 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 9,530,419 (people of Mexican origin; 2020 Census)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Texas (especiallyEl Paso,San Antonio, andSouth Texas),Louisiana (Los Adaes) | |
| Languages | |
| Texan Spanish,Sabine River Spanish,Texan English,Spanglish | |
| Religion | |
| PredominantlyRoman Catholic | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
Tejanos (/teɪˈhɑːnoʊz/tay-HAH-nohz,[2]Spanish:[teˈxanos]) are descendants of mostly Native Americans, but alsoTexas Creoles andMestizos who settled inTexas before its admission as an American state.[3] The term is also sometimes applied to Texans of Mexican descent.[4][5]
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The wordTejano, with aJ instead ofX, comes from the Spanish interpretation of the originalCaddo indigenous wordTayshas, which means "friend" or "ally".[2] Texas Mestizo[7] refers to as person born in the New World that has one parent that is Spanish Texas born and the other parent as Indian born.
In colonial Texas, the term "Creole" (criollo) distinguished Old World Africans and Europeans from their descendants born in the New world, Creoles, who were the citizens ofNew Spain's Tejas province.[8][9][10]
Texas Creole culture revolved aroundranchos (Tejano ranches), attended mostly byvaqueros (cowboys) of African, Spaniard, or Mestizo descent who established a number of settlements in southeastern Texas and western Louisiana (e.g.Los Adaes).[8][9][11][12]
Black Texas Creoles have been present in Texas since the 17th century and served as soldiers in Spanish garrisons of eastern Texas. Generations of Black Texas Creoles, also known as "Black Tejanos," played a role in later phases of Texas history during Mexican Texas, the Republic of Texas, and American Texas.[10]
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As early as 1519,Alonso Álvarez de Pineda claimed the area that is nowTexas forSpain. TheSpanish monarchy paid little attention to the province until 1685. That year, the Crown learned of a French colony in the region and worried that it might threaten Spanish colonialmines andshipping routes. KingCharles 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 acquired better knowledge of it for the provincial government and the settlers, who came later.[13]
Tejano settlements developed in three distinct regions: the northernNacogdoches region, theBexar–Goliad region along theSan Antonio River, and the frontier between theNueces River and the Rio Grande, an area used largely for ranching. Those populations shared certain characteristics, yet they were independent of one another. The main unifying factor was their shared responsibility for defending the northern frontier ofNew Spain. Some of the first settlers wereIsleños from theCanary Islands. Their families were among the first to reside at thePresidio San Antonio de Bexar in 1731, which is modern-day San Antonio, Texas.
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) andGoliad. TheNacogdoches settlement was located farther north and east. Tejanos from Nacogdoches traded with the French and Anglo residents of Louisiana and were culturally influenced by them. The third settlement was located north of the Rio Grande, toward the Nueces River. Its ranchers were citizens ofSpanish origin fromTamaulipas, in what is now northern Mexico, and they identified with SpanishCriollo culture.[14]
On September 16, 1810,Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest, launched theMexican War of Independence with the issuing of hisGrito de Dolores, or “Cry of Delores.” He marched across Mexico and gathered an army of nearly 90,000 poor farmers and civilians. The 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 theBattle of Calderón Bridge.[15]
Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara, a supporter in independence from Spain, organized a revolutionary army with José Menchaca, who was from theVilla de San Fernando de Bejar. After Hidalgo's defeat and execution, Gutiérrez traveled to Washington, DC, to request help from the United States. He requested an audience with PresidentJames Madison but was refused. He met with Secretary of StateJames Monroe, who was busy planning the invasion ofCanada in theWar of 1812. On December 10, 1810, Gutiérrez addressed theUS House of Representatives. There was no official help by theUS government to the revolution. However, Gutiérrez returned with financial help, weapons, and almost 700US Army veterans.
