Folk hero Elfego Baca (1865-1945) is best remembered for his single-handed standoff against an estimated 80 Texas cowboys who fired a reported 4,000 shots at him without effect. In this informative and entertaining book, Howard Bryan examines the facts and legends surrounding Baca's long and astonishing career as a gunfighter and ruffian, lawyer, sheriff, mayor, district attorney, and a perennial candidate for political office. This remarkable man was the subject of a Wait Disney television series titled The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca.
I will show them there is at least one Mexican in the country who is not afraid of a Texas cowboy. Having drawn the line, teenager Elfego Baca backed up his words with his six guns. Nobody, but nobody, even Texans, would any longer subject the peaceful Mexican settlers of the New Mexico frontier to abuse, mutilation or humiliation. It took Baca just thirty-six hours in the fall of 1884 to earn his reputation as savior of the Hispanics of the Territory of New Mexico. When the gun-smoke had blown away, the eighty Texans who had poured over 4,000 bullets and a few charges of dynamite into the hut where the teen had taken refuge, toasted his survival with drinks at Milligan's Whiskey Bar. In the sixty years that followed, Elfego made himself into a lawyer often known for sleaze, a politician suspected of dealing under the table, a guy who liked his liquor too much, a bankrupt, and the object of a $30,000 reward by Pancho Villa. But why? Why did the hero fall from grace? Stan Sager has laid out the reasons for Baca's heroism and why he later destroyed his own reputation. Sager's book looks into the hero's childhood in Kansas to find the roots of both his valor and his vulnerability. It tells of the events of his young manhood that made it necessary for the kid who grew up in Topeka speaking English only, to fit himself into the Spanish-speaking community of Socorro the only way he knew how--by bravado and bluster. It relates the bizarre activities that led him to lose his reputation as a hero. And finally, it explains why the hero self-destructed, and it pleas for his forgiveness.
The history of Latina/o participation and representation in American television Whose stories are told on television? Who are the heroes and heroines, held up as intriguing, lovable, and compelling? Which characters are fully realized, rather than being cardboard villains and sidekicks? And who are our storytellers? The first-ever account of Latino/a participation and representation in US English-language television, Latino TV: A History offers a sweeping study of key moments of Chicano/a and Latino/a representation and authorship since the 1950s. Drawing on archival research, interviews with dozens of media professionals who worked on or performed in these series, textual analysis of episodes and promotional materials, and analysis of news media coverage, Mary Beltrán examines Latina/o representation in everything from children’s television Westerns of the 1950s, Chicana/o and Puerto Rican activist-led public affairs series of the 1970s, and sitcoms that spanned half a century, to Latina and Latino-led series in the 2000s and 2010s on broadcast, cable, and streaming outlets, including George Lopez, Ugly Betty, One Day at a Time, and Vida. Through the exploration of the histories of Latina/o television narratives and the authors of those narratives, Mary Beltrán sheds important light on how Latina/os have been included—and, more often, not—in the television industry and in the stories of the country writ large.
This cultural journey down memory lane showcases how major Western figures, events, and places have been portrayed in folk legends, art, literature, and popular culture. Ever since the days of the 49ers and George Armstrong Custer, the Old West has been America's most potent source of legend. But it is sometimes hard to separate fact from fiction. Did you know, for example, that Annie Oakley was a talented marksman who shot an estimated 40,000 rounds per year while practicing and performing for Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show in the late l800s? Or that many interpreters believe that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is not just a fairy tale, but also a Populist allegory? These are just two of the folk legends dissected and examined in this veritable cultural geography. The volume covers everything from billionaire Howard Hughes and composer Aaron Copeland to Aztlan (the legendary first city of the Aztecs) and Area 51, the top-secret U.S. Air Force base at Groom Lake, Nevada, that has fascinated UFO and conspiracy buffs.
Mexican Americans are rapidly becoming the largest minority in the United States, playing a vital role in the culture of the American Southwest and beyond. This A-to-Z guide offers comprehensive coverage of the Mexican American experience. Entries range from figures such as Corky Gonzales, Joan Baez, and Nancy Lopez to general entries on bilingual education, assimilation, border culture, and southwestern agriculture. Court cases, politics, and events such as the Delano Grape Strike all receive full coverage, while the definitions and significance of terms such as coyote and Tejano are provided in shorter entries. Taking a historical approach, this book's topics date back to the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, a radical turning point for Mexican Americans, as they lost their lands and found themselves thrust into an alien social and legal system. The entries trace Mexican Americans' experience as a small, conquered minority, their growing influence in the 20th century, and the essential roles their culture plays in the borderlands, or the American Southwest, in the 21st century.
This work demonstrates that not everything that Disney touched turned to gold. In its first 100 years, the company had major successes that transformed filmmaking and culture, but it also had its share of unfinished projects, unmet expectations, and box-office misses. Some works failed but nevertheless led to other more stunning and lucrative ones; others shed light on periods when the Disney Company was struggling to establish or re-establish its brand. In addition, many Disney properties, popular in their time but lost to modern audiences, emerge as forgotten gems. By exploring the studio's missteps, this book provides a more complex portrayal of the history of the company than one would gain from a simple recounting of its many hits. With essays by writers from across the globe, it also asserts that what endures or is forgotten varies from person to person, place to place, or generation to generation. What one dismisses, someone else recalls with deep fondness as a magical Disney memory.
This is the first biography of the legendary officer Cipriano Baca, scion of a prestigious Spanish lineage tracing their heritage to the first settlers in Nuevo Mexico. Baca was well educated and a successful businessman before beginning a 52-year career as a peace officer. Tenderhearted by nature, he could be cold as steel, even lethal, doing his duty. He was a man of honor and principle in an age of greed and selfishness. Baca was first an undercover range detective, next a deputy sheriff and a deputy U.S. marshal. In 1901, the territorial governor appointed him the first sheriff of the newly formed Luna County, and in 1905, the territorial governor selected him as the first man to become the lieutenant of New Mexico's newly established territorial rangers. Written with the full cooperation of the Baca family and utilizing public and private records, this biography presents the truth about a complicated man. One revelation: Baca discovered who was the real killer of Pat Garrett and the motive behind the murder of the man who killed Billy the Kid.
This question-and-answer book contains 400 reminders of what is known and what is sometimes forgotten or misunderstood about a city that was founded more than 400 years ago. Not a traditional history book, this group of questions is presented in an apparently random order, and the answers occasionally meander off topic, as if part of a casual conversation.
The environmental disaster of the Dust Bowl which turned days to nights in the far of cities of New York and Washington D.C. for Oklahoma tore families apart sending survivors to all corners of the country. For many people now trying to find their lost relatives and ancestors from Oklahoma the task is often more difficult than they expected. This is a compilation of my research of the Native American part of my families roots. Not only do I present my findings in their historical context but also where and how I looked to find them. I detailed the members of my family from the early 1700's to the present. A history you don't see in the school books that has fascinated me from little on. For those trying to find more about their Native American roots or those simply interested in American History from the Native American point of view this book is invaluable.
