If the first floor represents a high point of historical accuracy, the climb upstairs takes you somewhere else entirely. On the second floor, the story shifts. Here, Texas is glorified as the noble project of freedom-loving colonists who were practically saints — and while slavery is (very briefly) acknowledged, it’s treated as little more than a historical footnote.
We learn about the “Father of Texas,” Stephen F. Austin, and other colonists who settled in Texas in the 1820s. The fact that they owned slaves, a major reason for their decision to revolt against Mexico, was only barely alluded to.
The closest you get to the S-word is a display about the beginnings of the colonists’ discontent with the Mexican government.
“While they envisioned a Texas that functioned and prospered like the American South, they were content to do so as Mexican citizens,” a display read. “Frustrated with their lack of representation in the Mexican government, they proposed Texas become a separate state in Mexico.”
As I got closer to the Texas Revolution I was informed that “men like (former Texas governor) Sam Houston and (Alamo commander) William Travis were independent minded and impatient with Mexico’s inability to provide adequate resources and defense of the Texas frontier.” (Presumably from Indigenous peoples who weren’t happy that they were there.)
It went on: “They wanted Texas to separate from Coahuila and then move toward complete independence.”
As I said, slavery was briefly acknowledged. In another placard about daily life in Texas, I was told that “many colonists still saw themselves as Americans, and were determined to build a slave-based farming economy in Texas.” But we’re never told who the “many colonists” were. Did they include Austin? Houston? Travis? The museum is quiet on that subject.
Finally, we come to the Texas Revolution. The Texans, it said, wanted “more autonomy” away from the “centralist government” that was being formed by the government in Mexico (which had outlawed slavery, the museum didn’t point out).
As a result, “Texans, both Anglo and Tejano, feared their liberties, property, economy, and way of life would soon be threatened. They knew revolution was inevitable.”
There was no mention of what that “property” was. The museum portrays the six-month Texas rebellion that ended in 1836 as a fight for patriotism and freedom, while omitting the fact that the state’s new Constitution explicitly legalized slavery — seven years after Mexico had abolished it.
The fact that Texans fought largely to preserve slavery was not just downplayed — it was essentially left out, even though it was a main cause of the rebellion. The museum treated the subject like an alcoholic family member who couldn’t make it to Thanksgiving (best not discussed around the dinner table).