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The legend of Gregorio Cortez’s heroism began as a minor conflict regarding the whereabouts of a horse. Described by Americo Paredes’ “With His Pistol in His Hand,” in 1901, when visited by a sheriff who was investigating a horse theft, along with an accompanying translator, Gregorio Cortez shot the sheriff out of a misunderstanding that arose from a poor translation. Even though Mexicans and Americans had lived alongside each other since the 1820s, the language barrier that still existed provides a cursory glance at the discordant relationship between the two groups of people.
Further fueling the fire is the presence of Texas Rangers who, not only were given unchallenged authority in protecting the border, but also targeted Mexicans in their ventures as protectors of the land. Under this exploitative background, Mexican Americans could not even defend their own rights. Thus, when the heroic deeds of Gregorio Cortez came to be known through a corrido, he became the symbol of hope for Mexican Americans, and the legend became widely praised.
Although Mexicans who lived in Texas were granted citizenship by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the status of Mexican Americans were in fact treated as inferior by authorities, and their welfare faced constant threats due to their criminalized identities that were stereotyped by Anglo-Texans.
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From the perspective of Anglo-Texans, Mexicans were cruel, cowardly, and treacherous (Paredes, 16). These groundless depictions generalized the whole Mexican population as perfidious, and consequently, Texas Rangers who held the power of protecting the border could justify their actions of killing Mexicans whenever they deemed necessary, even if the people they killed were often shot by mistake (Paredes, 26).
The insecurity Mexican Americans had over their personal rights gradually led them to despair, until the emergence of Gregorio Cortez as a legendary hero, who, in the event of defending his right, successfully challenged the long-established supremacy of Anglo-Texans.
As the corrido spread and continuous efforts were made to polish the content of the story, some parts of the story have multiple versions, whereas others have been exaggerated. His existence was made larger-than-life, and it is due to this fabrication he became the symbol of hope to other Mexican Americans and the reason why his story garnered so much attention. To each Mexican American, the identity of Gregorio Cortez was different: to the laborer Cortez was a laborer, to the farmer a fellow farmer, and to the vaquero a vaquero (Paredes, 113). Mexicans who were discontent with the way Anglo-Americans treated them saw themselves in Gregorio Cortez, and as a result, when Gregorio Cortez, a man of “their own” was able to go against Anglo-American authority, they felt proud and found the story compelling. Additionally, even though before Gregorio Cortez was made into a hero, he was just an ordinary tenant farmer, the corrido made him a “hero in disguise” (Paredes, 119). In the corrido, for example, he was an extremely good shot, able to shoot five bullets and make only one hole, and he could also talk to horses, and they would understand (Paredes, 34-35). These supernatural characteristics assigned to Gregorio Cortez portrayed him as invincible, which was further reinforced by his release from prison despite having killed two sheriffs. The depiction that Gregorio Cortez was an ordinary farmer equal in status to all of them, yet at the same time was invincible ultimately became the symbol of hope to Mexican Americans, who were exploited by Anglo-Americans in their daily lives. As the symbol of hope, his story easily captured the attention of fellow Mexican Americans.
To Anglo-Americans, Gregorio Cortez was not a hero, but a threat to their power in the border region. As the story of Gregorio Cortez became prevalent and as Mexican Americans who heard of him grew in numbers, they must have understood that they themselves needed to stand up and fight against the injustice in order to defend their own rights. The presence of Gregorio Cortez not only symbolized hope for Mexican Americans, but as someone who had escaped from the clutches of Anglo-Americans, he also exemplified the possibility of defending one’s own rights. He empowered the determination of Mexicans in Texas to challenge Anglo power, and subsequently, threatened to destroy the imbalance of power between Mexican Americans and Anglo-Americans that was originally caused by white supremacy.
The main reason why the legend of Gregorio Cortez garnered so much attention was that even though he was just a common Mexican farmer, the courage he showed by the act of defending his own rights, even putting his life at stake, rendered him an uncommon man. Every Mexican could find themselves in Gregorio Cortez, whether it be his appearance or his profession, but they could not stand against Anglo power alone, which was what differentiated themselves from him. Gregorio Cortez represented the possibility of changing the lives of Mexican Americans, and his heroism continues to be respected today.
Legend of Gregorio Cortez in Paredes’s With His Pistol in His Hand. (2024, Feb 13). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/legend-of-gregorio-cortez-in-paredes-s-with-his-pistol-in-his-hand-essay
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