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Model Final Exam answers 2018 Complete Research Report Index to Sample Research Reports |
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Ambrosia Alderete
Tejano Women: Musical Culture and Literature of
the Hidden Minority
During my childhood, my culture was not visible in
mainstream society. As a young Tejana I did not have any media or literature
that I felt reflected my own experience or culture. American media and
literature presented me with “All American Girls”, protagonists in my favorite
books had pale skin, colored eyes, and bathrooms all to themselves. Yet Mexican
culture was saturated in the unknown: a language I could hardly understand, let
alone speak, and traditions that my family had not acknowledged for generations.
Similar to Mexican Americans experiencing the awkward in between of identifying
with both minority and immigrants, Tejanos often find themselves living on the
outside of two different groups, not embraced by the Americans (even though they
have lived in the country before its birth) because of their racial identity
linking them to Mexico, yet not accepted by their cousins across the border
because many Tejanos have experienced acculturation in that they have adopted so
much of the southern American heritage that they have grown a whole other
culture within themselves. For this reason, I am incredibly thankful for female
authors and artists who have unveiled Tejano culture to the world and giving the
hidden minority a voice.
The hidden minority of the
Hispanic settlers of Texas has existed even before Texas’ relationship with
American began.
When Mexico began settling
what is now Texas the mixing of dozens of people groups began to separate the
Latin settlers, merging them with the cultures of Germany, Poland, Ireland and
many more European countries. Tejanos are a people group descended from
those Mexican settlers of Tejas (a native name for the future nation and
state) that included not only native Mexicans, and Hispanicized Anglo settlers,
but Native Americans and mestizos as well, whose lineage now simply identify as
Tejano—those Latinos whose Texans roots trace backward three or more
generations within the state. Tejanos were mostly working class, agricultural
people living on ranchos or travelling from farm to farm as migrants who
would work the land for its owner. The mixing of immigrant and minority culture
resulted in a society of in between. Many Tejanos speak a Texan
influenced version of Spanish and English (which many Mexicans jokingly refer to
an "American Spanish"), or no Spanish at all. The "Mexican" on this side of the
border has been chnaged by switching a few european American ingredients over
traditional Mexican ones, resulting in food that has been “Americanized” known
as Tex-Mex, which includes: breakfast tacos, yellow chile con queso, and
enchiladas, and the traditional serving of salsa and tortilla chips in
restaurants. The Tejano minority hides because it sits just outside the Mexican
and American cultures too different to blend in but too similar to tilt toward
one side or the other.
The
history of composed literature within the hidden minority begins with that music
possessing Mexican roots and Anglo influence. Because most of the Tejano
people lived primarily agriculturally focused lives, written literature did not
develop until a few generations had passed. While many non-Latinos have seen and
heard the colorful, fun, boisterous musical stylings of Mexican mariachis, the
lesser known American counterpart called Tejano has had little time in the
spotlight. Polka, zydeco, country music, the cowboy culture and many other Anglo
characteristics influenced Tejano music over the years to the point where it has
a distinct sound far different from traditional Mexican genres.
The first literature of the people began as
corridos,
or
ballads that sang of life in Mexico or Texas: of love, of hardships, and
of the Latino experience.
Bandas
or
orquestas
would sing them in string instrument groups very similar to the mariachi bands
of Mexico. The musical storytelling became the language by which the Tejano
experience was recorded and identified with within the culture.
This
musical literature lingered primarily within the community of Tejanos
sung at parties and weddings, or other celebratory events and parties, however
there was no face or fame to the music for young Tejanas to look up to—
that is until Lydia Mendoza debuted. The descendant of a migrant family,
daughter of a mechanic, Mendoza grew up crossing and
re-crossing
the border repeatedly for her father's work. Ms. Mendoza's voice was discovered
by one of the first Mexican-American radio shows while she was touring as a band
with her family. Her recording of the song "Mal Hombre", received immediate
success and Mendoza skyrocketed to fame in the early 1930's. She became the very
first
Tejana
to rise to major fame in both north and south America (although only within the
Hispanic community). She sang emotional ballads about love and loss,
becoming the face of Texan Americans in the
Latino
world. Fans called her the "Lark of the Border" and the "Singer of the Poor",
for her singular style of using the vernacular of the working class, naturally,
not highly trained or theatrically. Mendoza herself remarked that fans enjoyed
the ways she "lived the music". She also sang of the troubles many Tejanos
experienced. For example, her song "Las Cuatro
Milpas"
is
a somber ballad of land and home taken away by an entity never named, however it
was common at the time for Tejanos to have lost land and possessions to
Anglos who arbitrarily decided they had no right to them, despite Tejanos
properly settling in Texas just as they had. Even my own family lost half our
acreage in ranch land due to heavy and violent prejudice of Anglos who wanted
the area for themselves. It was these people, the settlers who did not belong on
either side of the border, that Mendoza and her fame represented.
