The Mexican Revolution during the 1910s: Transforming the Tejano Community

The following image captures a group of Mexicans in 1914 marching toward the American border to flee the revolution that raged across Mexico during the 1910s. During the 1910s, Mexican refugees like the ones captured in the Bownds' photograph flooded into Texas, with the number of immigrants living in Texas increasing from approximately 125,000 to 251,000. The Mexican American population in Texas experienced a sudden and dramatic change, that would not only alter the Tejano community's demographic composition, but also provide a new slate of rhetoric, ideas, and culture for Tejanos to engage with. The arrival of new refugees, therefore, provided a watershed moment for Tejanos, who began to reevaluate their position within American society and look for new ways to develop institutional change for their communities.