It was said the Alamo had no messengers of defeat.
But there’s one man today who lives to tell the tale of what the historic battle means to the world.
For 25 years, Ernesto Rodriguez has worked at the Alamo, translating historic documents, preserving artifacts and archives and teaching people about the 1836 battle that inspired Texas’ independence.
Rodriguez has the job of telling the stories of the people who were there that day. But he has his own story, one that makes Rodriguez one of the foremost experts on the Battle of the Alamo and its importance not just for San Antonio but the world over.
And the one thing he teaches — that Gen. Edward Burleson’s 1842 statement isn’t the sum and substance of the Alamo narrative — illustrates Rodriguez’s role in an evolving history.
“We did have messengers, which were the women and children that were saved,” Rodriguez said.
It’s through their recorded memories, and that of an enslaved man, that the senior curator, historian and lecturer has become a modern-day messenger.
“Everyone knows the term, ‘Remember the Alamo.’ My job is to teach them why,” he said.
Bringing history to life
A San Antonio native, Rodriguez grew up on the West Side in a family of six. His mother was born in Mexico and attended school through the 8th grade. Rodriguez’s father was born at Mission Espada and had a 3rd-grade education.
“He believed in education as much as my mother did so they pushed all of us,” Rodriguez said.
During family vacations to Mexico, Rodriguez’s parents made it a point to visit museums, churches and other points of interest across the country. “My dad’s thing was, you need to get culture and history, and it started young,” he said.
Sometime in the early 1980s, Rodriguez’s mother boarded a public bus with her children for a visit downtown to the Alamo. He recalls eating lunch at the Kress department store first.
“Then we walked over to the Alamo,” he said, recalling the massive live oaks around the property. “As a kid, I was looking at all the trees in the back, and I’m [thinking] I’d love to climb those trees. I would love to work here as a gardener so I could climb the trees.”
Inside the Alamo gift shop, the 7-year-old selected a bullwhip so he could pretend to be “Indiana Jones.”
A middle school teacher, “Mr. Azar,” brought Texas history to life for Rodriguez and in high school, “Ms. Carniero,” also made history interesting. “When you learn from people that are enthusiastic … it changes your perspective,” he said.
After graduating from Memorial High School, Rodriguez attended St. Mary’s University, as did his three siblings, earning a bachelor’s and later master’s degree in history. He had long known his career path would be either as a teacher or historian, he said.
In college, his yearning to learn led him to enroll in Spanish language and Spanish literature courses even though they weren’t required for his degree. With those skills in hand, he was hired by the Alamo’s caretakers for a three-month stint translating old Spanish documents.
Those months in the fall of 1999 turned into a quarter of a century for Rodriguez as his role broadened, the Alamo changed hands and an ambitious plan to remake the visitor experience at the Shrine of Texas Liberty was put into motion.
Making it real
A historian at heart, Rodriguez can rattle off important names and dates for the Alamo as easily as he does for major world events in history.
But it’s his gift for storytelling and connecting people to the Alamo in personal ways that make him a valued member of the Alamo Trust research and collections team.
“You make it real to people, and that’s the thing that’s really important,” Rodriguez said. He does that through stories that connect people, places and moments in history to the people, places and moments today.
“We’re lucky to have documents you can pull from, and so as you keep doing this, you’re weaving this tapestry, and you’re incorporating every thread, and the problem is that if you’re missing a thread, the whole thing can fall apart,” he added.
Rodriguez estimates he has directly touched more than 40 million people with his stories and lectures and tours in those years. That’s not counting his appearances on YouTube, ABC’s Good Morning America and the History Channel.
“I feel like I’ve been lucky because I do what I love, and I’ve been able to look at all the changes that are happening, and every change that happens, everyone adds their piece to this history, and it’s just growing,” he said.
Sharing history with children is his favorite aspect of the job which calls for wearing many hats.
“Imagine you’re sitting in a classroom, you’re Hispanic,” Rodriguez said. “And now, as an immigrant, you realize that your ancestors, by living in Mexico, living in South America, and paying [a tax to help fund the American Revolution] that your family had a role in creating the greatest country in the world.”
Alamo Trust Executive Director Kate Rogers said Rodriguez’s knowledge about Alamo history and its collection of 4,500 artifacts is second to none.
“He knows the history of the site better than anyone,” she said. “But in addition to that, he has a personal passion and interest, specifically in Mexican history and Spanish history.”
Because of that, his expertise is helping shape the new Alamo Museum and Visitor Center under construction at the Woolworth Building, she added.
Building the future
On the Alamo grounds, Rodriguez seemingly does it all — from giving schoolchildren tours and producing a history podcast to firing 19th-century cannons and meeting a British rock star who in 2015 donated his Alamo memorabilia collection.
On a recent afternoon, the historian was preparing to climb into the bucket of a cherry picker to consult on the Alamo Redevelopment Plan in progress.
The story of the Alamo is also a work in progress, with more of it coming to light all the time, he said. “It’s always evolving — the history has changed over the years, and it continues to change. There’s research happening in Mexico City as we speak that will change our narrative.”
Rodriguez’s favorite fact about the Alamo is one that most people don’t understand, and it goes back to the messengers, he said, people who had no right to vote, who could not read or write.
“Where do you get our narrative? You get it from the voiceless women, children and enslaved,” he said. “So our story is one that is different because it comes from those that didn’t have a voice, and all of a sudden they’re speaking out louder than everyone.”
