Preserving Early Texas History: Essays of an Eighth-Generation South Texan (Hardcover)

My passion for writing is based on both my parents' love of early South Texas and northern Mexico history. My father was quite good at sharing oral history stories and for that reason I dedicate this book to him. Equally important, my mother, Maria de la Luz Sâanchez Uribe de Lâopez was also gifted in recalling the stories she heard as a child. In both Spanish and English, she had tremendous communication abilities in vividly remembering stories about our ancestors. At a time in our history where the Spanish Mexican roots of this great place we call Texas are being questioned, this third volume of selected essays is most timely. For example, if Texas history begins in 1836 as implied in mainstream Texas history, why then is everything historically old (towns, roads, rivers, mountain ranges, regions, etc.) named in Spanish? Our ancestors' legacy is why we have a right to practice our heritage year-round; not just during Hispanic History Month. Importantly, the network of vibrant communities in New Spain connected by the Camino Real are indeed what first attracted U.S. Anglo Saxon and Northern European immigrants to Texas and the west. In remembering our ancestors, "Aquí todavía estamos, y no nos vamos". (Here we still are and we're not leaving.)