Looking for the North American Invasion in Mexico City

Abstract

Abstract At a time when Latinxs play an increasingly important role in U.S. society, a group of teachers seek out places in Mexico City connected to the U.S. Invasion of 1847–1848, hoping to understand how it is remembered there today. Museums and memorials commemorate the sacrifices made by a wronged nation and honor the legendary figures who have come to dominate its popular narrative of the war, Los Niños Héroes and the San Patricios. By contrast, the historic landscape is nearly silent on Santa Anna and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Back home, the group incorporates the places they visited into their classrooms through images and stories. Finally, they consider how the war’s place in the teaching of Texas and U.S. history is changing and offer Elliott West’s Greater Reconstruction thesis as a framework for reimagining the nation’s history by focusing on how the expansion of this period affected the peoples over whom the border crossed and reoriented national attention toward Latin America and the Pacific. Throughout the essay, a Mexican American reflects on his first encounter with the capital of his ancestral homeland.