I grew up in La Grulla, in South Texas. This small quiet town is only a few miles away from the river bordering Mexico and about 60 miles from where I was born and raised. When I was going through Jr. High I used to see the following mural each day for three years, 6th – 8th grade, and never got tired of seeing it. It would cause many questions and also remind me of the small Mexican town of El Arcabuz. El Arcabuz used to have a similar mural but instead of depicting the heritage of its area as the following picture does. The one in El Arcabuz depicted the rise and birth of a nation, depicting characters as Miguel Hidalgo and Benito Juarez. I wish I had a picture of the one in Arcabuz but I don’t, I asked on their facebook page to see if anyone has one.
This is the Mural at the La Grulla Middle School taken by Jimmy Martinez
You can see Jimmy’s post in Facebook and according to comments on face book the mural was painted in 1976 – 1978 by Mr. Sergio Higareda.
As you can see the mural depicts this areas rich heritage and history. Starting with the indigenous people and then the effort of the church to Christianize them. Then we see the the Spaniard rule by the sword and the ranching that ensued. Then this area became part of the United States and towards the end we see farming that still continues to this date. Finally science and education.
