Abuse of the Border: How the Texas Rangers used Fear and Manipulation to Terrorize and Massacre Mexican Americans of Texas from 1910–1920
Faculty Mentor Name
Dr. Laura Gutierrez, History Department
Research or Creativity Area
Humanities & Arts
Abstract
From 1910 to 1920, the Texas Rangers actively worked to instill fear and panic into the lives of Mexican Americans, simply because they could. The Mexican Revolution, infighting with Mexican “bandits,” and a sense of racial superiority allowed the white Texas Rangers to believe that they had the right to treat the Mexicans living in Texas however they wished. The Texas Rangers branded Mexican Americans as the untrustworthy enemy whilst creating an environment in which Mexican Americans lived in constant fear with no governmental entity to turn to at any moment. For this research I analyzed newspaper articles, primary accounts obtained through archival research, as well as government documents, letters, and the 1919 Canales Trial. This essay will follow the various methods used by the Texas Rangers to instill fear in the Mexican people: by first discussing how they vilified the Mexican American community, then focusing on how they used bodies as statements and raids as ways to insure that the Tejano people lived in a constant state of fear, and then finally discussing how the lack of accountability created an environment in which the Rangers were allowed to terrorize and intimidate the Mexican American population without any regulation.
Abuse of the Border: How the Texas Rangers used Fear and Manipulation to Terrorize and Massacre Mexican Americans of Texas from 1910–1920
From 1910 to 1920, the Texas Rangers actively worked to instill fear and panic into the lives of Mexican Americans, simply because they could. The Mexican Revolution, infighting with Mexican “bandits,” and a sense of racial superiority allowed the white Texas Rangers to believe that they had the right to treat the Mexicans living in Texas however they wished. The Texas Rangers branded Mexican Americans as the untrustworthy enemy whilst creating an environment in which Mexican Americans lived in constant fear with no governmental entity to turn to at any moment. For this research I analyzed newspaper articles, primary accounts obtained through archival research, as well as government documents, letters, and the 1919 Canales Trial. This essay will follow the various methods used by the Texas Rangers to instill fear in the Mexican people: by first discussing how they vilified the Mexican American community, then focusing on how they used bodies as statements and raids as ways to insure that the Tejano people lived in a constant state of fear, and then finally discussing how the lack of accountability created an environment in which the Rangers were allowed to terrorize and intimidate the Mexican American population without any regulation.
