President Donald Trump\u2019s pressure<\/a> to get Smithsonian museums in Washington to put less emphasis on slavery and other darker parts of America’s past. <\/p>\nThe Alamo, known as \u201cthe Shrine of Texas Liberty,\u201d draws more than 1.6 million visitors a year. The trust operates it under a contract with the Texas General Land Office, and the state plans to spend $400 million on a renovation with a new museum and visitor center set to open in 2027. Patrick presides over the Texas Senate. <\/p>\n
In San Antonio, Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai, the county’s elected top administrator, decried Patrick’s \u201cgross political interference.\u201d<\/p>\n
“We need to get politics out of our teaching of history. Period,\u201d he said in a statement Friday. <\/p>\n
In the excerpt from her paper, Rogers noted the Texas Legislature’s \u201cconservative agenda” in 2023, including bills to limit what could be taught about race and slavery in history courses. <\/p>\n
\u201cPhilosophically, I do not believe it is the role of politicians to determine what professional educators can or should teach in the classroom,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n
Her paper also mentioned a 2021 book, \u201cForget the Alamo,\u201d which challenges traditional historical narratives surrounding the 13-day siege of the Alamo during Texas’ fight for independence from Mexico in 1836. <\/p>\n
Rogers noted that the book argues that a central cause of the war was Anglo settlers’ determination to keep slaves in bondage after Mexico largely abolished it. Texas won the war and was an independent republic until the U.S. annexed it in 1845. <\/p>\n
Rogers also wrote that a city advisory council wanted to tell the site’s \u201cfull story,\u201d including its history as a home to Indigenous people \u2014 something the state’s Republican leaders oppose. She said she would love the Alamo to be \u201ca place that brings people together versus tearing them apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut,\u201d she added, \u201cpolitically that may not be possible at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Traditional narratives obscure the role slavery might have played in Texas’ drive for independence and portray the Alamo’s defenders as freedom fighters. Patrick’s letter called the siege “13 Days of Glory.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mexican Army attacked and overran the Texas defenses. But \u201cRemember the Alamo\u201d became a rallying cry for Texas forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must ensure that future generations never forget the sacrifice for freedom that was made,\u201d Patrick wrote in his letter to the trust\u2019s board. \u201cI will continue to defend the Alamo today against a rewrite of history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The CEO of the nonprofit managing the Alamo resigned after a powerful Republican state official criticized her publicly,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1864,145,13987,3025,287,82,84,83,1499,3317],"class_list":["post-20662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-dan-patrick","tag-donald-trump","tag-kate-rogers","tag-peter-sakai","tag-politics","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-u-s-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20662","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=20662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}