Now if you want Hispanics you got to go to Texas Pardner. There are more flavors of Hispanics than you can shake a stick at.

One of the most fascinating flavors are the old line Tex Mex. You will find them scattered along the Gulf Coast from the Valley up to Galveston. Most have been in Texas longer than any of the Anglos and way longer than the waves of Texans that have arrived since the Second World War. Very few are fluent in Spanish and what Spanish they know is Castilian. This is because they learned it in school and all the teachers know is the Castillian that they learned in school. You see Spanish was extinguished as a language for people of their class back in the 20's and 30's. Very few work with their hands and those who do are usually owners of small businesses (resturaunts, air-conditoning shops and particularly auto-repair). Most are managerial types. Almost all are light skinned and they arrived in two waves. One group consists of the original settlers who arrived in Upper Texas in the 1920 and fought in the Texas Revolution on the winning side. About one quarter of those killed at the Alamo had Hispanic surnames and almost a third of those on the winning side at San Jacinto had Hispanic surnames. The border remained rather porous in both directions throughout the next century but marriage in this particular social group was closely guarded against dilution by the poor (and darker skinned). But it was ok to marry an Anglo as long as the kids were raised Catholic. The next notable influx of people into this group occured during the Mexican Revolution of 1911-1919. During that time there was a significant migration into Texas of middle-class Mexicans fleeing the imposition of socialism in Mexico. Although they were able to bring very little of their material goods with them they were reasonably educated and had significant business talent. This group intermarried with the old originial settlers.

This group originated the Tex Mex style of cooking that is generally identified with Texas (and paradoxically Mexico) in the resturants they owned. Some of the members of this group became rather wealthy. Their sons go to St. Thomas and Strake in Houston, Dallas Jesuit, Fort Worth Nolan and Central Catholic in San Antonio. They tend to be clannish but once you are accepted by the community they are an awesome group to hang out with.

There are about four other Hispanic communities in Texas but those are stories for another day.