Should We "Forget the Alamo"?:Myths, Slavery, and the Texas Revolution John Willingham (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution The Alamo. Photo by Jean Beaufort. From https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=160416&picture=the-alamo [Accessed Nov. 29, 2022]. [End Page 466] For at least six decades, Texas has been notorious for its battles over history. One particularly notable year was 1962, when Mel and Norma Gabler from the East Texas city of Longview launched their crusade to reject history textbooks that did not reflect their conservative Christian values.1 Although no individuals are likely to match the forty-year mission of the Gablers, the history wars in the state have only intensified. In 2021, the legislature reaffirmed its commitment to what is called "Texas exceptionalism" by passing bills that champion traditional Texas history, which often ignores, obscures, or justifies the uglier parts of the state's past.2 For almost four years, social conservatives in Texas and across the nation have targeted Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the 1619 Project, initially a series in the New York Times Magazine in 2019 and more recently expanded to a 624-page book, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story (2021).3 Many of these critics oppose not only an inclusive history curriculum but also publications on gender subjects, including books used in schools and [End Page 467] public libraries.4 In September 2022, the Texas State Board of Education retreated in the face of extremist activism, with the conservative majority voting to delay implementation of moderate revisions to the social studies curriculum.5 Reflecting the influence of postmodern scholarship and CRT, the 1619 Project and the associated book center the institution of slavery in American history, controversially stating that slavery was one of the primary causes of the American Revolution.6 The writings collected under the 1619 Project convincingly show that de jure segregation and continuing racism have deprived Black Americans of asset accumulation for more than a century and argue that legislative and judicial efforts have failed to ameliorate other past injustices. In their overriding commitment to issues of social justice, the authors forthrightly acknowledge that their cause is the lens through which they interpret history.7 Their approach has generated criticism from some professional historians who counter that the arguments are overly tailored to that commitment, resulting in some factual errors and questionable conclusions, especially regarding the American Revolution.8 Whatever the long-term appraisal of the 1619 Project and CRT may be, they have become the bugbear of choice for those who attack even moderate, reasonable changes to social studies curricula in Texas and the nation.9 Similarly, but not claiming any postmodern influence, the 2021 book Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth by Bryan Burrough, [End Page 468] Chris Tomlinson, and Jason Stanford argues that a desire to protect the institution of slavery was the true cause of the Texas Revolution, stressing the ties of Texian (i.e, Anglo Texan) rebel leaders and the best-known Alamo defenders to the Peculiar Institution.10 The authors believe we should forget the mythical Alamo and its undeserving heroes and see the battle and revolution almost exclusively as a fight for the preservation of Black enslavement.11 In contrast, the traditional view of the Texas Revolution and, especially of the Alamo, is that the bravery and sacrifices of Texian heroes eventually prevailed against the cruel and despotic Santa Anna, resulting in a dramatic victory for the cause of liberty. Mostly unchallenged until the first revisionist studies of the mid-to-late 1980s, this version of history reinforced the mythical status of both the heroes and the cause, and associated both with the long dominant Anglo culture. Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick was so incensed at the idea of "forgetting" the Alamo in 2021 that he engineered the cancellation of an event at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, where the authors of Forget the Alamo were scheduled to discuss their book. Given these conflicts, the Dear Reader of the day might well ask: Who am I to believe? What follows is a comparative analysis of...