Selena Quintanilla was another female Latina icon who
dominated both Latin American and North American charts23 in the 1990’s, her
lyrics and drive opened up the Latin and Tejano world to the public eye. She has
been heralded as “The Queen of Tejano Music”, a singer whose reign was cut short
when the president of her fan club murdered her in cold blood. Her tragic death
secured Selena in the hearts of Tejanos and Mexican Americans alike and to this
day we celebrate her identity and mourn her death. A pioneer in the music
industry for Latin artists, Selena was one of the first Latina artists to
crossover from international to American charts with immense popularity. Selena
was a member of a hidden minority (Tejano) who was celebrated for not only her
music but her confidence in herself and embracing her native culture. Her
posthumous popularity is so strong, it created a near revolution of celebration
for her life that author Deborah Paredez in her biography coined a word for the
explosion in support: “Selenidad”.
In fact, that to this day her statue in Corpus Cristi, Texas is visited by fans
from all over the country, and the town holds an annual festival in celebration
of her life. Even the governor at the time, George W. Bush, recognized her
birthday as a state-wide holiday. “Anything for Selenas” has become the tagline
of her fan base, and young Tejana girls such as myself would look up to her and
realize that though minority identity can be confusing, the confusion does not
need to stop you from celebrating your culture and being proud of the
differences that make your cultural heritage unique.
As a Tejana artist, Quintanilla’s lyrics and image
reflected the blend between American culture and Mexican descent. Although she
did not learn Spanish until she began singing with her family’s band, Selena
sang in both English and Spanish and eventually became proficient, although not
perfectly fluent. Even so, when her success overflowed into mainstream American
popularity, she continued to be vocal and proud of her history and culture. She
toured many border towns and even parts of Mexico as her popularity began to
climb and although her Spanish was not perfect, Quintanilla was embrace by
Mexican, Hispanic American, and Tejano audiences alike. One of her most popular
songs, “Dreaming of You” beautifully blends Spanish and English in the way
Tejano culture mixes and melds Western and Mexican life. Her shows would flow
between “cumbia” (a Latin-American style of song and dance), Tejano, and disco
pop for all audiences to enjoy. While most of her songs are love songs and
ballads, within the lyrics of songs like “La Tracalera” and “God’s Child (Baila
Conmigo)”, songs about wandering alone without others’ understanding reflect the
distance that is easy to feel when one feels as if they do not belong, much like
Tejanos do. However, with her stardom, charisma, and pride in her culture Selena
Quintanilla was able to turn away a bit of that solitude and bring Tejano
culture into the world’s eye.
Another strong Tejana voice in the realm of literature
is author Carmen Tofalla, an author and poet born in the Tejano culture hub of
San Antonio, Tofalla grew up in the barrio- a predominantly Latin district
within the city. Her work appears in over 200 anthologies and she has been
recognized by the Texas State Poet Laureate in acknowledgement of her literary
achievement over the years. Tofalla’s authorship in children’s literature has
been honored with and Americas Award and even been acknowledged by the Library
of Congress. Such success as a Tejana author, alongside her works offering a
look into the life of the culture.
Tofalla’s poem, “Both Sides of the Border” illustrates
perfectly what a gray area the hidden minority exists in. “Born… a lullaby
between Tex and Mex…” Tofalla describes the pride of Tejanos, to be “… free from
Mexico, not even bound by their laws” but mocking America’s lack of authority in
their lives as they, “sassily insisted on still saying ‘La Capital’…for Mexico
City”. She goes on to celebrate the rift between the two cultures of American
and Mexico that Tejanos preside in as she declares, “These places are mine,
these spaces are mine. These borders are mine. Both sides of the river.”
Tofalla’s poem identifies not only the identity of who Tejanos are but also the
freedom and the beauty that our culture represents. Not belonging to one
minority or another, a fluidity that passes through the river from Mexico to
America and back again, Tejano identity is unrestrained- separate but content in
the freedom it brings.
The fluidity of this hidden minority, I have learned, is
not a limitation—although it had seemed that way before, it is a freedom. The
delineated separation does not restrict members of the minority to one side or
the other but gives them the ability to freely dance between both worlds.
However, it is still important for young children to have role models that they
can identify with and look up to, that is why Tejano musical and written
literature needs to exist. Because of its existence, young girls can look up to
Lydia Mendoza, Selena Quintanilla, and Carmen Tofalla and see that they can
celebrate their identity withing the hidden minority rather than feel as if they
need to pick a side to gain success. These women drew the curtain on Tejanos
and their legacies continue to bring their culture to center stage for the world
to watch and learn from. Because these women were unafraid to proclaim
themselves and their history, many young girls today can follow their lead and
continue to show the world who Tejanos are, until the hidden minority is
hidden no more.
