Monica Muñoz Martinez

Monica Muñoz Martinez is a scholar of Mexican-

American history current serving as an Associate Monica Muñoz Martinez
Professor of History at the University of Texas at
Austin. Martinez was previously the Stanley J.
Bernstein Assistant Professor of American Studies and
Ethnic Studies at Brown University and an Andrew
Carnegie Fellow. Her research has been supported by
the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Woodrow
Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and the Texas
State Historical Association. She has received praise
for her work on several public history projects and her
first book, The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-
Mexican Violence in Texas was published in 2018 and
received numerous awards. In 2021 she received a
"Genius Grant" from the MacArthur Foundation.[1]

Background Born Uvalde, Texas

Monica Muñoz Martinez was born in Uvalde, Texas.[2] Known for Latino studies, immigration, the
She received her B.A. from Brown University's history of violence and policing,
Department of Ethnic Studies and American anti-Mexican violence in the
Civilization and her Ph.D. from Yale University's Southwestern United States
Department of American Studies.[3] After completing Academic background
her doctorate, she conducted post-doctoral research at
Alma Brown University
the University of Texas at Austin with the Center for
mater Yale University
Mexican American Studies studying the history and
legacy of anti-Mexican violence along the Texas Academic work
borderlands.[4] Discipline History
Institutions Brown University

Academic career UT Austin

Muñoz Martinez was the Stanley J. Bernstein Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies
at Brown University and an Andrew Carnegie Fellow.[5][6] Her areas of research include Latino studies,
immigration, and the history of violence and policing, with an emphasis on the history of anti-Mexican
violence in the Southwestern United States and the legacy violence has on people today.[7][8] Discussing
her goal of shedding light on the legacy of violence, she stated, "I wanted to study the longer legacies of
violence," ... "Historians think in terms of concrete time frames. But now I was meeting descendants who
were still being impacted by the violence. It still resonates today."[9]
She is a co-founder of Refusing to Forget, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching and raising
public awareness of current and past racial violence in Texas.[2][10]

Her first book The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas was published by Harvard
University Press in 2018 and has received numerous awards and positive reviews in academic
journals.[11][12][13][14] Commenting on her book she stated her goal was attempting “to recover history
that’s been forgotten or disavowed and make it public."[15] The book is centered around three episodes of
violence in the Texas borderlands: the 1910 lynching of Antonio Rodríguez; the 1915 murders of Jesus
Bazán and Antonio Longoria by Texas Rangers; and the 1918 Porvenir massacre of fifteen Tejanos by
Texas Rangers. The book continues with a history of the efforts by José Tomás Canales in 1919 to bring
criminal charges against several Texas Rangers for their involvement in terrorizing and murdering
Mexican Americans and the House-Senate committee hearings that investigated the murders and violence
perpetrated by the Texas Rangers in the borderlands.[16]

Martinez was part of the research team for the project "Mapping Violence", documenting the history of
racial violence in Texas during 1900–1930.[17][2]

In 2019, Martinez gave testimony in Congress during Judiciary Committee hearings on the "Oversight of
the Trump Administration’s Border Policies and the Relationship Between Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric and
Domestic Terrorism".[18]

Her professional affiliations include the Organization of American Historians, the American Studies
Association, the National Council for Public Humanities, the National Association of Chicana Chicano
Studies, the Western History Association and the American Historians Association.[3]

Awards
2019: The Caughey Western History Prize (Western History Association).[19]
2019: The Robert G. Athearn Award (Western History Association).[20]
2019: The Lawrence W. Levine Award (Organization of American Historians).[21]
2019: María Elena Martínez Prize in Mexican History (Conference on Latin American
History, University of North Carolina at Charlotte).[22]
2019: Frederick Jackson Turner Award Finalist (Organization of American Historians).[23]
2019: Tejas Foco Nonfiction Book Award (National Association of Chicana and Chicano
Studies).[24]
2019: The TCU Texas Book Award.[25]

Grants and fellowships

During her first year at Brown University, Martinez was the recipient of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate
Fellowship awarded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.[2] Since completing her Ph.D. in 2012, has
been the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships.[3][5] These include:

2021: MacArthur Fellowship[26]

2017-2019: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Faculty Fellowship for
"New Narratives for Reckoning with Histories of Violence" and "Mapping Segregated
Histories of Racial Violence".
 2017-2019: National Endowment for the Humanities Grant. Awarded to support a
conference and anthology about the Canales investigation into Texas Ranger violence.
2016: Research SEED Award, Brown University for "Mapping Segregated Histories of
Racial Violence".
2014: Texas Humanities Grant, National Endowment for the Humanities.
2013: Catarino & Evangelina Hernéndez Research Fellowship, Texas State Historical
Association.
2012-2014: Carlos E. Castaäeda Fellowship, Center for Mexican American Studies
University of Texas at Austin.

