When the United States won new lands after the Mexican-American War many Mexicans were suddenly considered “foreigners” in lands they had been living on for hundreds of years. In Texas, whites revoked deeds to land that had always been Mexican owned because it was now part of the US. Juan was a wealthy landowner that did not passively accept the anti-Mexican, racist attitudes in Texas. He killed a white man that was beating up on one of his workers and then later freed more from prisons. Although this made him a criminal in the state, he survived and would later serve as a leader in the Union army for the Civil War. In this photo (1870) he had was in good standing with carpetbaggers that were buying up land in Texas during Reconstruction.QUESTION:
I actually didn't know about Juanito until I started researching Manifest Destiny. He's actually the first "Latino" that fits into US History that I can think of. He actually made a big speech that warned all white Texans to back off or he would kill them for being racist. Why do you think that people like Juan are not generally well known in US history?
1 comment:
To start of im surprised there is a "Latino" involved in all of this, like ive been taught of course there were all types of races but i never thought out of all people they would pick a immigrant. In my opinion i think that people like Juan Cortina are not known in US history because the fact that he didnt go on a killing spree.
Post a Comment