Alamo images

"An exhibition at the DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, November 16, 1985-March 14, 1986." "On March 6, 1836, the 183-man garrison of the fortress Alamo, in San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, was overwhelmed and slaughtered by a vastly superior force of Mexican troops under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Although in a military sense the battle was of little significance, it nevertheless became a symbolic rallying point for the Texan revolutionaries. It provided a battle cry that has become world famous- "Remember the Alamo!"--Introduction. This DeGolyer Library major exhibition attempts to explore the development of the Alamo myth itself and to suggest what that myth may reflect about the American character. This investigation has revealed much that is confusing and contradictory. The Alamo's defense certainly was heroic and has thus served well as a standard for subsequent American warriors, but this battle suggests a darker side to the American character as well. The Texas revolution deepened the split between North and South over the expansion of slavery into the Southwest and West. To many of its contemporaries, such as abolitionist leader Benjamin Lundy, the Texas revolution suggested not a fight for freedom but he aggressive expansion of slavery. The link between the Alamo and slavery may or may not be historically tenuous- and in the popular legend it is nonexistent- but the broader question of racism in the development of the Alamo myth should not be casually dismissed. The exhibit explores this theme, specifically in respect to the myth's treatment of Tejanos, or Mexican Texans. -- from Foreword.