SMU hosts lecture on history of Latinos in U.S.

by Marisa Treviño of Latina Lista

Winston Churchill said, “History is written by the victors.”

The truth of that statement rings loud and clear when we look at Hispanic history in the United States, and especially Texas.

For example, in 1915, it’s little known that the Texas Rangers of that era went on a rampage of terror in South Texas, randomly lynching, shooting, and killing between 3,000 and 5,000 Mexican-Americans whose property was wanted by Anglo land speculators.

The bloody history was chronicled in a film called Border Bandits that was not made by a historian but the grandson of an Anglo rancher, who after 59 years, was still haunted by the events of those times and decided to share his memories with his grandson.

Had it not been for that former rancher and his grandson, that very important piece of history would not have been known by a wider audience.

No one is aware of that better than author Nicolás Kanellos, the Brown Foundation Professor of Spanish at the University of Houston and the founder of the Hispanic literary journal The Americas Review, as well as, the founder of Arte Público Press, the nation’s oldest Hispanic publishing house.

Professor Kanellos brings his experience hunting down the true stories of what happened with Hispanics throughout U.S. history this Thursday to the SMU campus in his lecture “Challenges in Searching for the Lost or Buried Heritage of Latinos in the United States.”

The lecture is sponsored by SMU's Gilbert Lecture Series, the Ethnic Studies Program and the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies. It will take place at the DeGolyer Library, 6404 Hilltop Lane at McFarlin Blvd.

Though the 6:30 p.m. event is free and open to the public, reservations are required and can be made by either visiting http://smu.edu/swcenter/Kanellos.htm or calling 214-768-3684 to register.

“History is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten.” By George Santayana