The Untold and Whitewashed History of San Antonio
We have seen from primary source documents, that the Battle of the Alamo was over slavery, that there were many slave plantations in the area, and that the struggle for civil rights was not as quiet as some researchers have laid out. Those whose economic interests were threatened developed shrewd ways to blunt desegregation and civil rights. Blacks in San Antonio were not quiet about fighting segregation, but were often sold out by the Black and Brown middle class that developed power by secretly meeting with white supremacists and obtaining small concessions either in the form of personal favors, jobs, money, and elevated to the status of eating with the business elite. There was no real desegregation in San Antonio at public schools as Mexican Americans were labeled “white” on birth certificates or given “honorary “white’ status so that Mexican Americans could be used to desegregate Black schools while leaving white schools segregated in San Antonio’s “Sundown Towns.”
These racist suburbs were Alamo Heights, Terrell Hills, Los Angeles Heights, Balcones Heights, Leon Valley, and other white supremacist strongholds where Blacks and Browns were not allowed to rent or buy in these areas. Contrary to the narratives of many white researchers, there were sharp contrasts of racial discrimination and there were many protests against city hall in the 1960s. Often, the local NAACP would try to fight in limited ways because they were controlled by Blacks that wanted to remain friendly with the white elite thus sacrificing the movement for middle class interests. When Blacks protested, the white elite would call the NAACP and set them up as the leaders of the community in order to tone down the aspirations of many. Handpicked leaders, chosen by the white business elite, were utilized to blunt the struggle for civil rights. Even though the NAACP demanded immediate desegregation in San Antonio, the city council and school districts used a “gradual” plot to make it appear that they, and they alone, were the ones to decide what was best for the Black community. There were ghettos here, contrary to popular belief. These ghettos were called “Courts.” The Wheatley Courts, the Carson Homes, the Sutton Homes, the Lincoln Courts, the Alazan-Apache Courts, the East Terrace Homes, and others. Even the names of these run-down housing units were sugar coated.
The white supremacist leadership of San Antonio determined which Black leaders they would negotiate with and excluded all others. Of course, they chose “leaders” they could manipulate and control in private. Downtown lunch counters were desegregated, Joske’s of Texas, Woolworth, Kress, and others, but it was done in such a way as to make it appear that whites did it all by themselves. To their credit, the NAACP spearheaded the protest, but were quickly outmaneuvered. Not a single NAACP representative was invited to participate in 1960. The method of excluding the more radical leadership was simply to empower a handful of leaders bought and sold by the white elite. Interestingly, though desegregation was accomplished, police terror was not. Any discussion of police abuse was ignored and in this setup white supremacy went unchallenged. Closed door negotiations were the established method of sabotaging more important changes, and to this day little has been done to reign in bad cops. They left that door closed. White and Black preachers were used to negotiate “closed door” methods of selling out for limited gains. There were better NAACP representatives such as Rev. Claude Black, G.J. Sutton, and others that refused the delaying and sabotaging plots of the city’s white fathers.