Bibliography
Book Review: Corridors of Migration: The Odyssey of Mexican Laborers, 1600-1933 by
Rodolfo F. Acuña (http://www.jstor.org/stable/40505684) (2009). Western Historical
Quarterly, 40(3), pp. 393–394.
Book Review: Seeking Inalienable Rights: Texans and Their Quest for Justice by Debra A.
Reid (http://www.jstor.org/stable/23266631). (2012). Louisiana History: The Journal of the
Louisiana Historical Association, 53(1), pp. 122–124.
Recuperating Histories of Violence in the Americas: Vernacular History-Making on the US-
Mexico Border (http://www.jstor.org/stable/43823424). (2014). American Quarterly, 66(3),
pp. 661–689.
Porvenir Massacre (https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jcp02) (2017). Handbook
of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association.
The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas (2018). Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674976436
Mapping Segregated Histories of Racial Violence (https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2018.0049).
American Quarterly. 70(3), pp. 657–663.
How ‘The Highwaymen’ whitewashes Frank Hamer and the Texas Rangers (https://www.wa
shingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/03/31/how-highwaymen-whitewashes-frank-hamer-texas-ra
ngers/). (2019). The Washington Post.

Public history projects

Life and Death on the Border, 1910–1920. Bullock Texas State History Museum. Museum
Exhibit.[27][2]
Mapping Violence. Academic collaboration documenting previously forgotten or concealed
cases of racial violence in Texas between 1900 – 1930.[2][28]
Refusing To Forget. Educational non-profit organization focused on raising public
awareness about anti-immigrant violence along the US-Mexico border.[2][29]
Texas Historical Commission Historical Markers project. Martinez worked to place four
historical markers along the US-Mexico border at locations of major acts of anti-Mexican
violence.[6]