Gutiérrez's army would defeat theSpanish Army and the first independent Republic of Texas, "the Green Republic" was born with the Declaration of Independence. Spain had reinforced its 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 SpaniardJosé Álvarez de Toledo y Dubois had been undermining Gutiérrez de Lara's government. Toledo was successful, and Gutiérrez 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 theBattle of Medina. The Spanish Army marched into San Antonio, rounded up everyone it could find from Nacogdoches to El Espiritu de Santo (Goliad), and brought them to San Antonio. The Spanish killed four males a day for 270 days, eradicated the Tejano population, and left the women when they left in 1814. Toledo returned to Spain, a Spanish hero.[16][17]
In January 1840, the northern Mexican states ofNuevo León,Coahuila, andTamaulipas seceded from Mexico to establish theRepublic of the Rio Grande, with its capital in what is nowLaredo, Texas; however, they became part of Mexico again in November 1840.
By 1821, at the end of theMexican War of Independence, about 4,000 Tejanos 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 (nowEl Paso, Texas) andNuevo Santander, incorporatingLaredo and theRio Grande Valley.
During the 1820s, many settlers from the United States and other nations moved toMexican Texas, mostly in the eastern area. The passage of theGeneral Colonization Law, encouraged immigration by granting the immigrants citizenship if they declared loyalty to Mexico. By 1830, the 30,000 recent settlers in Texas, who were primarily Englishspeakers from the United States, outnumbered the Hispanos Tejano six to one.[18]
TheTexians and Tejano alike rebelled against attempts by the government to centralize authority inMexico City and other measures implemented by PresidentAntonio López de Santa Anna.[19][20][21] Tensions between the central Mexican government and the settlers eventually resulted in theTexas Revolution.
In 1915, insurgents inSouth Texas wrote a manifesto that was circulated in the town ofSan Diego and all across the region. The manifesto "Plan de San Diego" called on Mexicans, American Indians, Blacks, Germans, and Japanese to liberate south Texas and kill their racist white American oppressors. Numerous cross-border raids, murders, and sabotage took place. Some Tejanos strongly repudiated the plan. According to Benjamin H. Johnson, middle-class Mexicans who were born in the United States and desired affirming their loyalty to the country founded theLeague of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). It was headed by professionals, business leaders, and progressives and became the main Tejano organization promoting civic pride and civil rights.[22]
Other sources attribute the founding of the organization in 1929 largely to Tejano veterans ofWorld 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 to advance in society.[23][24]
In 1963, Tejanos inCrystal 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.[25] In 1969–70, a different Tejano coalition, theLa Raza Unida Party, came to office in Crystal City. The new leader wasJosé Ángel Gutiérrez, a radical nationalist who worked to form a Chicano nationalist movement across the Southwest in 1969 to 1979. He promoted cultural terminology (Chicano,Aztlan) designed to unite the militants; but his movement split into competing factions in the late 1970s.[26]
Most Tejanos are concentrated insouthern Texas, in historic areas of Spanish colonial settlement and closer to the border that developed. The city ofSan Antonio is the historic center of Tejano culture.[5] During theSpanish colonial period of Texas, most colonial settlers of northernNew Spain – including Texas, northern Mexico, and the American Southwest – were descendants of Spanish speaking Native Americans.[27]
Although the number of Tejanos whose families have lived in Texas since before 1836 is unknown, it was estimated that 5,000 Tejano descendants ofSan Antonio's Canarian founders lived in the city in 2008.[28] The community of Canarian descent still maintains the culture of their ancestors.
Tejanos may identify as being ofMexican,Chicano,Mexican American,Spanish,Hispano,American and/or Indigenous ancestry.[29][30] 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 noSpanish.
Most of the people whose ancestors colonized Texas and the northernMexican states during the Spanish colonial period identified with the mostly Native American,Spaniards,Criollos, orMestizos who were born in the colony. Many of the latter find their history and identity in thehistory of Spain,Mesoamerica and thehistory of the United States.Spain's colonial provinces (Spanish Texas andSpanish Louisiana) participated on the side of the rebels in theAmerican Revolutionary War.
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In the 2007American Community Survey (ACS) data,[31] Tejanos are defined as those Texans descended from colonists of the Spanish colonial period (before 1821), mostly descended from IndigenousSpanish Mexicans, and indigenous Mexicans.[32]
Tejanos have a unique cultural identity that is a mixture of Indigenous, Spanish, and African influences. Tejanos have made greatcontributions to the cultural heritage of Texas in terms ofmusic,food,language, andtraditions. The term "Tejano[33]" has been employed to describe various expressions of culture and as an emblem of the unique heritage of Texans of Mexican descent over time.
