Alamo visit

The Alamo today as a historic site provides information on how life was for the people living in the Alamo. The Alamo walls are lined up and down with exhibits and paintings. In the barracks there is a time line showing the history of the Alamo. Outside the church there is a new wall exhibit showing a timeline of the Texas revolution.

The majority of the data is clearly in favor of the Anglo setters and their life styles, often detailing how they wanted to be free of Mexican rule. There are exhibits of Anglo common life things such as cloth, currency, crafted items, and eating tools. There are also larger exhibits for special items such as a collection of Bowie knives and the rifle of Commander William B Travis.

There is a much smaller amount of Mexican related exhibits and often depict Santa Anna as a “Take no prisoners” dictator. These exhibits are military related showing the specific swords and rifles that the Mexican army used and the uniforms they wore. I sensed the bias against Mexico but I could not ignore it when I saw one exhibit titled “Mexican Army Retreat Route” showing a map of the path the Mexican army would use to run away.

The Alamo gives you the information on its history, but it is definitely not the complete story. It is often left out that another reason Texans wanted to be self governed is because Mexico declared slavery inhumane and Texans wanted to keep their slaves. It is also looked over that Santa Anna let all the women and children of the Alamo leave before he engaged battle with the soldiers who stayed. Don’t feel bad if you find you can’t remember the Alamo, nobody else does either.