25 Texans in the Land of Lincoln

In 2016, a group of 25 students from Professor Teresa Van Hoy’s Public History class at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio—most of them Mexican-American—traveled from the site of the Alamo to the Illinois State Military Museum in Springfield, IL. Their purpose was to view the museum’s exhibit of the prosthetic leg of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, who had taken the Alamo and executed its defenders in 1836, and present a request for its return to Mexico. Santa Anna, who served repeatedly as president of Mexico between 1833 and 1855, had his left leg amputated after being injured in battle against the French in 1838, and abandoned the prosthesis during the Mexican-American War in 1847. It was subsequently claimed by an Illinois regiment and toured the U.S. before finding a permanent home in Springfield. Filmmaker Ellen Brodsky’s short documentary chronicles the students’ 2,000 mile journey to the Illinois capital, which began with a visit to the Alamo and concluded with a viewing of the artifact. Excerpts from classroom discussions preceding the trip on subjects including then-congressman Abraham Lincoln’s condemnation of the invasion of Mexico are accompanied by illustrative materials, as well as footage of a public ceremony in Springfield at which the class honored Lincoln for his honest appraisal of U.S. motives behind the seizure of Mexican territory. Brodsky’s film is an excellent history lesson that also provides a fine model of how the subject can be taught in a fashion that engages and inspires students. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)