The Texas Rangers are a beloved icon and symbol of Texas pride. They have been featured on television through shows like The Lone Ranger and Walker, Texas Ranger. In the last five years, the Rangers were featured in big-budget films like The Lone Ranger and True Grit. They even have a baseball team named after them. But they also have a dark history.
That history that is often overlooked. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was tension between Mexican-Americans and Anglos over land disputes. In response to this tension, the Texas Rangers abused their power with killings that overwhelmingly targeted Mexican-Americans.
This history is often left out of Texas textbooks, but there are groups like “Refusing to Forget” who have been working to inform people of this history through exhibits such as “Life and Death at the Border: 1910 to 1929” exhibit at The Bullock Museum in Austin.
Featured image: Texas Rangers gathered in El Paso, Texas, 1896. (Public domain)
Thank you for sharing! I will be sharing what I learned as well
Thanks for reporting and sharing some of the true Texas History. The Dark Side of the Texas Rangers was also a very Dark period (1910-1920) for Mexicans living and working in Texas.
I do give thanks to my sister bortherinlaw. for puting this enternet to and to every one can see
what they did to our grandfarther dackthen thank you very much . juan jr
Hi, I am researching the prevalence of the “no Mexicans” signs.
I can only find the one sign shown here. No other examples? I find this very unusual. I have no doubt there was many of these signs , but apparently no one took photos of them? We’re people mostly focused on the goings on in the south that the southwest was ignored ?
There is a cast iron plate reproduction of a sign dated 1929, and one possible park sign, but that’s the only other example of such signage I can find.