Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools (CHAPS) Recordings

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  The Legacy of the Underground Railroad in Texas - The Webber and Jackson Families of Hidalgo County

  The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS)

  While most of the pathways of the Underground Railroad to lead north into Canada, there was also movement along pathways through Texas and into Mexico. Lured by the fact that slavery was abolished in Mexico, enslaved peoples were able to achieve freedom by traversing Texas, slipping over the Rio Grande, and settling in colonies throughout northern Mexico. As Mexico had abolished slavery, the path to freedom for many African Americans was through Texas. With the re-enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act, the Dred Scott Decision, and anti-miscegenation laws, families of mixed races felt the crescendo of animosity and hate throughout the southern states. This film tells the unique story of two bi-racial families, the Webbers and the Jacksons, who migrated to the newly established natural and international border and established their identity through immediate assimilation into Tejano culture. The unique characters within these mixed race families sought a new beginning as frontier pioneers along the natural border known as the Rio Grande. Both families were led by white men, John Webber and Nathaniel Jackson, and their strong, determined, and brave African American wives, Silvia Hector Webber and Matilda Hicks Jackson respectively. The willingness of these families to help those in need speaks largely to the current regional cultural legacy of helping others. These families displayed a strong commitment to underserved populations because they were welcoming and willing to assist others. Their participation in what we refer to as Underground Railroad-like activity is what puts these families on the national and international map. Today's descendants of the Jackson and Webber families have been instrumental to this research. We would like to thank each and every one of them who have assisted in this process along the way.

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  Rio Grande Valley in the time of a Pandemic: Community Responses to COVID-19

  The CHAPS (Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools) Program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley teaches a university level (undergraduate/graduate) course each fall semester titled "Discovering the Rio Grande Valley" and is proud to present our student-led research during UTRGV's FESTIBA week. This presentation will showcase UTRGV's CHAPS Program’s ongoing research. For the tenth year, the CHAPS Program class "Discovering the Rio Grande Valley" has recorded the history of the Rio Grande Valley’s Farming families but shifted focus this year (Fall 2020) to conduct extensive research into all aspects of how the coronavirus has affected our immediate population in real time. Topics include Front-line Medical Workers/First Responders/Underlying Medical Conditions, Medical Migration/Immigration, Education, Community Business/Restaurants, Sports/Entertainment/Religion, and Voting/Poll Workers. This presentation details the findings of this project in anticipation of the publication of the final report later this year.

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  Ancient Landscapes of South Texas - Early Archaic Period

  Early Archaic Period – 6500 BCE – 2500 BCE

  By 8500 years ago global climate generally became warmer and dryer approximating that generally known today. In these increasingly arid conditions Native Peoples fished, gathered edible plants and nuts, and hunted smaller modern game like antelope and deer with projectiles bearing Abasolo, Hidalgo, and Lerma points.

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  Ancient Landscapes of South Texas - Historic Period

  Historic and Prehistoric Periods – 700-1850 CE

  Fourteen hundred years ago bow and arrow technology appears in South Texas. About the same time warmer and wetter weather led to the spread of bison southward to the Nueces drainage for several hundred years. The onset of the Little Ice Age around AD 1300 the cooling and drying environment encouraged the bison population to move back to the northern grassland prairies. The resident human population returned to their earlier subsistence regime. A wide variety of arrowheads characterize this period. After the establishment of Nuevo Santander in the middle of the eighteenth century these stone points were joined by points made of glass and iron.

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  Ancient Landscapes of South Texas - Late Archaic Period

  Late Archaic – 1000 BCE – 300 BCE

  Hunting and gathering traditions developed over the previous five millennia continue in the interior of South Texas in savanna grasslands and adjacent riparian zones. Those living along the Texas coast focused their dietary regimen on resources associated with the bays, lagoons, barrier islands, and nearby prairie environments. Stemmed Marcos and triangular Matamoros points are associated with this period.

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  Ancient Landscapes of South Texas - Late Prehistoric Period

  Historic and Late Prehistoric – 700-1850 CE

  Fourteen hundred years ago bow and arrow technology appears in South Texas. About the same time warmer and wetter weather led to the spread of bison southward to the Nueces drainage for several hundred years. The onset of the Little Ice Age around AD 1300 the cooling and drying environment encouraged the bison population to move back to the northern grassland prairies. The resident human population returned to their earlier subsistence regime. A wide variety of arrowheads characterize this period. After the establishment of Nuevo Santander in the middle of the eighteenth century these stone points were joined by points made of glass and iron.

