Tejanos

Tejanos
	Flag of Texas
Total population
	7,951,193 (2010 Census)[1]
Regions with significant populations
	Texas (especially San Antonio, El Paso, and South Texas)
Languages
	Spanish (American Spanish, Mexican Spanish), English (Texas English, Chicano English), Caló, Indigenous languages of Mexico
Religion
	Predominantly Roman Catholic
Related ethnic groups
	Other Chicanos and Hispanos; of the United States:; Californios, Neomexicanos; Other Hispanic and Latino peoples:; Chicanos, Mexican Americans, Mexicans, Spaniards, Indigenous Mexican American, Spanish Americans, Louisiana Criollos, Louisiana Isleños

Tejanos (Pronunciation: [teˈxano]; singular: Tejano/a; Spanish for "Texan") are the Hispanic residents of the state of Texas who are culturally descended from the original Spanish-speaking settlers of Tejas, Coahuila, and other northern Mexican states. They may be variously of Criollo Spaniard or Mestizo origin.

Alongside Californios and Neomexicanos, Tejanos are part of the larger Chicano/Mexican-American/Hispano community of the United States, who have lived in the American Southwest since the 16th century.

Historically, the Spanish term Tejano has been used to identify various groups of people. During the Spanish colonial era, the term was primarily applied to Spanish settlers of the region now known as the state of Texas (first it was part of New Spain and after 1821 it was part of Mexico).[2] After settlers entered from the United States and gained the independence of the Republic of Texas, the term was applied to mostly Spanish-speaking Texans, Hispanicized Germans, and other Spanish-speaking residents.[2]

In practice, many members of traditionally Tejano communities often have varying degrees of fluency in Spanish, with some having virtually no Spanish proficiency, though they are still considered culturally part of the community.[3]

Since the early 20th century, Tejano has been more broadly used to identify a Texan Mexican American. It is also a term used to identify natives, as opposed to newcomers, in the areas settled. Latino people of Texas identify as Tejano if their ancestors were living there before the area was controlled by Anglo Americans.

History

Spanish government

As early as 1519, Alonso Alvarez de Pineda claimed the area which is now Texas for Spain. The Spanish monarchy paid little attention to the province until 1685. In that year, the Crown learned of a French colony in the region and worried that it might threaten Spanish colonial mines and shipping routes. King Carlos II sent ten expeditions to find the French colony, but they were unsuccessful. Between 1690 and 1693 expeditions were made to the Texas region, and they acquired better knowledge of it for the provincial government and settlers who came later.

Tejano settlements developed in three distinct regions: the northern Nacogdoches region, the Bexar–Goliad region along the San Antonio River, and the frontier between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande, an area used largely for ranching. These populations shared certain characteristics, yet they were independent of one another. The main unifying factor was their shared responsibility for defending the northern frontier of New Spain. Some of the first settlers were Isleños from the Canary Islands. Their families were among the first to reside at the Presidio San Antonio de Bexar in 1731 (modern-day San Antonio, Texas). Soon after, they established the first civil government at La Villa de San Fernando.

Ranching was a major activity in the Bexar-Goliad area, which consisted of a belt of ranches that extended along the San Antonio River between Bexar (San Antonio area) and Goliad. The Nacogdoches settlement was located farther north and east. Tejanos from Nacogdoches traded with the French and Anglo residents of Louisiana, and they were culturally influenced by them. The third settlement was located north of the Rio Grande, toward the Nueces River. The ranchers were citizens of Spanish origin from Tamaulipas and (what is now) northern Mexico, and they identified with Spanish Criollo culture.[4]

On September 16, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest, launched the Mexican War of Independence with the issuing of his Grito de Dolores, or “Cry of Delores.” He marched across Mexico and gathered an army of nearly 90,000 poor farmers and civilians. These troops ran up into an army of 6,000 well-trained and armed Spanish troops; most of Hidalgo's troops fled or were killed at the Battle of Calderón Bridge[5] José Bernardo Maximiliano Gutiérrez de Lara, a believer in independence from Spain, organized a revolution army together with José Menchaca from the Villa de San Fernando de Bejar. After the defeat and execution of Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Gutiérrez de Lara traveled to Washington, D.C. to request help from the United States. He requested an audience with President James Madison, but was refused. He did meet with Secretary of State James Monroe, who was busy planning the invasion of Canada in the War against Great Britain. On December 10, 1810, Gutiérrez de Lara addressed the United States House of Representatives. There was no official help by the United States government to the revolution. However, Gutiérrez de Lara did return with financial help, weapons and almost 700 "ex-United State Army veterans". The challenges Monroe faced revolved around the Napoleonic War and American neutrality.

