“IMITATING THE EXAMPLE OF OUR FOREFATHERS:" THE TEXAS REVOLUTION and the Memory of 1776 with Sam W. Haynes seeks to shed light on a question that has long preoccupied historians of the state: what were the motives of those who took up arms against Mexico during the Revolution? In deciding upon a course of action, Haynes argues, Anglo-Texans looked to the past, drawing upon their memories of the “Spirit of 1776” to make sense of the political crisis with Mexico City and as a template for revolutionary action.
Sam W. Haynes is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he also serves as the director of the Center for Greater Southwestern Studies. He is the author of four books and several edited works on the United States and Texas. His most recent work, Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, the Struggle for Texas (Basic Books, 2022), won several book prizes, including awards from the Texas State Historical Association, the Philosophical Society of Texas, and the Texas Institute of Letters, and was listed as one of the “Best Books of 2022” by the journal Foreign Affairs.
As director of UTA’s Center for Greater Southwestern Studies, Haynes also directs a major digital humanities project, “Texas in Turmoil: Mapping Interethnic Violence, 1821-1879.” Launched in the fall of 2025, the website maps and analyzes more than 3,000 sites of conflict among the many peoples of Texas, from Mexican independence to the end of the so-called “Indian Wars.”
This session of the History Under the Star lecture series will run from 5:00 to 6:00 and will be followed by a time for questions and answers, and a reception.
Cost: $5 per person/$3 for Museum members; students are free. Purchase your ticket today.