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  Ancient Landscapes of South Texas - Middle Archaic Period

  Middle Archaic – 2500 BCE – 1000 BCE

  During the Middle Archaic population increases and evidence for increasing social complexity and territoriality reflected by the presence of cemeteries containing grave goods obtained from long-distance trade. Nonetheless, the low density of resources associated with South Texas probably resulted in higher group mobility. Pedernales and Refugio points are associate with this era.

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  Ancient Landscapes of South Texas - Paleo Indian Period

  Paleo-Indian Period– 9200 BCE – 6500 BCE

  Currently the earliest evidence for human habitation of South Texas dates from about 11,000 years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch [2,588,000-11,000 years ago] more commonly known as the last Ice Age. In this era South Texas was wetter and cooler. Hunters armed with spears and spear-throwers [atlatls] tipped with Folsom, Golondrina, and other points were attracted to these grasslands where mammoths, bison, camel, sloth, horse, deer, and smaller mammals thrived.

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  Ancient Landscapes of South Texas - Transitional Archaic Period

  Transitional Archaic Period– 300 BCE – 700 CE

  A continuation of Late Archaic lifeways the Native Peoples of South Texas were armed with Ensor, Edgewood, and Darl points.

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  A Letter From Roma: African American Soldiers on the Rio Grande 1864-1867

  The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS)

  During the US Civil War, US Colored Troop regiments were stationed along the international border between the United States and Mexico. Arriving toward the end of the conflict along the Rio Grande in 1864, US Colored Troops not only played a part in the last land battle of the US Civil War at Palmito Ranch outside of Brownsville, Texas on May 12-13, 1865, but their regiments remained in the region once the war was over during ‘Reconstruction’ with the specific purpose of rebuilding or reconstructing the US Military forts along the river such as Fort Brown in Brownsville, Ringgold Barracks in Rio Grande City/Roma and Fort McIntosh in Laredo to name a few. A letter from Roma, Texas, written by Sgt. Major Thomas Boswell from the 116th US Colored Infantry was sent to tell his family in Kentucky and described what life was like for them in the village of Roma. The troops of the US Colored Infantry fought the closing battles of the Civil War along the Texas Mexico border and later protected that boundary line against lawlessness. Some of these soldiers remained in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and married into the local culture. The presence of the US Colored Infantry helped build and define our South Texas spirit.

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  And Then The Soldiers Were Gone: Fort Ringgold and Rio Grande City

  The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS)

  And Then The Soldiers Were Gone” is about the military base at Fort Ringgold that was established before the Civil War to protect the people of South Texas. It served as a military base for many years, until the 1940s, when the fort closed and the soldiers left Rio Grande City. The question that circulated within the city was what to do with the vacant base. Friction arose between those who wanted it to be a tuberculosis hospital and others who wanted it to be used as a center for education. Eventually, in 1949, the Rio Grande City Consolidated School District bought Fort Ringgold and it served as a school for decades for all students to attend. However, the divide between the people of Rio Grande City lingered. Then, in 2010, a project to research Fort Ringgold was created under then University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools (CHAPS). And in 2016, the idea for the documentary was born. It has earned spots in several film festivals and won awards such as The Award of Excellence in Research from the WRPN Short, Tight and Loose film Global Film Festival in 2018 and was a finalist: Best Domestic Feature, Documentary in the Fort Worth Indie Film Festival in 2018 and finalist: Best in Show, Documentary in the 2018 CARE Awards.

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  Cotton Times: The Rio Grande Valley Civil War Trail

  The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools Program (CHAPS)

  The Rio Grande Valley of Texas played an important role in global economic trade during the US Civil War. Once the Rio Grande became the natural and international border between the US and Mexico at the end of the Mexican American War in 1848, it became an international waterway and therefore neutral territory during the US Civil War in 1861 – 1865. When President Lincoln put his blockade on the Confederacy, the only way Texans and people from states such as Louisiana and Arkansas could get their cotton to market was to take their cotton across the Rio Grande into Mexico and take their bales of cotton down the river either by steamboat or by wagon to Bagdad at the mouth of the river where ships from all over the world were waited to purchase this cotton. Citizens of the region viewed these times as “Los Algodones” or “Cotton Times.” Not only did this trade allowed the Confederacy to continue funding its operations but several regional merchants were able to get rich from this trade.

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  Just a Ferry Ride to Freedom

  This film showcases stories about the Texas-Mexico border and its connection to the Underground Railroad. Rooted in pre-Civil War Texas along the Rio Grande between the emerging cities of Laredo and Brownsville, this film highlights mixed-race ranches in Hidalgo County and illustrates how culturally diverse the Rio Grande Valley really is. Lifeways developed during that time still influence life along the border and across the US today. Featured in the film are community leaders, ranchers, scholars, and historians who find out how a just a ferry ride across the border to freedom altered the course of US history.