A biography of a patriot of the Texas Revolution who fled to Mexico after escaping the fate of others at the Alamo after being sent for reinforcements.
Born in San Antonio, Texas under the Spanish flag, Juan Nepomuceno Seguin grew up on the perilous frontier of Hispanic America. As a teenager he observed Comanche attacks on the little pueblo on the banks of the San Antonio River as well as the scorched earth rampage of Spanish soldiers destroying those who sought independence from Spain. After that revolution's carnage, another one soon followed as Texas fought for independence from Mexico. A youthful Juan Seguin sided with Anglo-American colonizer Stephen F Austin and distinguished himself in the Battle of San Jacinto against Mexican dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna. Promoted from Captain to Lt Colonel, Seguin was placed in charge of the Texas forces at San Antonio.In 1838, Juan Seguin was elected to the new Republic of Texas Senate. Later, he became mayor of San Antonio. In 1841, a Mexican general visiting San Antonio spread the rumor that Seguin was a secret agent of the Mexican government. Though innocent of the charge, Seguin received death threats from newly arrived Americans to San Antonio who resented the presence of a Texas-Mexican, or Tejano, mayor. Forced to resign his position and flee to Mexico, Seguin was arrested and forced to fight under the command of Santa Anna against his former comrades in arms. He later fought for Mexico in the U.S. - Mexican war and distinguished himself in battle.After the war, Seguin returned to Texas and lived on his father's ranch. In an attempt to clear his name, Juan wrote his memoirs. He was elected Justice of the Peace for two terms and later became judge of nearby Wilson County.In 1867, after the death of his father, Seguin sold his assets in Texas and moved to the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo where he died and was buried in 1890. His remains were later moved to Seguin, Texas, a town named for him after his heroics at San Jacinto.
A brief biography of Juan Seguín, who lead a group of his fellow Tejanos to fight alongside Sam Bowie, Davie Crockett, and other frontiersmen at the Alamo and helped secure Texas' independence from Mexico.
Tejanos (Texans of Mexican heritage) were instrumental leaders in the life and development of Texas during the Mexican period, the war of independence, and the Texas Republic. Jesús F. de la Teja and ten other scholars examine the lives, careers, and influence of many long-neglected but historically significant Tejano leaders who were active and influential in the formation, political and military leadership, and economic development of Texas. In Tejano Leadership in Mexican and Revolutionary Texas, lesser-known figures such as Father Refugio de la Garza, Juan Martín Veramendi, José Antonio Saucedo, Raphael Manchola, and Carlos de la Garza join their better-known counterparts—José Antonio Navarro, Juan Seguín, and Plácido Benavides, for example—on the stage of Texas and regional historical consideration. This book also features a foreword by David J. Weber, in which he discusses how Anglocentric views allowed important Tejano figures to fade from public knowledge. Students and scholars of Texas and regional history, those interested in Texana, and readers in Latino/a studies will glean important insights from Tejano Leadership in Mexican and Revolutionary Texas.
Author Harriett Denise Joseph relates biographies of eleven notable Mexicanos and Tejanos, beginning with Santa Anna and the impact his actions had on Texas. She discusses the myriad contributions of Erasmo and Juan Seguín to Texas history, as well as the factors that led a hero of the Texas Revolution (Juan) to be viewed later as a traitor by his fellow Texans. Admired by many but despised by others, folk hero Juan Nepomuceno Cortina is one of the most controversial figures in the history of nineteenth-century South Texas. Preservationist and historian Adina De Zavala fought to save part of the Alamo site and other significant structures. Labor activist Emma Tenayuca’s youth, passion, courage, and sacrifice merit attention for her efforts to help the working class. Joseph reveals the individual and collective accomplishments of a powerhouse couple, bilingual educator Edmundo Mireles and folklorist-author Jovita González. She recognizes the military and personal battles of Medal of Honor recipient Raul “Roy” Benavidez. Irma Rangel, the first Latina to serve in the Texas House of Representatives, is known for the many “firsts” she achieved during her lifetime. Finally, we read about Selena’s life and career, as well as her tragic death and her continuing marketability.
Winner of the 2000 Outstanding Book Award presented by the American Educational Research Association Winner of the 2001 American Educational Studies Association Critics' Choice Award Honorable Mention, 2000 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Awards Subtractive Schooling provides a framework for understanding the patterns of immigrant achievement and U.S.-born underachievement frequently noted in the literature and observed by the author in her ethnographic account of regular-track youth attending a comprehensive, virtually all-Mexican, inner-city high school in Houston. Valenzuela argues that schools subtract resources from youth in two major ways: firstly by dismissing their definition of education and secondly, through assimilationist policies and practices that minimize their culture and language. A key consequence is the erosion of students' social capital evident in the absence of academically oriented networks among acculturated, U.S.-born youth.
Los Tejanos is the story of the Texas-Mexican conflict between 1835 and 1875 as seen through the eyes of tejano (literally Texan of Mexican, as distinct from anglo, heritage) Juan Seguín. It is through Seguín, a pivotal and tragic figure, that Jackson humanizes Texas’ fight for independence and provides a human scale for this vast and complex story. Lost Cause documents the violent reaction to Reconstruction by Texans. As Jackson wrote, “Texas reaped a bitter harvest from the War Between the States. Part of this dark legacy was the great unrest that plagued the beaten but unbowed populace.” The tensions caused by Reconstruction are told through the Taylor-Sutton feud, which raged across South Texas, embracing two generations and causing untold grief, and the gunslinger John Wesley Hardin, who swept across Texas killing Carpetbaggers, Federal soldiers, and Indians.
Critical acclaim for The Last Comanche Chief "Truly distinguished. Neeley re-creates the character and achievements of this most significant of all Comanche leaders." -- Robert M. Utley author of The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull "A vivid, eyewitness account of life for settlers and Native Americans in those violent and difficult times." -- Christian Science Monitor "The special merits of Neeley's work include its reliance on primary sources and illuminating descriptions of interactions among Southern Plains people, Native and white." -- Library Journal "He has given us a fuller and clearer portrait of this extraordinary Lord of the South Plains than we've ever had before." -- The Dallas Morning News