'Then the Anglos basically decided, 'We don't like your rules,'' Perez said. Mexico's aboli- tion of slavery, for instance, had little force on its northeastern frontier, where Southerners needed only to produce a 'contract' that technically la- beled their human chattel as indentured servants. Anglos had been invited to settle Texas and were granted rights, citizenship, and considerable latitude in their adherence to distant authority. Perez tried to balance this with a broader, Mexican perspective. 'It makes kids think of the American Revolution and throwing off oppression.' 'The word 'revolution' slants it from the start,' he said. Even there, he'd found it hard to bring nuance to students' understanding of Mexico and Texas in the nineteenth century. The son of Mexican immigrants, Perez had taught at a predominantly Hispanic school in Dallas named for Zaragoza.

A lot of Texans don't know him, either, or even that Mexico had its own fight for independence.' When I confessed my ignorance of Zaragoza, he smiled and said, 'You're not alone. While exploring the birthplace, I met Alberto Perez, a history and so- cial studies teacher in the Dallas area who was visiting with his family. Zaragoza went on to become a national hero in Mexico, leading a reformist revolt against Santa Anna and defeat- ing an invading French force on May 5, 1862, the date celebrated as Cinco de Mayo. When I confessed my ignorance of I wandered over to the adobe birthplace of Ignacio Seguin Zaragoza, whose father was posted at the garrison in the early 1800s. The Mexican army is retreating north after a. Zaragoza went on to become a national hero in Mexico, leading a reformist revolt against Santa Anna and defeat- ing an invading French force on May 5, 1862, the date celebrated as Cinco de Mayo. Her father Abraham has made a deal with Francisco to marry Mara in exchange for the post of governor of Durango. I wandered over to the adobe birthplace of Ignacio Seguin Zaragoza, whose father was posted at the garrison in the early 1800s.

#cincodemayo 112 by I.D. Oro