UNBRIDLING THE TIGER: THE EARLY TEXAS HISTORIANS AND THEIR "SILENCE" ON SLAVERY

Abstract

A course in historical research concentrating on family/local history reconnected me with Texas family roots that dated from the 1830s. 1 was researching an ancestor with a scandalous background and did not approach this investigation with idealized notions. Even so, it was striking to read the historians of the era and to note how they treated slavery. I could not reconcile the pervasive presence of slave culture in Texas as found in primary sources such as diaries, letters, and newspapers, compared with the idealized and mythologized history of Texas presented by these early historians. The sanitized perception of Texas history from 1829-1865 still influences our modern understanding of the Lone Star State. My main research questions for this capstone, therefore, were to investigate how some of the early historians of Texas wrote about slavery, or not, and to address some of the influences these early historians may have had on modern Texas historiography. Among the challenges faced in this project was the fact that documentary evidence relating to slavery in Texas is scattered, limited, and often mediated. Contemporary historians were not as helpful as expected. Even so, this survey uncovered new information about slavery and Texas history, as well as topics deserving of further investigation.