There’s an aphorism in Texas that claims, “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us,” usually used to problem who’s seen as an actual Texan, or Tejano, and who’s an outsider.
To discover the historical past that led to this difficulty of mistaken identification, Our Woman of the Lake College will host a five-day neighborhood convention targeted on the treaty that gave strategy to Texas and different states turning into a part of the US: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
“A lot occurred when that border was created, when México misplaced the land,” mentioned Amber Ortega, coordinator for the worldwide folks tradition middle at Our Woman of the Lake. “Traditionally, it has been [seen] because the delivery of the Chicano, the delivery of the Mexican-American.”
The neighborhood convention titled “El Segundo de Febrero Neighborhood Convention: Tales of resilience for the reason that Treaty of Guadalupe,” runs from Monday, Feb. 2 by way of Friday, Feb. 6. The occasion is free to the general public and can embrace particular screenings, shows and panel conversations centered round how the treaty formed variety throughout the Southwest highlighting tales from the West Aspect of San Antonio.
Signed on February 2, 1848, the treaty ended the two-year conflict between the U.S. and México.
As a part of it, México ceded about 55% of its territory, which right now consists of the states of Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and elements of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. The Rio Grande turned acknowledged because the border between the 2 nations.
On the time, Texas had already been experiencing an identification disaster, because the U.S. had acknowledged the institution of the Republic of Texas in 1836, however México had not.
With the formal annexation by way of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo got here full recognition of Texas as a U.S. state, however the treaty additionally led to long-lasting land and citizenship disputes.
“It was additionally some extent the place girls misplaced their voices. Girls not might have their names on land deeds and property,” Ortega mentioned. “Native identities have been additionally shifted at that time. So many individuals simply turned Mexican-American.”
At Our Woman of the Lake, the signing of the treaty had been noticed beginning in 1977, when college students and native activists introduced it up as a strategy to faucet into the sophisticated historical past that impacted many generations of Texans, Ortega mentioned.
This practice has since expanded to different cities and states, however the custom went dormant on the personal college for a while.
Organizers say that is the return of the observance on the college, however now as a full convention supposed to go with occasions which have traditionally taken place across the neighborhood, together with a standard mass generally known as the “Blessing of the Seeds” at Christ the King Catholic Church at 2610 Perez St.
Our Woman of the Lake college students can even take part within the restoration of a historic mural painted as a part of a public arts venture on the Cassiano Houses in 1980 by native Chicano muralists Anastacio Torres and Juan Hernandez.
On Monday, Feb. 2, at 4:30 p.m. Torres and Hernandez can have a public dialog concerning the restoration venture. This plática might be held on campus on the Sueltenfuss Library, on the third ground.
“One of many main issues that OLLU does is service studying, and that I feel units us aside,” mentioned Suzy Gonzalez, program head and visiting assistant professor of visible and new media arts on the college.
“A part of that mission is that our college students go away this campus after commencement with a way of function in life, but additionally this concept that they’re going to be serving their communities,” Gonzalez added.
Understanding the treaty, its historic worth and its ripple results can instill a way of solidarity and belonging, Ortega mentioned. The objective is to carry this convention yearly to dive deep into the numerous sophisticated themes linked to this second equivalent to girls’s rights, land violence and the function of language.
For a full schedule of the convention, go to Our Woman of the Lake’s website right here.
“We need to proceed to make this a possibility for native voices to be heard,” Ortega mentioned. “So I hope that it [will] be encouraging… I might hope that folks see at the very least in our communities, that we’re nonetheless related and we nonetheless have a accountability in direction of one another.”
The San Antonio Report companions with Open Campus on larger schooling protection.
