{"id":19069,"date":"2025-10-24T10:26:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/19069\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T10:26:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:26:06","slug":"indigenous-peoples-day-post-revives-debate-over-how-the-alamos-history-should-be-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/19069\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous Peoples Day post revives debate over how the Alamo\u2019s history should be told"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy <\/a> , and give us feedback <\/a> . <\/p>\n

On the second Monday of October, the historic Alamo\u2019s official X account posted two messages: one wishing its followers a happy Columbus Day, and another recognizing\u00a0 Indigenous people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we honor Indigenous Peoples and their communities, recognizing their history at the Alamo,\u201d the second post read. \u201cOpening in 2027, the Alamo Visitor Center and Museum will feature an Indigenous Peoples Gallery, celebrating the bands, clans and tribes that shaped the region. #IndigenousPeoplesDay.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

By Tuesday morning, after a swift and aggressive rebuke by Republican Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, whose agency oversees the Alamo, only the Columbus Day post<\/a> remained up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is frankly unacceptable and it has been deleted,\u201d Buckingham said about<\/a> the Alamo\u2019s Indigenous Peoples Day post. \u201cWoke has no place at the Alamo.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scrap was the latest in an enduring dispute <\/a>\u00a0over how the history of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution should be told<\/a>. Republican state leaders have largely insisted that the story of the site be narrowly focused on the 13-day siege and legendary 1836 Battle of the Alamo, rejecting broader narratives<\/a> that address the Indigenous people of the area and consider the role slavery played in the fight for Texas independence.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called for the resignation<\/a> of Kate Rogers \u2014 the president of the Alamo Trust, which manages the site \u2014 <\/a>for views she expressed in a 2023 doctoral dissertation that he called at odds with Republican state leaders\u2019 desire to foreground the 1836 battle. It was not immediately clear if Rogers would resign.<\/p>\n

Buckingham followed up her social media post with a searing letter<\/a> to the Alamo Trust decrying a \u201cblatant disregard of the battle-centric focus of The Alamo\u201d at the organization. She also criticized a proposed \u201cland acknowledgement\u201d plaque and a draft script of historical descriptions to be displayed in the new Alamo museum, which she said included the word \u201cliberty\u201d only 13 times, and \u201cslavery\u201d and \u201censlaved\u201d a combined 70 times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis speaks to a pattern of behavior that is completely misaligned with the priorities of my office, and the vast majority of Texans who care so deeply about our Shrine of Liberty,\u201d Buckingham said in the letter, in which she also demanded greater oversight of the Alamo\u2019s public communications. \u201cWe owe it to all Texans, including future generations, to preserve, protect and defend our proud Texas history, without succumbing to the pitfalls of modern ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n

The script for the $185 million<\/a> Alamo Visitor Center and Museum<\/a> was still in its early phases, and the plaque text was merely a placeholder, according to a person who has been involved in the redevelopment of the Alamo for several years, and who asked not to be named due to fears of retribution from state leaders.<\/p>\n

Asked what specifically was objectionable about the Alamo\u2019s Indigenous Peoples Day post \u2014 a version of which the account has posted<\/a> in previous years<\/a> to little controversy \u2014 the General Land Office pointed to her letter, which cited President Donald Trump\u2019s proclamation declaring<\/a> the second Monday of October Columbus Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former President Joe Biden was the first president to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day on the same day as Columbus Day in 2021. But this year, Trump issued a proclamation<\/a> to \u201creclaim<\/a>\u201d Christopher Columbus\u2019 legacy, posting on social media that he would bring Columbus Day \u201cback from the ashes<\/a>.\u201d Buckingham\u2019s response came after conservative commentator Michael Quinn Sullivan highlighted the Alamo\u2019s post<\/a>, saying, \u201cWho thought this was a good idea?\u201d<\/p>\n

Former San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, a Democrat, called Buckingham\u2019s response a \u201csilly overreaction to this idea that understanding and acknowledging complex history\u201d is somehow \u201cwoke.\u201d<\/p>\n