Gutiérrez de Lara's army would defeat the Spanish army and the first independent Republic of Texas, "the Green Republic" was born with the Declaration of Independence. Spain had reinforced their armies in the colonies and a well-equipped army led by General Juaquin de Arredondo known as the "El Carnicero," invaded the Green Republic of Tejas. During the time of the Republic the Spaniard José Álvarez de Toledo y Dubois, had been undermining Gutiérrez de Lara's government. Toledo was successful and de Lara was ousted. Toledo then led the Republican Army of the North (the Green Army) into a trap against the Spanish army and no prisoners were taken by the Spanish at the Battle of Medina. The Spanish army would march into San Antonio. The Spanish army rounded everyone they could find from Nacogdoches to El Espiritu de Santo (Goliad) and brought them to San Antonio. The Spanish murdered four males a day for 270 days, eradicating the Tejano population and leaving the women when the Spanish army left in 1814. Toledo returned to Spain, a Spanish hero.[6][7]

In 1840 the northern Mexican states of Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas seceded from Mexico to establish la República del Río Grande (the Rio Grande Republic), with its capital in what is now Laredo, Texas. They did not maintain this status and became part of Mexico again.

Mexican government

By 1821 at the end of the Mexican War of Independence, about 4,000 Tejano lived in Mexican Texas, alongside a lesser number of foreign settlers. In addition, several thousand New Mexicans lived in the areas of Paso del Norte (now El Paso, Texas) and Nuevo Santander, incorporating Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley.

During the 1820s, many settlers from the United States and other nations moved to Mexican Texas, settling mostly in the eastern area. The passage of a national colonization law encouraged immigration, granting the immigrants citizenship if they declared loyalty to Mexico. By 1830, the 30,000 recent settlers in Texas (who were primarily English speakers from the United States) outnumbered the Hispanos Tejano six to one.[8]

The Texians and Tejano alike rebelled against attempts by the government to centralize authority in Mexico City and other measures implemented by Santa Anna. Tensions between the central Mexican government and the settlers eventually resulted in the Texas Revolution. The revolution raised tensions in the area between the Tejano and Texians.

20th century

In 1915, insurgents in Mexico wrote a manifesto that was circulated in the town of San Diego, in South Texas. The manifesto "Plan de San Diego" called on Hispanics to reconquer the Southwest and kill the English speakers. Numerous cross-border raids, murders, and sabotage took place. The Texas Rangers suppressed the insurrection. Tejanos strongly repudiated the Plan. According to Benjamin H. Johnson, their desire to affirm their United States loyalty resulted in their founding the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). It was headed by professionals, business leaders, and progressives, and it became the central Tejano organization promoting civic pride and civil rights.[9]

Other sources attribute the founding of the organization in 1929 largely to Tejano veterans of World War I, who wanted to improve civil rights for Mexican-American citizens of the United States. They were socially discriminated against in Texas. Only American citizens were admitted as members to LULAC, and there was an emphasis on people becoming educated and assimilated in order to advance.[10][11]

In 1963, Tejanos in Crystal City organized politically and won elections; their candidates dominated the city government and the school board. Their activism signaled the emergence of modern Tejano politics.[12] In 1969–70, a different Tejano coalition, the La Raza Unida Party, came to office in Crystal City. The new leader was José Ángel Gutiérrez, a radical nationalist who worked to form a Chicano nationalist movement across the Southwest, 1969-79. He promoted cultural terminology (Chicano, Aztlan) designed to unite the militants; but his movement split into competing factions in the late 1970s.[13]

Naming

In the Spanish language, the term tejano is used to identify an individual from Texas, regardless of race or ethnic background. During the Spanish colonial period of Texas, most colonial settlers of northern New Spain – including Texas, northern Mexico, and the American Southwest – were descendants of Spaniards.[14]

Tejanos may identify as being of Mexican, Chicano/Mexican-American, Spanish, Hispano, and/or Indigenous ancestry.[15] In urban areas, as well as some rural communities, Tejanos tend to be well integrated into both the Hispanic and mainstream American cultures. Especially among younger generations, a number identify more with the mainstream and may understand little or no Spanish.

