UTRGV and the nonprofit Refusing to Forget will host “Resilience en el Valle: Remembering the Matanza of 1915,” a series of events commemorating the massacre of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans by Texas Rangers and vigilantes in 1915.
The observance will culminate with the unveiling of a historical marker on Saturday. The ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. at the parking/rest area at southbound Exit 16 of Expy. 77 between the San Benito and Los Fresnos exits.
“La Matanza,” or “The Massacre,” took place in the Rio Grande Valley area between July and October 1915. The reason for these incidents was the Plan of San Diego, which was an effort by Mexican insurgents to separate the area from U.S. sovereignty, according to Trinidad Gonzales, a South Texas College history instructor and a member of Refusing to Forget. During this period, Texas Rangers sometimes were not able to catch insurgents, and they ended up arbitrarily executing people from the community based only on suspicions. About 300 Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were killed.
Gonzales said the unveiling of the historical marker is important.
“This is the first time the State of Texas will officially recognize the killing of Mexicanos by Texas Rangers and other law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Army, and … also non-law enforcement individuals or vigilantes who were involved in the killing,” he said. “There [are] many individuals who were killed whose remains were never recovered or buried. So, we want to make this an event to officially recognize and remember those individuals.”
He said the Texas Rangers killed his great-grandfather, Paulino Serda, in 1915 at Laguna Seca Ranch near Edinburg. During the ceremony, descendants will be recognized, he said.
Last Saturday, Gonzales gave a talk at the Mission Historical Museum about the massacre.
“Refusing to Forget is an educational, nonprofit organization related to remembering the state-sanctioned violence against Mexicanos during 1915,” he said in an interview with The Rider.
Gonzales said Refusing to Forget applied for the historical marker in 2014.
“I think we were approved in 2015. And what we decided … was that when we put the historical marker up, [we would] work with local organizations and institutions to be part of that effort,” he said. “So, it is a coalition of individuals and/or community members that wanted to get involved in the unveiling of the marker.”
Gonzales said the organization is awaiting approval for other markers.
Several events will take place this week leading up to the unveiling on Saturday.
At 6 p.m. Thursday, Ben Johnson, a professor of history at Loyola University Chicago, will present a lecture, titled “How the U.S.-Mexico Border Became a Problem,” in the Rainbow Room of the Pecan Library of the South Texas College Pecan Campus, 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen.
At the same time, artists will display their responses to “La Matanza” at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, located at 660 Ringgold St.
Poets and writers will perform their responses to “La Matanza” at 6 p.m. Friday in El Hueso de Fraile, 837 E. Elizabeth St. in Brownsville.
Christopher Carmona, an assistant professor in the UTRGV Creative Writing Program and coordinator of the Center for Mexican American Studies on the Brownsville campus, said the purpose of the events is to remind and teach people about the historic incident.
“We decided to do this series of events, so that people remember, or for people who don’t know the history of what happened here a hundred years ago,” Carmona said. “That’s what started this whole process of setting up all these events that we are going to be doing.”
He said the unveiling of the historical marker is important so that students and the community know what happened in the area.
“It’s extremely important. It’s the first time we’ve ever been recognized,” Carmona said. “So, it’s extremely important for the community to understand the history, and what happened to us here. How [land] was changed from mostly Mexican-American … owners to American corporations, and how that came to be was through violence.”
After the unveiling ceremony, there will be panel discussions in the UTRGV PlainsCapital Gran Salón, located on the second floor of the Student Union on the Brownsville campus.
“Unremembered Past: 3 Authors Discuss Writing About a Traumatic History” will feature award-winning writer Guadalupe Garcia McCall, author Alfredo Cardenas and Carmona. It will take place from 12:30 to 1:50 p.m.
“Historical and Literary Examinations of the Law,” is scheduled from 2 to 3:20 p.m. On the panel will be Carolina Monsiváis, a doctoral student in the Borderlands History Program at the University of Texas El Paso; Alberto Rodriguez, an assistant professor of history at Texas A&M University-Kingsville and managing editor of the Journal of South Texas History; and Noreen Rivera, an assistant professor in the Literatures and Cultural Studies department at UTRGV.
Mexican-American Studies students from Donna High School will comprise the third panel discussion from 3:30 to 4:50 p.m.
Between 1 and 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the UTRGV Library will host Harvest Day on the Brownsville campus, where people can bring historical artifacts, such as photos, letters or other documents related to the early 1900s. The items will be scanned and archived by the UTRGV library staff.
The last event will be a Refusing to Forget Closing Reception and Dinner from 6 to 8 p.m. featuring corridos of the era performed by Rosa and Joe Perez. Marimba Reyna del Valle also will provide musical entertainment.
Janie Camero, a graduate assistant in the Mexican-American Studies program, said the most important thing is that with these events, there is history to be learned that was not in history books and people should question why this happens.
“We have people who were treated poorly and abused … through acts of violence against Mexicans,” Camero said. “I’m learning history that was never told to me in the history books. I think that should be a motivating factor for people to come in and find out what happened, and begin to question why are we not learning about this.”
Gonzales encourages people to attend “La Mantanza” events.
“I hope that individuals are able to make it out, either to the marker unveiling or to one of the various programs we are going to be having this Saturday, to learn about our history and to reflect on our history and how we should think of ourselves today,” he said.
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