Who tells the story - The Role of Ideology in History

For the last couple of days I have been in Puebla, Mexico with my wife and some friends. We spent a good deal of time planning two events that will take place in 2006 but we also had the chance to see the African Safari in Puebla (AFRICAM) and to see Fort Loreto which is a national historical museum of the battle of Cinco de Mayo. The battle is one of important myth in Mexican society. The young general who won against a larger but probably less organized force from European nations is a hero in the country, although not as well known as some later figures. The Europeans were trying to collect a debt of about $70 million. General Zaragoza won the fight with cunning and superior tactics. Unfortunately, about four months after the victory he died visiting his troops (and also some fallen French troops) from the inevitable cholera that was omnipresent in battlefields of the time.

In the history of Mexico there are a couple of periods where the government attempted to starve off religious expression. I had heard and read about the Christero movement – where overt religious practice was absolutely outlawed. Several years ago I was in a small town called Naolinco where there is a memorial to a priest who was murdered during the movement for celebrating a baptism in public.

Before we went to the fort we went to a place in the city of Puebla called the secret convent, which during the Christero period was hidden from view for a very long time. When the convent was discovered by the government (in 1934) its assets were “donated” to the state. Before that however, for a period of about 70 years the nuns lived in secrecy. The official existence of the community was never acknowledged. The description of how the convent became a state museum was not entirely satisfying. We then went to the fort.

What was most striking about the fort was a painting at the end of the museum – not for what it includes (it is a fairly ordinary piece of Mexican heroic muralismIt is an image of the periods in Mexican history that threw off the chains – of 1521, and 1862, and 1910. But what was missing the portrayal was 1810. The first Mexican revolution was led by a priest, Miguel Hildago, who took over a granary (the Aldondiga) in GUanajuato, held it for a while. When the Spaniards took it back they beheaded the four major figures in the insurrection and placed their heads on posts at the four corners. In the city of Guadajara there is another piece of heroic muralism that depicts Hildago.

I was struck in the commentary at both the secret convent and the fort, how easily the history could be modified to reflect on prevailing opinion. Perceptions are important in history. Dick Gregory once said "We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre. " In this case the tellers of the story in Puebla leave out some important details.