Abstract

Excerpted From: Alán Díaz-Santana, Latinx Heritage Preservation: Challenges, Successes, and Solutions, 41 Chicana/o-Latina/o Law Review 31 (2025) (224 Footnotes) (Full Document).

Texas’ open secret is that before Texas was Texas, it was México. Yet, when you look around, the state’s Mexican history is hard to find. Mexican history in Texas is usually ignored, torn down, and eventually forgotten. Often, the history of Latinx people in the state writ large is glossed over and left out of the historical memory. The preservation of historic Latinx sites may serve to preserve historical memory and further Texans’ understanding of themselves. While there are significant challenges limiting the preservation of Latinx sites across the state, there also exist major opportunities for change. The author recognizes that the term Latinx encompasses multiple definitions. For purposes of this Comment, Latinx refers to people, or the descendants of people, who migrated from Latin America and are not Spanish.

This Comment is a case study that compares the destruction of one segregated “Mexican School,” the Roosevelt School, in Mission, Texas with the designation of another segregated “Mexican School,” the Blackwell School in Marfa, Texas, as a national historic site. It begins by exploring the federal and state legal underpinnings for historical preservation as well as government efforts to advance Latinx heritage preservation. Next, the Comment compares the unsuccessful campaign to stop the destruction of the Roosevelt School with the successful movement to preserve the Blackwell School. The Comment concludes by presenting federal and state legal and policy solutions to advance Latinx heritage preservation moving forward.

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Historic sites look different as one travels across the United States. Whether an important neighborhood in New Orleans, a segregated school in Texas, or the gathering place of the Boston Tea Party, each site preserves part of the United States’ unique social fabric and history. While the United States, and Texas specifically, have struggled to preserve much of their history, federal and state law present opportunities for Latinx heritage preservation to flourish. Moving away from the Spanish Black Legend, the National Park Services’ Latino Theme Study provides a strong framework to continue Latinx heritage preservation efforts nationwide. Texas’ own efforts have begun to place Latinx people on the map both literally and culturally.

Despite these successes, challenges abound legally and politically. As of early 2025, the Trump administration’s executive orders to end all funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs pose clear risks to Latinx heritage preservation. Emulating the Trump administration, Governor Abbott of Texas is also leading a similar crusade that threatens Latinx heritage preservation. Texas is now moving to extend the ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion to all methods of public education. While Latinx history was already underrepresented in Texas’ public school curriculum, these orders will render it nearly impossible to improve education about Latinx history and preservation of Latinx heritage across the state for the foreseeable future.

These government actions jeopardize the preservation of cultures belonging to marginalized communities beyond Latinx Americans. Shortly after taking office, the Trump administration removed all references to transgender people from federal government websites, including at Stonewall National Monument, a gay bar in New York that was critical to the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. While deleting information from a website will not erase the contributions of transgender Americans, it cruelly omits major cultural figures and milestones from the nation’s official narrative.

The legal and political challenges that affect Latinx heritage preservation warrant modifications to federal and Texas law. Achieving this progress will involve a sizable effort and, given the current composition of the United States and Texas legislatures, might require a long-term project that extends beyond the current administration. However, as evidenced by the divergent paths of the Roosevelt and Blackwell Schools, greater public awareness about available government programs is one effective measure to ensure Latinx heritage preservation over time. Greater efforts to educate both the public and local officials will provide for better outcomes not just for Latinx heritage preservation, but for cultural preservation writ large.

Alán Díaz-Santana, B.A. 2018, Yale University; J.D. Candidate, Tulane University Law School Class of 2025; Diversity & Articles Editor, Tulane Law Review, Vol. 99