Most of the people whose ancestors colonized Texas and the northern Mexican states during the Spanish colonial period identified with the Spaniards, Criollos, or Mestizos who were born in the colony. Many of the latter find their history and identity in the history of Spain, Mesoamerica and the history of the United States. Spain's colonial provinces (Spanish Texas and Spanish Louisiana) participated on the side of the rebels in the American Revolutionary War.

Ethnic and national origins

In the 2007 American Community Survey (ACS) data, [16] Tejanos are defined as those Texans descended from colonists of the Spanish colonial period (before 1821), or descended from Spanish Mexicans, and Mexican immigrants.[17]

Colonial Tejanos, who can be correctly identified as Tejano Texians, are descended from the colonists who pioneered Texas as citizens of the Kingdom of Spain through the Spanish Colonial Period, starting in the 17th century, and through the 19th century up to the Texas Revolution. They were generally of only Spanish heritage, or Hispanicized European heritage, including Frenchmen such as Juan Seguin, Italians such as Jose Cassiano, or Corsican like Antonio Navarro. Spanish post-colonial settlers stayed in Texas as refugees fleeing Spanish Civil War. Their descendants were added to the Tejano population. Also represented are ethnic Germans, who were concentrated in the Edwards Plateau following mid-19th century immigration. The region's Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Danes, Dutch, Swedes, Irish (see also Irish Mexican), Scots, Welsh, and Anglo Americans who arrived in the 19th century – were also considered Tejanos, as they were Hispanicized. The former two ethnicities (with Germans) would contribute greatly to Tex-Mex music. Some Arabs are also considered Tejanos, as Arab Mexicans settled Texas during the Mexican Revolution. Natives of Texas with Spanish surnames and with Native American-Hispanic, and non-Spanish European-American ancestry may be considered Tejanos as well.

Crypto-Jews (see Crypto-Judaism) are descendants of Spanish Jews who were compelled to convert to Christianity or face expulsion from the country. They choose to remain hidden since the Spanish and Mexican Inquisitions, but practice secret Jewish rites in privacy. (Library of Congress, Microfiche 7906177). Sephardim are found particularly in the northern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, the American Southwest, i.e., New Mexico, Arizona, and South Texas (formerly part of Nuevo León, Spain/Mexico and Tejas).

Culture

Music

Genuine Tejano music is related to, and sounds more like, the folk music of Louisiana, known as "Cajun music", blended with the sounds of rock and roll, R&B, pop, and country, and with Mexican influences such as [Conjunto Music]. Mr. Narciso Martinez is the father of Conjunto Music. ]. Sunny and the Sunglows, including Rudy Guerra, were originators of the genre. The American cowboy culture and music was born from the meeting of the European-American Texians, colonists mostly from the American South, and the original Tejano pioneers and their vaquero, or "cowboy" culture.[18][19][20][21]

Food

The cuisine that would come to be known as "Tex-Mex" originated with the Tejanos. It developed from Spanish and North American indigenous commodities with influences from Mexican cuisine.[22]

Tex-Mex cuisine is characterized by its widespread use of melted cheese, meat (particularly beef), beans, and spices, in addition to corn or flour tortillas. Chili con carne, crispy chalupas, chili con queso, enchiladas, and fajitas are all Tex-Mex specialties. A common feature of Tex-Mex is the combination plate, with several of the above on one large platter. Serving tortilla chips and a hot sauce or salsa as an appetizer is also a Tex-Mex development.[23] Cabrito, barbacoa, carne seca, and other products of cattle culture have been common in the ranching cultures of South Texas and northern Mexico. In the 20th century, Tex-Mex took on Americanized elements such as yellow cheese, as goods from the United States became cheap and readily available.[24] Tex-Mex has imported flavors from other spicy cuisines, such as the use of cumin. Cumin is often referred to by its Spanish name, comino.

A common Tex-Mex breakfast dish served is a "breakfast taco." This usually consists of a thicker-style flour tortilla or traditional corn tortilla, and is served using a single fold. This is in contrast to the burrito-style method of completely encasing the ingredients. Some of the typical ingredients used are: eggs, potatoes, cheese, beans, bacon, sausage, and barbacoa. A taco may combine variations of these elements. Breakfast tacos are traditionally served with an optional red or green salsa.

