DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along. Picture Laredo in the late summer of 1911. The Rio Grande rolling by, the September heat sitting heavy on the streets, and somewhere in that city, something historic about to happen — though the people walking into the Order of the Red Men Hall might not have used that word yet.
They were too busy carrying the weight of everything that had brought them there. See, the trouble hadn't started overnight. Back through the late nineteenth and into the early twentieth century, shifting racial hierarchies, large-scale property transfer, and agricultural industrialization had set off an extended period of conflict between Texans of Mexican descent and Texans of Anglo origins.
That's a formal way of saying things had been going wrong for a long time. Then came the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which swelled the immigrant population arriving in Texas, and with that came increased tensions between the groups. Economic problems piled on top of everything else.
The pressure had been building, and building, and building. So on September 14, 1911, the owners of a Laredo newspaper called La Crónica organized something they named El Primer Congreso Mexicanista — The First Mexican Congress. They pulled in Mexican Americans from across the whole state of Texas, and citizens from northern Mexico besides.
Delegates came from dozens of cities and towns. What gathered there was likely the largest Mexican American civil rights meeting that had ever taken place up to that moment in time. Let that settle for a second.
The congress met for more than a week. They convened in the Order of the Red Men Hall and in the City Market. And they didn't come to make small talk.
The agenda was growing economic disparities, racial violence, labor exploitation, inadequate educational opportunities, women's rights, and social discrimination. Every single one of those things on the table at once. The delegates elected their first officers.
Jose P. Reyes of Brownsville became President. Nicasio Idar of Laredo was chosen Vice President.
Lisandro Peña of Nuevo Laredo took the office of Secretary. Those meetings happened alongside a statewide gathering of the International Grand Lodge of the Caballeros de Honor — the Knights of Honor — and Laredo's own Diez y Seis Celebrations. The whole city alive with purpose.
Now, through all the debate over strategy, through all the formal discussion of civil rights approaches, the delegates kept coming back to something dark and undeniable. They frequently pointed to the recent lynchings of Antonio Rodríguez in Rocksprings and Antonio Gómez in Thorndale as examples — their word, examples — of the dire threats they faced. Those weren't abstractions.
Those were names. Real men. And the people in that hall knew it.
What came out of El Primer Congreso Mexicanista didn't transform everything in a single week. No congress can do that. But through later court cases and legislation, the delegates and their constituents made short-term progress and left a long-term impact on the rights of Hispanic Texans — and on the relationships among all the citizens of this state.
They walked into that hall carrying the weight of a generation's worth of conflict. What they built there is still standing.
What the marker says
In the late 19th and early 20th century, shifting racial hierarchies, large-scale property transfer, and agricultural industrialization led to an extended period of conflict between Texans of Mexican descent and those of Anglo origins. Economic problems and the Mexican Revolution in 1910 increased the immigrant population to Texas and subsequently increased tensions between the groups. On September 14, 1911, the owners of Laredo newspaper La Cr��nica organized El Primer Congreso Mexicanista (The First Mexican Congress), which brought together Mexican Americans from across Texas and citizens of northern Mexico. This gathering, likely the largest Mexican American Civil Rights meeting to that time, addressed growing economic disparities, racial violence, labor exploitation, inadequate educational opportunities, women's rights and social discrimination. Delegates frequently referred to the recent lynchings of Antonio Rodr��guez in Rocksprings and Antonio G��mez in Thorndale as examples of the dire threats they faced. With representatives from dozens of cities and towns, the congress met for more than a week, in conjunction with a statewide meeting of the International Grand Lodge of the Caballeros de Honor (Knights of Honor) and Laredo's Diez y Seis Celebrations. The first officers elected were Jose P. Reyes of Brownsville, President; Nicasio Idar of Laredo, Vice President; and Lisandro Pe��a of Nuevo Laredo, Secretary. Meeting in the Order of the Red Men Hall and the City Market, delegates discussed strategies to address civil rights issues. Through later court cases and legislation, the delegates and their constituents made short-term progress and long-term impact on the rights of Hispanic Texans and the relationships among all the citizens of the state.