GenuineTejano music is descended from a mixture of German and Czechoslovak polka and oom papa sounds and Mexican Spanish strings, and is similar to the French 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. Narciso Martinez is the father of Conjunto Music, followed by the legendary Santiago Jimenez (Father of Flaco Jimenez).
Sunny and the Sunglows lead the rock and roll era in the 1950s along with Little Joe, and Rudy Guerra, who were originators of the rock and roll portion of genre. Today, Tejano music is a wide array of multicultural genres including rockteno and Tejano rap. The American cowboy culture and music was born from the meeting of the European-American Texians, Indigenous people, colonists mostly from the American South, and the original Tejano pioneers and theirvaquero, or "cowboy" culture.[34][35][36][37]
The cuisine that would come to be known as "Tex-Mex" originated with the Tejanos. It developed fromSpanish and North American indigenous commodities with influences fromMexican cuisine.[38]
Tex-Mex cuisine is characterized by its widespread use of meltedcheese,meat (particularlybeef),peppers,beans, andspices, in addition tocorn orflourtortillas.Chili con carne,burritos,carne asada,chalupa,chili con queso,enchiladas, andfajitas are all Tex-Mex specialties. A common feature of Tex-Mex is the combination plate, with several of the above on one large platter. Servingtortilla chips and ahot sauce orsalsa as an appetizer is also a Tex-Mex development.[39]Cabrito,barbacoa,carne seca, and other products ofcattle culture have been common in theranching cultures ofSouth Texas and northern Mexico. In the 20th century, Tex-Mex took onAmericanized elements such as yellow cheese, as goods from the rest of the United States became cheap and readily available.[40] Tex-Mex has imported flavors from other spicy cuisines, such as the use ofcumin. Cumin is often referred to by its Spanish name,comino.
A common Tex-Mex breakfast dish served is a "breakfast taco" and usually consists of a flour tortilla or corn tortilla served using a single fold. That is in contrast to the burrito-style method of completely encasing the ingredients. Some of the typical ingredients used are a combination ofeggs,potatoes, cheese, peppers,bacon,sausage, and barbacoa. Breakfast tacos are traditionally served with an optionalred or green salsa.[41]
Tejanos,Mexican-American Texans, have always had their own special brand ofCatholicism[42] that addressed their cultural identity and survival. While they adhered to Catholicism's basic tenets, they practiced their faith in ways that went against institutional expectations. Tejanos were devoted to theVirgin Mary and the saints, and they diligently observed traditional holy days. Yet they also engaged in home altars (altarcitos) and selective sacramental observance, which were not necessarily in accord with official Church teaching. This was partially a response to the Church's historical neglect and discrimination against them. Despite such tensions, Tejanos' religious practice was deeply integrated in their social and cultural lives and was a means for them to assert identity and communal solidarity.
Historically, the majority of the Tejano population in South Texas had voted forDemocrats since the first half of the 20th century. The2020 United States presidential election was considered a turning point in their political support, as part of a "red tide" for South Texas, whereRepublican candidateDonald Trump performed better in areas associated with Tejano population than during former elections.Zapata was the only county that turned majority Republican from Democratic in South Texas, whileStarr County saw the strongest pro-Trump swing of any county in the U.S., a 55% increase compared to the2016 election.[43]
Tejanos are noted to be more supportive of the Republican Party than other Latino populations in Texas. Politically, Tejanos have been compared toCuban Americans andVenezuelan Americans, who also disproportionately vote for Republican candidates among Latino voters.The New York Times attributed the relative success of Donald Trump among the Tejano community to concerns about regional economy, which is based ongas andoil.The Wall Street Journal described concerns about possible unemployment caused byCOVID-19 lockdowns as another source of Republican Tejano support. Reporter Jack Herrera argues that Tejanos are culturally conservative and identify with Republican positions ongun rights, Christianity, and abortion.[43] Also Tejanos are more likely to beEvangelical Protestants thanRoman Catholics, the latter denomination in which most Latinos across the US identify as being part of.[44]
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