I left Houston behind even though it had recently undergone numerous changes for the better. With the 1981 election of Kathy Whitmire, we had not only Houston’s first female mayor but Houston’s first African American police chief and a leader who sought to advocate for the equality of women and ethnic and sexual minorities.

According to a 2018 report by the Kinder Foundation, Houston is one of the most diverse metropolitan areas in the country. It has a population that is more than a quarter foreign-​born and 44 percent Hispanic, according to 2016 estimates from the census.ⁱ Leah Benovitz, the author of “Within Houston’s Diversity, A Complicated Story Still Being Told” notes that, “For young people and newcomers to the city, it can be hard to picture the Houston that once was. In the 1940s, the city had just under 600,000 people, according to census estimates. The schools were segregated and so were many of the neighborhoods.”

Figure 1

    Kinder Survey. Reprinted by permission of Kinder Houston Area Survey /​ Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

To be sure, the spatial, racial, and sexual politics of Houston have shifted over the years. The first African American mayor was elected before the end of the century, and the current mayor is African American and in his second term. Annise Parker, elected in 2010, was one of the first openly gay mayors of a major US city. Although Joseph Jay “J. J.” Pastoriza was elected as Houston’s first Hispanic mayor in 1917, he died after only serving in office for three months. Since then, no other Latino has been elected. Nor has an Asian American ever served as mayor.

The window into politics and power offered by the identity of elected officials in Houston notwithstanding, it is clear that Houston is no longer the typical southern town that it once was. Its identity has been remade by major demographic change and a deeper understanding that its diversity is actually an asset that can be leveraged economically and politically. While it is not the same city rife with segregation and a cowboy mentality that I grew up in, it still has far to go to become a truly equitable place to live.

In this book I have shared the story of the Mendoza-​Martinez family as a lens through which we could understand the growth and well-​being of Houston’s Latina/​o population. I started with the premise that my family’s story paralleled the story of the ethnic Mexican population in Houston. According to a 2022 report on Houston Public Media, Hispanic Texans now comprise the largest demographic group.ⁱⁱ The same is true in Houston. One cannot discuss the Latino population in Houston without also discussing the internal diversity of that community, for no longer is it sufficient to discuss only people of Mexican descent. No up-​to-​date and reliable source of disaggregated data on Houston’s Latino population is extant, but it should be noted that the vast majority are of Mexican descent even though there are a significant number of other Latinos present in the Houston Metropolitan Area, including Puerto Ricans, Central Americans, Cubans, and South Americans.

The political temperature of Texas and the USA at large means that Latina/​os everywhere in the state continue to be intensely racialized and they face choices about who they wish to be and what vision of the United States they wish to embrace. As I believe I have demonstrated in this book, these are not easy or even free choices, although I believe one can more readily participate in a non-​hegemonic life that was once possible. The picture I have portrayed of ethnic Mexicans in Houston mostly focused on two neighborhoods, Magnolia Park and Denver Harbor. I cannot pretend that what I have portrayed represents all neighborhoods nor that my experience is emblematic of all Latinos, but what I have shared is a genuine part of the larger picture.

We are not a perfect community. Magnolia and Denver Harbor are not to be idealized nor held up as shining examples of utopian communities. There was poverty, inter-​ and intracultural violence, domestic frictions, structural racism, systematic underdevelopment and neglect, as well as the emergence of gangs that preyed on the weak or those seeking connection at any cost. Nevertheless, I believe that ethnic Mexicans in Houston have survived and even thrived over the generations even as its community has been renewed with new immigrants from Mexico and elsewhere. As is true for communities all over the country, strong communities are made up of strong families, of strong kinship, and friendship networks that support one another in times of duress and personal and collective economic or social pressures. What has enabled the survival and success of members of these neighborhoods is community resilience, the ability of some segments of the residents within those neighborhoods to withstand, adapt to, and recover from adversity by organizing and acting collectively on behalf of their individual and collective betterment in the face of structural violence—​be it a difficult job market, police harassment, political underrepresentation, inferior schools, or internecine battles. These are lessons to be learned and from which to glean and hone strategies to not only survive, but to thrive. Among these are the benefits of a strong work ethic, social, political, and cultural arts organizations, cultural retention, formal and informal networks of care, an ability to be bilingual and bicultural, and an ethic of reciprocity and mutuality.

Although we have long since moved away from Denver Harbor and the houses on Hoffman and Zoe in which my family was born into and raised, it was a place that sustained, nurtured, and served as a site of learning for not just my family, but relatives, dear friends, and other residents who once lived or continue to live there. The landscape continues to change. Threats and opportunities continue to abound. Some see it as a place to leave, a sign of mobility when one does. Others see it as a place to draw lines and resist policies that threaten neighborhood well-​being.

The very nature of history is that change occurs over time, and I believe Houston has changed for the better by becoming more accepting of its multiethnic population. This story was meant to not only document and bring to the surface my family’s story, but my wish is that it will also resonate for others even though there will be points of divergence. As I hope I have made clear, I believe the Latina/​o population has much to contribute to developing a stronger economy, stronger neighborhoods, and a stronger society if we but find that common ground steeped in love for family, perseverance, and the pursuit of justice.