Grant helps spread forgotten history of racial violence against Mexican Americans

An exhibit documenting violence against and killings of Mexican Americans and Mexicans has won a national grant that will be used to spread knowledge about an overlooked part of American history.

The bilingual exhibit, titled “Life and Death on the Border, 1910-20,” by the Refusing to Forget project, recounts a decade of state-sanctioned racial violence and terrorism that occurred largely on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1900s.

The decade was marked by numerous executions, lynchings and other killings of innocent people. Some people were robbed of their land, and families were driven from their homes. There were deadly raids on communities, as well as illegal detentions.

The exhibit relies on state-held documents, photos and even a graphic postcard to tell and support the story of the violence, which was committed largely by the Texas Rangers — a state police force — and local law enforcement.