Borderlands and the Mexican American Story

*Trigger warning for this episode at book, as we do discuss briefly some of the traumatic experiences that are written about in the book.

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In this weeks episode, Jessica Fowler speaks with Dr. David Dorado Romo about his book Borderlands and the Mexican American Story. We discussed a lot in this episode about stories that are often not taught about Mexican American History, why it is important to know for ourself, to teach about it, how it can be related to mental health and intergenerational trauma.

Highlights include:

4:16 Dr. Romo shares why he wrote this book, including for himself as he was taught very little about his own history in school.  

7:03 We discuss the bath riots.

18:53 Institutionalized racism. 

20:37 Examples of young people protesting.

28:36 The importance of younger people knowing these stories.

30:05 Who this book is for and why.

32:44 Discussing why these stories are not told.

About the author:

David Dorado Romo, is an author, historian and musician with a Ph.D. in Borderlands History. He is the author of the award-winning Ringside Seat to a Revolution: An Underground Cultural History of El Paso and Juárez, 1893-1923 (Cinco Puntos Press, 2005) and Borderlands and the Mexican American Story (Penguin Random House, 2024), which was recently placed on the list of Best Books of 2024 by Kirkus Review and the School Library Journal. His historical essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Texas Monthly, Texas Observer, and Mexico’s City’s Nexus. Borderlands and the Mexican American Story is his first non-fiction book aimed at middle and high school students.  David is a curator and co-director of the Museo Urbano, a public history project based in El Paso that exhibited “Uncaged Art,” a 2018 exhibit the featured the artwork of migrant children interned at a detention center in Tornillo, Texas.