The political environment has \u201cjust gotten stupider as the day goes by,\u201d Nirenberg, who was involved in the Alamo redevelopment project as mayor from 2017 to June 2025, said in an interview. \u201cIndigenous people were part of the foundation of our state, and certainly of the grounds of the Alamo. Indigenous people are part of the history and present.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to Buckingham\u2019s letter, the Alamo Trust\u2019s Board of Directors quickly apologized and said that it had \u201ctaken immediate action in terms of personnel and also instituted new monitoring systems and approval processes\u201d for its public communications.<\/p>\n

The post \u201cdid not align with the expectations and standards of the Texas General Land Office nor the proud history of our state\u2019s most beloved historic site,\u201d the board said in a statement, adding that it shared Buckingham\u2019s \u201ccommitment to ensuring that every step we take at The Alamo and every project we move forward exudes the patriotism and heroism that are integral to the story of the Shrine of Texas Liberty and our courageous and exceptional state.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, the GLO said it received the Trust\u2019s response and was \u201cdiscussing the next steps in social media processes and content oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n

In developing the Alamo Plan to restore and expand the site, the GLO, Bexar County and City of San Antonio agreed to a set of \u201cguiding principles<\/a>\u201d in 2015 that include telling \u201cthe entire history of the Alamo area\u201d and embracing \u201cthe continuum of history to foster understanding and healing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe General Land Office has been involved in this process from the very beginning,\u201d Ram\u00f3n V\u00e1squez, executive director of the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions, said about Buckingham\u2019s reaction to the social media post. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense to me that all of a sudden, it\u2019s a surprise\u201d that the Alamo would mention Indigenous people.<\/p>\n

The new museum, which is slated to open in 2027, is set to feature a gallery<\/a> that will \u201cuncover the lives of the Indigenous peoples who first settled around the San Antonio River thousands of years ago.\u201d The museum will also include seven other galleries tracing the history of the Alamo from its Indigenous context through the Battle of the Alamo and its legacy in Texas and the broader United States.<\/p>\n

V\u00e1squez, a member of the Alamo Citizens\u2019 Advisory Committee since 2014, said he read Buckingham\u2019s letter as a \u201cthreat\u201d to the galleries. He argued that it would be \u201cunacceptable\u201d to present a narrative of the site based solely on the 13-day siege and battle, without covering the area\u2019s longer history.<\/p>\n

The GLO said in an email to the Texas Tribune that the museum will be \u201cbattle-centric\u201d while setting the Alamo \u201cin the context of time from Native American presence at the site, to how the Alamo continues to influence Texas culture today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The GLO noted that the Battle of the Alamo gallery will be the museum\u2019s \u201clargest exhibit,\u201d and that a 4D theater serving as the museum\u2019s centerpiece will \u201cplace visitors in the middle of the battle for Texas independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political battles over the Alamo have haunted land commissioners of the past, including Buckingham\u2019s predecessor, George P. Bush. Bush\u2019s handling of the redevelopment faced criticism from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick<\/a> and other Republicans, and tension over the project<\/a> persisted through his unsuccessful Republican bid<\/a> for attorney general against incumbent Ken Paxton in 2022.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a bill<\/a> transferring oversight of the Alamo from the GLO to a commission consisting of the governor, lieutenant governor, House speaker and two lawmakers. The bill goes<\/a> into effect in 2027.<\/p>\n

Nirenberg argued that the role of state and local officials should be to act as stewards of the redevelopment, including by ensuring the guiding principles are followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to make sure that it was as free from the winds of politics as possible, and that\u2019s easier said than done given the fact this is part of the core identity of being a Texan,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to keep the wackiness of today\u2019s politics away from the execution of this plan, and this post and unpost nonsense just tells me that that work needs to continue with focus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy , and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1483,4556,14609,287,82,84,83,1564,293,6473],"class_list":{"0":"post-19069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-alamo","9":"tag-dawn-buckingham","10":"tag-general-land-office","11":"tag-politics","12":"tag-san-antonio","13":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","14":"tag-san-antonio-news","15":"tag-state-government","16":"tag-texas-legislature","17":"tag-well-a-homepage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}