The Legacy of Américo Paredes

Chapter 2: His Life and Work

Chapter 2 His Life and Work Porque a mí me importa un bledo que me apunten con el dedo, que de mí murmure quedo tu correcta sociedad; pueblo bajo y barullero, pueblo dulce y romancero, yo te juro que te quiero, yo te quiero de verdad. —Américo Paredes, “Mi pueblo” A mérico Paredes Manzano, the son of Justo Paredes Cisneros and Clotilde Manzano Vidal, was born on September 3, 1915, in Brownsville, Texas, in the peak months of the racial wars between North Americans and Mexico-Tejanos.1 The fifth child of a family of eight, six men and two women, he was named after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian navigator.2 How Américo Paredes’s Life Was Shaped along the Lower Rio Grande Border As a boy, he spent most of his summers with his relatives across the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. There, in a rural Mexican environment, he learned about the music and history of 33 his people. Don Justo, an anticlerical ranchero and former border rebel, imparted to his son many of the beliefs and customs of a ranching way of life in evident decline. On many occasions, Don Justo sat and talked for hours with Américo about the ways of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. The oral tradition transmitted from generation to generation in many families like his own was at the heart of a culture Américo Paredes would be instrumental in understanding and explaining to others. Among the ballads, tales, and jests were the legendary accounts of Juan Nepomuceno Cortina along the Rio Grande border; Catarino Garza’s clashes with Mexican and U.S. forces; José Mosqueda’s train robbery outside Brownsville, Texas; and Gregorio Cortez’s selfdefense “with his pistol in his hand” against an Anglo sheriff. Folklore as performance fascinated Américo as a boy, and it became an important concept in much of his writing. Before enrolling in an English-speaking elementary school in Texas, Américo could already read and write in Spanish. His teachers were his father and his eldest brother, Eliseo. The Paredes family recognized early on Américo’s inquisitive nature, and they had high expectations for him. “Este es él que va a hacer algo por nosotros, por nuestra familia. Es él que va a ir a la escuela,” his father was often heard commenting to his friends.3 The high expectations weighed on Américo’s conscience and played a role in his growing sense of responsibility toward his family and toward the people along the Lower Rio Grande border. In elementary school Américo took to reading and writing in English with enthusiasm. The quiet life of the rancho away from school offered minimal distractions during these years. He enjoyed reading popular literature for children including the Tarzan books of Edgar Rice Burroughs, but he also read literary works in both Spanish and English. He was especially fond of his book of Shakespeare ’s sonnets, a gift from his brother Eliseo. Books became his 34 Chapter 2 companions. They allowed him to dream of other worlds, and they were an invitation to explore his own fantasy world. Américo remembered spending hours re-creating the stories he heard from the old men or making up his own, imagining he was Gregorio Cortez fighting against the rinches (Texas Rangers). Daydreaming allowed him to project himself as a hero of his people and helped him relieve his anger and frustration with the reality of the MexicoTejano border folk. His father’s interest in Spanish language poetry also influenced the young Américo’s literary formation. Don Justo Paredes memorized, read, and even wrote poetry, and he would often recite his own décima or espinela, redondilla, or canto a desafío.4 The décima cantada, a popular ballad form in New Spain, was not always accompanied by music. For Américo Paredes it was “the narrative, which the décimas adorned like colorful motifs on a larger design— the narrative was the important thing because it bound the décimas together, and all of [the people] as well.”5 The ability to read and write effectively in two languages naturally broadened his horizons at a young age. The informal education received at home combined with the more formal one in the Brownsville public school system gave Américo a dual perspective . He appreciated his formal schooling, but...