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79R14306 JLZ-D

By:  Lucio                                                      S.C.R. No. 35 



CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, Tejanos, the descendants of Spanish explorers, 
settlers, and the indigenous people who were the first to tame and 
settle this great land, have contributed significantly to the 
development of Texas, first as a republic and later as a state, but 
have not been given credit in our textbooks for their contributions 
and achievements; and
	WHEREAS, A content analysis conducted by the Mexican American 
School Board Members Association of the textbooks used in Texas 
public schools indicated that there was little mention of the many 
contributions by Tejanos, thereby depriving the children of Texas 
of important historical information about the development and 
culture of our state; and
	WHEREAS, A survey of high school students by the National 
Hispanic Institute demonstrated that Hispano youth have limited 
cultural awareness of Hispano cultural and political figures and 
that 83 percent either cannot identify a Hispano leader or are 
unaware of the history of Hispanos in Texas and this country, such 
as being segregated in the schools and not being allowed to speak 
Spanish on the playgrounds through the 1960s; and
	WHEREAS, This lack of awareness persists despite the fact 
that for more than 500 years, beginning with the arrival of the 
first European explorers and the establishment of early settlements 
around Spanish missions and presidios and continuing through the 
Texas revolution and the early republic to subsequent statehood, 
forebears of today's Tejanos not only laid the foundation but 
helped build on it to give rise to present-day Texas culture and 
society; and
	WHEREAS, There is no scarcity of either individual or 
collective contributions to honor and recognize, especially of 
those who died defending the Alamo; and
	WHEREAS, In the early 1800s, individuals such as Juan N. 
Seguín, José Antonio Navarro, and Lorenzo de Zavala played vital 
roles in the struggle for independence and the founding of a new 
republic; and
	WHEREAS, Seguín, a member of the Senate of the Republic of 
Texas, served in Texas' Second, Third, and Fourth Congresses during 
an illustrious political career; Navarro and de Zavala signed the 
Texas Declaration of Independence; Navarro also helped draft the 
first state constitution in 1845, while de Zavala performed a 
similar service in the drafting of the republic's constitution; 
Navarro served in the Texas Congress and later in the Texas 
Legislature and de Zavala served as vice president during the 
critical first months of the fledgling republic; and
	WHEREAS, While these three men are among those individuals 
whose names are familiar to students of history, many lesser-known 
Tejanos and countless others have made contributions, both great 
and small, all worthy of recognition for helping create the vibrant 
mosaic that is Texas history and culture; and
	WHEREAS, The state's Hispano legacy lives on and is evident 
all around us in the myriad place names that dot the Texas map, from 
natural features such as the Rio Grande and the Guadalupe 
Mountains, to the many cities and towns such as El Paso, Corpus 
Christi, and San Antonio, to political subdivisions such as Zavala 
and Navarro Counties and the City of Seguin that bear the names of 
notable Hispanos; and
	WHEREAS, Hispano contributions to Texas culture and daily 
life endure in countless other ways, especially in their strong 
work ethic and strong family and religious values, in much of our 
language, music, food, and art, and also in many of the artifacts, 
customs, and terminology that defined the cornerstone of Texas' 
early economy, the cattle industry that gave rise to that 
quintessential icon of Texas identity, the cowboy; and
	WHEREAS, Hispano surnames also punctuate the nation's 
history from the time of the American Revolution when Bernardo de 
Galvez, Spanish governor of Louisiana and namesake of Galveston, 
provided the Continental Army with arms and supplies and later 
raised a sizable force to fight the British along a front from the 
Mississippi River to western Florida; and
	WHEREAS, Hispanos continued to fight for freedom as members 
of the armed forces in subsequent conflicts, their valor epitomized 
by Army Master Sergeant Roy P. Benavides, who was awarded the U.S. 
Army Medal of Honor for his actions in Vietnam; Master Sergeant 
Benavides followed a long line of Hispano Medal of Honor 
recipients, beginning with David Bennes Barkley, a Mexican American 
from San Antonio who, for his service in World War I, became the 
first Hispano to be awarded this medal; during World War II and the 
Korean War, an additional 17 Hispanos made this illustrious roll of 
honorees; and
	WHEREAS, The members of this legislature realize that the 
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for social studies 
requires schools to teach Texas history in grades 4 and 7 and to 
teach U.S. history in grade 5, providing several occasions where 
the contributions and achievements of Hispanos can be integrated 
into both the textbooks and lesson plans to portray accurately the 
diversity of the peoples who made this state and this nation great; 
and
	WHEREAS, Beyond those specific requirements, other TEKS 
social studies requirements for the elementary and middle school 
curriculum provide appropriate opportunities at each grade level 
for textbook publishers and classroom teachers to integrate 
information about Hispano achievements and contributions in their 
textbooks and lesson plans; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 79th Legislature of the State of Texas 
hereby recognize that the State Board of Education is responsible 
for the oversight of the public school curriculum, and that the 
legislature encourage the board to ensure that public schools teach 
students at all grade levels about the contributions of Hispano men 
and women to the development of Texas and the United States and that 
their role in the shaping of our history, culture, government, and 
daily life be integrated into the history and government textbooks 
adopted for use in Texas public schools' social studies curriculum; 
and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward an official 
copy of this resolution to the chair and members of the State Board 
of Education.