Some time later, remembering this incident and my shock and anger about how the history of the Alamo had been slighted, I came to realize that this experience, at my public school in Florida, was my first history lesson. Who writes the history? It matters.
I continue to enjoy reading some man’s history book, but the first lesson has never left my memory.
I was in fourth or fifth grade in the Public Schools in Fort Worth, Texas learning about Texas history, the Alamo. The history section on the Alamo lasted about three months. Disney in the late ‘50's also popularized this piece of history, the last stand with Jim Bowie, Davy Crocket and other frontier heroes captured in Disney form on film. The Disney film may have wetted my appetite for this Texas history. I remember reading and learning about the last days of the Alamo at school and enjoying every minute of it.
My step-father changed jobs when I was in the fifth or sixth grade and we moved from Fort Worth, Texas to Orlando, Florida. I remember feeling glad that we were moving at the time, maybe me having an opinion on the move was what was more important than anything else.
I started my new school in Orlando, Florida. At the new school part of the curriculum was Florida history and United States History. I remember patiently reading and hearing lectures about Florida history and feeling expectant as we approached the history of the Alamo. When the day came, the section of my history book discussed that covered the Alamo I was shocked to discover that the Alamo was only mentioned and not discussed at all!
I was twelve years old and I was mad, incensed! How could the Alamo be covered so superficially?!! How could this moment in U. S. History be swept aside with no more than a sentence or two! I complained to the teacher. What kind of history was he teaching I wanted to know?
As a result of my complaint I got a visit to the principal’s office with my parents. I don’t remember a single detail of that visit. I don’t remember what I thought at the time about these events, whether there was any resolution for me or not. I don’t remember what my parents said about this incident.
