Texas Border Business
EDINBURG, TX — The Museum of South Texas History will host the Sunday Speaker Series Online presentation, “The Mexica (Aztecs): A Brief, But Startling, Glimpse of The Future,” featuring Gilberto Reyes Jr. at 2 p.m. on Aug. 29 on Facebook Live.
This presentation is the first of a two-part lecture series titled “And the Giants Did Not Fall Down: Reflections on the Quincentenario of the Spanish Conquest of México.” The presentation will explore the concept of identity—an easy word to define, but often a difficult one to understand. In this presentation, Reyes will offer an hourlong glimpse into the term “Mexican American” so as to understand better this part of the multicultural crescendo that is U.S. history.
Reyes ended a 24-year career as associate professor of history at South Texas College (STC) in May 2021. During that time, Reyes represented STC as a member of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board committee that created the Mexican American Studies Program curriculum the state’s community colleges offer to students. He subsequently created and headed the MAS program at STC. He has presented scholarly papers on the mestizo nature of Valley culture at conferences in New Mexico, Texas, Montréal, Canada and Rome, Italy. He also gave a lecture on environmental justice in the Rio Grande Valley to students from Bowdoin College in Maine. Reyes co-founded the South Texas Faculty Association workers’ union at STC. Over the course of his career, Reyes taught U.S., Mexican American, world, and Texas history courses. Reyes lives in McAllen with his son, the fifth generation of his family to be born in, or as others call it, the Lower Río Grande Valley home.
Sunday Speaker Series Online can be found at www.facebook.com/mosthistory/live or on the museum’s website at mosthistory.org/sunday-speaker-series-online. This program is made possible with generous support from the Carmen C. Guerra Endowment. Mrs. Guerra was deeply committed to supporting educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley. This named endowment was created at the museum by her family to honor her memory and to continue her commitment to providing opportunities for education to the community.
