Lesson 2

Border History

Objective: Students will understand the historical origins of Ciudad Juárez, El Paso or another border city in their region.

NCSS Standards Met By This Lesson: II, III, VII, IX, and X

Introduction: Very little is written in U.S. or New Mexico/Texas history textbooks about the history and origin of the Mexican border cities.  Through primary research, students will construct an outline of a border city's history.

Materials/Preparation: Teachers may want to download historical and current information from websites.  Much of this information is available below, under Part II.

Ciudad Juárez: http://www.guestlife.com/elpaso/areas/areasjuarez.html

El Paso and Cd. Juárez: http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/EE/hdelu.html

El Paso: http://www.co.el-paso.tx.us/history/history1.htm

El Paso (longer): http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/EE/hde1.html

Materials (for brochures or posters): paper, construction paper, markers, etc.

Instruction/Practice:

Part 1 -- Opening questions:

1) What is there to do in Cd. Juárez?  In El Paso?  Have class or groups make a list.
2) What landmarks, sites do you know of located in Cd. Juárez?
3) Has Cd. Juárez always been called Cd. Juárez?
4) Why is it called Cd. Juárez? (This question can work for other border cities: Tijuana, etc.)

The odds are few, if any, people know the answers to #2 and #3.  The typical response to #1 will be something along the lines of "partying," "shopping," "entertainment," "tourism," but not much else.

Today's activity will give us a better picture of what is available in the border cities, and the history of the region which we may not be aware of.

Part 2 -- Group Work

Divide class into four groups.  Two groups will investigate website material on the Mexican border city, the other groups will investigate material on the U.S. border city.

Groups will use printed resources and/or internet research to develop a poster or brochure which gives details of the history of the region and an overview of activities available in their city.  In addition, students should keep an accurate and detailed list of phone numbers, times, locations, and dates for possible class field trip to these areas.  The teacher will want to make sure the groups are gathering the necessary facts from the information.  Perhaps a set of questions or a minimum standard of seven important facts should be given to the class.

Some important facts about the history of Juárez (as an example):

* Spanish Explorer Don Juan Oñate came to the area in 1598.

* Populated by Manso and Suma Indians for hundreds of years. It was a natural place to live with a river and a pass between mountains.

* Originally a crossing area to the north, the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo river would rage for months, forcing people to wait.

* Fray Garcia de San Francisco y Zuniga begins construction of a mission church, 1659. Completed in 1668. This same church still stands today in downtown Juárez.

* 1865 -- French forces occupy Mexico City. The elected president of Mexico, Benito Juárez, flees north to the city still called El Paso del Norte. The city served as the capital of Juárez's Mexico government until June, 1866.

* 1888 - Congress of the state of Chihuahua changes name of the city to Ciudad Juárez.

* 1911 - Much fighting in the Mexican Revolution occurs here.  Pancho Villa scores a major victory. Juárez was the "provisional capital" of the revolutionary forces, housed in the building, now a museum that still stands at the corner of Avenida Juárez and Avenida 16th de Septiembre.

* During Prohibition, 1918-1933, Juárez becomes a major nightclub and entertainment center for Southwestern United States.

Closure: 

Groups will display and discuss their travel/history brochures and posters.  Extra points (or whatever) may be given to group(s) who discover the correct answer to the history questions asked at the beginning of class.  Juárez was not always known as Juárez.  Before the U.S.-Mexican War divided the land, El Paso del Norte was one city.  Even after the war, the Mexican part of this city was still called Paso Del Norte.  The city changed its name to honor popular Mexican president Benito Juárez in 1888.  Another question: How many Mexican border cities changed their names after the Mexican-American War?

Posters/brochures may be evaluated for detail, accuracy, amount of information, clarity, and expressiveness.

Extensions:

1) Have students develop an itinerary for a one-day field city each border city.  In a larger class, this assignment may be especially given to one or two groups while other groups work on brochures/posters.
2) Extra research into the political/geographical changes caused by the Mexican- American War.
3) Oral history interview with someone who remembers the region from older times and can give an account of border city life.  Students may discover that Juárez was once a real source of nightlife and entertainment, beginning in the 1920s.  As recently as the late 1960s, prominent Las Vegas acts came to downtown nightclubs, etc.  Students may combine their interviews into an anthology accompanied by an introduction.

Updated October 2004.