Description
More than only a civil war, the Mexican Revolution in 1910 triggered hostilities along the border between Mexico and the US. In particular, the decade following the revolution saw a dramatic upward push within the lynching of ethnic Mexicans in Texas. This book argues that ethnic and racial tension brought on by the fighting within the borderland made Anglo-Texans feel justified of their violent actions against Mexicans. They were in a position to make use of the legal system to their advantage, and their actions incessantly went unpunished. Villanueva’s work further differentiates the borderland lynching of ethnic Mexicans from the Southern lynching of African Americans by asserting that the former was once about citizenship and sovereignty, as many sufferers’ families had resources to investigate the crimes and thereby place the incidents on an international stage.