Daniel D. Arreola states that a line of demarcation in the "South Texas Mexican" food region is based on the distinction between those who use the terms "taco-burrito", or "taco-barbecue". To the west of this line, Mexican food served in a flour tortilla is often called a burrito, due to the influence of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. To the south and east of this line, the same food may be called a taco, showing a Tex-Mex influence. To the north, barbecue sandwiches are more popular, reflecting the influx of Europeans, European Americans, and African Americans.[25]

Geography

Most of the Tejanos are concentrated in southern Texas, in historic areas of Spanish colonial settlement and closer to the border that developed. The city of San Antonio is the historic center of Tejano culture; Bexar and Duval counties have some of the historically highest concentrations of Tejanos.

Notable people

Tejanos of colonial origin or descent

Settlers and descendants:

Gaspar Flores de Abrego
Ignacio Lorenzo de Armas
Simón de Arocha
Rosa María Hinojosa de Ballí
Santos Benavides
José Tomás Canales
José María Jesús Carbajal
Henri Castro
Josef Centeno
Mariana W. de Coronel
Juan Curbelo (Tejano settler)
Juan José Elguézabal
Blas María de la Garza Falcón
Manuel N. Flores
Salvador Flores
Carlos de la Garza
José Antonio de la Garza
Rafael Gonzales
José Bernardo Maximiliano Gutiérrez de Lara
Juan Leal
Eva Longoria
A. H. Cadena y López
Antonio Rodríguez Medero
Antonio Menchaca
Jose Menchaca
Juan Moya
Ramón Músquiz
Jose Antonio Navarro
Antonio de Olivares
Salvador Rodríguez (regidor)
Francisco Antonio Ruiz
José Francisco Ruiz
Salvador Rodríguez
Don Tomás Sánchez
Juan Seguín
Erasmo Seguín
Vicente Álvarez Travieso
José de Urrutia
Jaci Velasquez
Juan Martin de Veramendi
Tomás Felipe de Winthuisen
Ignacio Zaragoza
Lorenzo de Zavala
Adina Emilia De Zavala
Charles Floyd Wright

Other Tejanos

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References

US Census Bureau: Table QT-P10 Hispanic or Latino by Type: 2010 retrieved January 22, 2015 - select state from drop-down menu
"The Texian Web - Texas History on the Internet". Tamu.edu. Retrieved 2016-07-02.
"Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American Varieties . Texan . Drawl - PBS". pbs.org.
Tejano Origins in Mexican Texas Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
[Minster, Christopher. Mexican War of Independence: The Battle of Calderon Bridge]
Jarratt, Rie (1949). "Gutiérrez de Lara: Mexican-Texan The Story of a Creole Hero". Creole Texana. Archived from the original on 2012-04-11. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
James Monroe during the War of 1812 by Eugene van Sickle, University of North Georgia http://www.bandyheritagecenter.org/Content/Uploads/Bandy%20Heritage%20Center/files/1812/James%20Monroe%20during%20the%20War%20of%201812.pdf
"Tejano Patriots". bexargenealogy.com. Archived from the original on 2008-05-02. Retrieved 2008-10-04.
Johnson, Benjamin H. (2003). Revolution in Texas: How a Forgotten Rebellion and Its Bloody Suppression turned Mexicans into Americans.
Gutierrez, David G. (March 1995). Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20219-1, p. 9
Orozco, Cynthia E. (2009). No Mexicans, Women, or Dogs Allowed: The Rise of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-72132-6.
Miller, Michael V. (1975). "Chicano Community Control in South Texas: Problems And Prospects". Journal of Ethnic Studies. 3 (3): 70–89.
Jensen, Richard J.; Hammerback, John C. (1980). "Radical Nationalism Among Chicanos: The Rhetoric of José Angel Gutiérrez". Western Journal of Speech Communication: WJSC. 44 (3): 191–202.
Census and Inspection Report of 1787 of the Colony of Nuevo Santander, performed by Dragoon Captain Jose Tienda de Cuervo, Knight of the Order of Santago, with Historical Report by Fray Vicente Santa Maria.
Tejano History Archived 2008-01-07 at the Wayback Machine
"Hispanics in Texas-Tejanos". Archived from the original on 2020-02-12. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
Richard G. Santos (2000). Silent Heritage: The Sephardim and the Colonization of the Spanish North American Frontier 1492-1600. New Sepharad Press. p. 385.
Hill, Gene. Americans All, Americanos Todos. Añoranza Press.
Chavez’, Gilbert Y. Cowboys-Vaqueros, Origins of the First American Cowboys.
Clayton, Lawrence (2001). Vaqueros, Cowboys and Buckaroos.
Loya, Alex. The Legacy and Heritage of the Spaniard Texians. chapter 15.
Juan de Oñate from the Handbook of Texas Online
Etienne MARTINEZ, "Mexicans in the U.S.A: Mexican-American / Tex-Mex Cousine", Light Millennium
Robb Walsh. The Tex-Mex Cookbook (New York: Broadway Books, 2004), XVI
Arreola, Daniel David (2002). Tejano South Texas: A Mexican American Cultural Province. University of Texas Press. pp. 174–175. ISBN 0-292-70511-5.
"Interview with Sarah Shahi". www.tvguide.com (Interview).
thelwordonline.com

