Guns A Blazin’: Armed Resistance In The Old Southwest

Guns A Blazin': Armed Resistance In The Old Southwest

We are thrilled to welcome Andy Graybill, the new director of the SMU William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, to the SMU-in-Taos Cultural Institute. He will share why prominent historians say that the “New Mexico Territory was unequaled in the West” for political violence and assassinations during the late 19th century. This course will explore some of the reasons behind this social turbulence, focusing especially on the bitter competition over land and resources in northern New Mexico (with comparison to similar Texas feuds). Learn about the long-standing land dispute behind the Colfax County War and the marauding Las Gorras Blancas (the White Caps), Hispano farmers who resisted Anglo ranchers, as well as the 1859 insurrection of Juan Cortina in South Texas. Why did men and women take up arms in defense of what they called “the sacred right of self-preservation” where they felt it was their duty to protect themselves, their families and their kinsmen from abuse? Learn how guns, wars and battles changed forever the face of the Southwest.

About the Instructor

Andy Graybill is new to SMU, having arrived in the summer of 2011 to serve as an associate professor of history as well as the director of the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies. A San Antonio native, Graybill received his B.A. from Yale and his Ph.D. from Princeton, and came to SMU after eight years at the University of Nebraska. His first book, Policing the Great Plains: Rangers, Mounties, and the North American Frontier, 1875–1910, is a comparative study of the two most famous constabularies in the world. At SMU, he teaches classes on the North American West, the environment, Texas and the Southwest.

“Coming to Taos for this wonderful weekend can truly change your life – it did mine!” – Laurie Mitchell Dunn

For more information

Contact Allison Curran at taosci@smu.edu or call 214-768-TAOS (8267).