Reverberations of Racial Violence

How far have we come from Porvenir in 1918 to El Paso in 2019? Reverberations of Racial Violence reclaims a tortured history of racial terror once kept only in family archives or buried in state records and reveals the courageous stands taken by such early civil rights pioneers as J. T. Canales and Jovita Idar. The essays testify to the power of public history as an intersectional collaboration among scholars, narrators, and curators. With evocative narratives girded by exhaustive research, this collection demonstrates why history matters as context and conscience.

— Vicki L. Ruiz, author of From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America

Reverberations of Racial Violence makes a unique contribution by delving into the Canales investigation to paint a picture of the social landscape of south Texas from roughly 1850 to 1920, including education, journalism, law, race relations, lynching, and state terror. In doing so, it offers important insights into the role of memory and history in shaping the contested understandings of the present.

— Paul Hart, author of Emiliano Zapata: Mexico's Social Revolutionary

By refusing to acknowledge and recognize others' perspectives and sufferings, we increase the likelihood of not recognizing and, thus, resisting and stopping the repetition of past horrors. That's why it's important we refuse to forget. One way to start is by reading this collection.

— San Antonio Review

[An] excellent collection of essays...Few edited collections are as cohesive and substantive as Reverberations of Racial Violence...The book balances to great effect hard examinations of state-sponsored violence while avoiding sensationalism. Collectively, the book presents tangible facts and detailed truths that will resonate with readers familiar with the matanza as well as those learning of it for the first time.

— Southwestern Historical Quarterly

[Reverberations of Racial Violence] is a critical addition to Latina/o/x and borderlands studies, given its thoughtful and exceptionally argued premise that the reverberations of racial violence extend well into the Southwest region of the United States.

— New Books in Latino Studies

[Reverberations of Racial Violence] boldly and unapologetically places the reader in the middle of what is perhaps one of the greatest debates in the discipline of history: what to remember and what to forget...by tendering the history of Mexicans in Texas as a case study, the authors invite the reader to rethink the narratives of how the state was settled and built, and what those 'in charge' of its official history choose to remember and what they choose to forget. It is at this intersection where the greatest contribution of this edited volume is found...Through its 328 pages, the book convincingly shows that the state has never fully acknowledged the legacy of its past of racism, violence, and exclusion on a community that was already there when Anglos first arrived.

— Journal of Arizona History

An excellent collection that can be easily adopted in undergraduate and graduate courses focusing on Texas history; Chicanx, and Latinx Studies; U.S.-Mexico borderlands studies, and more specialized courses that focus on topics such as violence, memory, and public history...As the debates around ethnic studies education continue to intensify across the country, books like Reverberations of Racial Violence are more than ever a compelling reminder of the importance of critical public scholarship.

— Western Historical Quarterly

A model for rigorous and thoughtful public-facing and public-engaging historical reflection...Volume contributions compellingly demonstrate how the project of unsettling and recovering border history produces its best work when it is collective, multi-modal, and multi-sited...Reverberations is a great teaching resource for undergraduates and graduates alike. It is also a must read for border historians (North American and otherwise) because it respects the multiformity of evidence and readily confronts the challenges of making history count outside of academic circles.

— Journal of Borderlands Studies

This comprehensive collection of essays, carefully selected by Sonia Hernández and John Morán González, underscores a brutal history that remains largely unknown to the public. These essays should be read by those who want to better understand the history of modern America through the bloody experience of the Mexican people of Texas. As the various authors make clear, ethnic Mexicans know their history, it only remains hidden to those who do not want to face the American past.

— Journal of American History