from British rule. I wanted to learn more, so I went to my small town's public library and found in the children's section a biography of Davey Crockett, one of the brave fighters who fell at the Alamo. It was with excitement that I read about the men in the Alamo. I read about how they responded to the news of the huge army of General Santa Anna, how they drew a line in the sand so that those who would stay and fight were to cross over it and those who didn't could leave before the enemy army came. I remember the story of one man who was sick or injured in a stretcher who asked to be carried over the line to join the men who were going to stay and fight. When the battle ensued, the men in the Alamo fought bravely but were overcome not by the Mexican army's superior tactics or martial skills but by their sheer numbers. Davey Crockett, after running out of bullets, fought Mexican soldiers with his bare hands until he too was killed. This is how I was taught as a child to remember the Alamo. As an adult, I read Rodolfo Acuna's Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, 1 which tells a very different story about the battle at the Alamo. In this account, "from all reliable sources, it is doubtful whether Travis ever drew a line in the sand. ' 2 And Davey Crockett didn't fight to his death. He was among those who were surrendered and was later executed. Although Texans did struggle to liberate themselves from Mexican rule, their goals were not as noble as the professed aspirations of the founding fathers of the United States. One of the driving impulses of the elite leading the Texas independence movement was the desire to maintain the institution of slavery, which was abolished by Mexico in 1829. 3 There is the childhood memory of what was taught in school alongside the history contained in works such as Acuna's. They represent very different versions, and visions, of what this country's history is, and consequently, what this country is today. In the same way that an individual is constituted by her or his memory,' a