Hispanic and Latino American groups in the United States
Caribbean	Cuban Dominican Puerto Rican Nuyorican
North American¹	Hispano Californio Nuevomexicano Tejano Creoles of Louisiana Isleño Mexican Chicano Indigenous Mexican La Raza Punjabi
Central American	Costa Rican Guatemalan Honduran Nicaraguan Panamanian Salvadoran
South American	Argentine Bolivian Brazilian Chilean Colombian Ecuadorian Paraguayan Peruvian Uruguayan Venezuelan
European	Spanish Asturian Basque Catalan Canarian Galician Jews
African	Angolan Cape Verdean Equatoguinean Bissau-Guinean
Racial groups	All groups Amerindian Asian Punjabi Black White Multiracial Quadroon Castizo "Cholo" Mestizo Mulatto Pardo Zambo
Languages	American English Chicano New Mexican New York Latino Spanish Isleño Spanish New Mexican Spanish Spanglish Portuguese
Ethnic and religious groups	Christians Garifuna Jews Muslims
Other themes	Stereotypes of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
Related ethnic groups	Belizean Cape Verdean Filipino Guyanese Haitian Portuguese Surinamese Jamaican
Notes ¹ Mexicans and descendants of settlers from the Spanish colonies of the modern United States.

European Americans
Central Europe	Austrian¹ Czech German¹ Amish German Texan Pennsylvania Dutch German Mennonites from Russia Hungarian Hungarian Ohioans Kashubian Liechtensteiner Polish¹ Slovak Slovene Sorbian Swiss
Eastern Europe	Armenian⁶ Azerbaijani⁴ Belarusian Chechen Georgian⁴ Kazakh⁴ Russian^1, ² Cossack Kalmyk Ukrainian Cossack Rusyn
Northern Europe	Danish Greenlandic Estonian Faroese Finnish Icelandic Latvian Lithuanian Norwegian Norwegian Dakotan Norwegian Minnesotan Sami Swedish
Southeast Europe³	Albanian Bosnian Bulgarian Cypriot Croatian Greek Macedonian Moldovan Montenegrin Romanian Serbian Alaskan Serbs Turkish⁴
Southern Europe	Italian Sicilian Maltese Monacan Portuguese Sammarinese Spanish Asturian Basque Canarian Catalan Galician Hispano
Western Europe	Belgian British Cornish English Manx Scots-Irish/Ulster Scots Scottish Welsh Dutch French Acadian Basque Breton Cajun Canadian Corsican Huguenot Frisian Irish Luxembourgian
Other Europeans	White Americans Non-Hispanic whites White Hispanic and Latino Melungeon Métis Roma Hungarian Slovak Romanies⁵ Louisiana Creole Cajun Isleños French Canadian Acadian Cajun
By region	California Hawaii White Southerners Maryland
¹ Poles came to the United States legally as Austrians, Germans, Prussians or Russians throughout the 19th century, because from 1772–1795 till 1918, all Polish lands had been partitioned between imperial Austria, Prussia (a protoplast of Germany) and Russia until Poland regained its sovereignty in the wake of World War I. ² Russia has most of its territory in Asia, but the vast majority of its population (80%) lives in European Russia, therefore Russia as a whole is included as a European country here. ³ Yugoslav Americans are the American people from the former Yugoslavia. ⁴ Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Turkey span the conventional boundary between Europe and Asia. ⁵ Disputed; Roma have recognized origins and historic ties to Asia (specifically to Northern India), but they experienced at least some distinctive identity development while in diaspora among Europeans. ⁶ Armenia is located entirely in Asia, but historically has stronger tie with Europe.