See also
Biography portal

1917 Bath riots

 Anti-Mexican sentiment
Hispanophobia
La Matanza (1910–1920)
Porvenir Massacre

References
1. Limbong, Andrew (September 28, 2021). "This Year's MacArthur 'Genius Grants' Were Just
Announced—Here's The Full Winner List" (https://www.npr.org/2021/09/28/1037957309/mac
arthur-genius-grants-full-list-2021). NPR. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
2. "Refusing to Forget: Monica Muñoz Martinez Uncovers America's History at the Border" (htt
ps://mellon.org/shared-experiences-blog/refusing-forget-monica-munoz-martinez-uncovers-
americas-history-border/). The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
3. "Monica Muñoz Martinez Biography" (https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU01/20190906/1
09889/HHRG-116-JU01-Bio-MunozMartinezM-20190906.pdf) (PDF). United States House
of Representatives.
4. "Ethnicity, Race, and Migration (Yale University)" (https://erm.yale.edu/news/erm-former-fac
ulty-fellow-monica-mu-oz-martinez-refuses-let-world-forget). Yale University. Retrieved
July 5, 2020.
5. "Monica Muñoz Martinez" (https://www.oah.org/lectures/lecturers/view/2013/monica-munoz-
martinez/). Organization of American Historian. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
6. "Researchers@Brown" (https://vivo.brown.edu/display/mmartin4). Brown University.
Retrieved July 5, 2020.
7. Aguilera, Jasmine (September 27, 2019). " 'I Cry All the Time.' A Century After 15 Mexican
Men and Boys Were Massacred in Texas, Their Descendants Want Recognition" (https://tim
e.com/5682139/porvenir-massacre-descendants/). Time Magazine. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
8. "The 'Forgotten' History Of Anti-Latino Violence In The U.S." (https://www.wbur.org/hereand
now/2019/11/25/history-violence-against-latinos) NPR. November 25, 2019. Retrieved
July 5, 2020.
9. Barnes, Michael. "100 years later, anti-Mexican violence still casts a shadow on Texas" (http
s://www.austin360.com/entertainmentlife/20190405/100-years-later-anti-mexican-violence-st
ill-casts-shadow-on-texas). Austin American Statesman. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
10. "Our Team: Refusing to Forget" (https://refusingtoforget.org/bios/). Refusing to Forget.
Retrieved July 5, 2020.
11. Barajas, Frank P. (2019). "The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas".
Journal of American History. 106 (3): 786. doi:10.1093/jahist/jaz598 (https://doi.org/10.109
3%2Fjahist%2Fjaz598).
12. Tijerina, Andrés (2019). "The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas by
Monica Muñoz Martínez". Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 123: 114–115.
doi:10.1353/swh.2019.0056 (https://doi.org/10.1353%2Fswh.2019.0056). S2CID 198799175
(https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:198799175).
13. Campney, Brent (2019). "Review: The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in
Texas by Monica Muñoz Martinez". Pacific Historical Review. 88 (4): 731–732.
doi:10.1525/phr.2019.88.4.731 (https://doi.org/10.1525%2Fphr.2019.88.4.731).
14. LeBrón, Marisol (2019). "Review of Monica Muñoz Martinez's The Injustice Never Leaves
You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas". NACLA Report on the Americas. 51 (4): 437–440.
doi:10.1080/10714839.2019.1693006 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F10714839.2019.169300
6). S2CID 213344911 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:213344911).
15. Aviles, Gwen (September 16, 2019). "Monica Muñoz Martinez — Recovering forgotten
Latino history" (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latino20-monica-mu-oz-martinez-reco
vering-forgotten-latino-history-n1051091). NBC News. NBC. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
16. Blanton, Carlos Kevin (September 21, 2018). "The Secret History of Anti-Mexican Violence
in Texas" (https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/anti-mexican-violence-in-texas/). Texas
Monthly. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
17. "Mapping Violence Research Team" (https://mappingviolence.com/bios/). Mapping Violence.
Retrieved July 5, 2020.
18. "Testimony of Monica Muñoz Martinez" (https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU01/2019090
6/109889/HHRG-116-JU01-Wstate-MunozMartinezM-20190906.pdf) (PDF). United States
House of Representatives. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
19. "Caughey Western History Prize" (https://www.westernhistory.org/awards/caughey).
Western History Association. Western History Association. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
20. "Robert G. Athearn Prize" (https://www.westernhistory.org/awards/athearn#:~:text=Student%
20Caucus%20Election-,Robert%20G.,The%20award%20is%20%24500.). Western History
Association. Western History Association. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
21. "The Lawrence W. Levine Award" (https://www.oah.org/awards/book-awards/lawrence-w-levi
ne-award/winners/). Organization of American Historians. Organization of American
Historians. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
22. "2019 María Elena Martínez Prize in Mexican History" (http://clah.h-net.org/?page_id=1169).
University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
23. "Frederick Jackson Turner Award Winners" (https://www.oah.org/awards/book-awards/freder
ick-jackson-turner-award/winners/). Organization of American Historians. Retrieved July 5,
2020.
24. "2019 Naccs-Tejas Foco, Mid-Year Report" (http://www.noticiasdenaccs.org/?p=1203).
National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
25. "TCU Texas Book Award" (https://library.tcu.edu/friends/texas-book-award.asp#:~:text=Abou
t%20the%20TCU%20Texas%20Book%20Award&text=A%20prize%20of%20%245%2C00
0%20is,self%2Dpublished%20works%20are%20excluded). Texas Christian University. TCU
Press. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
26. "MacArthur Foundation Announces 2021 'Genius' Grant Winners" (https://www.nytimes.com/
2021/09/28/arts/macarthur-foundation-announces-2021-genius-grant-winners.html). The
New York Times. September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
27. "Life and death on the Texas-Mexico border 100 years ago" (https://www.statesman.com/NE
WS/20160904/Life-and-death-on-the-Texas-Mexico-border-100-years-ago). Statesman.
Retrieved July 5, 2020.
28. "Home Page: Mapping Violence" (https://mappingviolence.com/). Mapping Violence.
Retrieved August 1, 2020.
29. "Home Page: Refusing to Forget" (https://refusingtoforget.org/). Refusing to Forget.

External links
Faculty Page, Brown University. (https://vivo.brown.edu/display/mmartin4)
Life and Death on the Border, 1910–1920. Bullock Texas State History Museum (https://refu
singtoforget.org/exhibits/)
Mapping Violence Website (https://mappingviolence.com/)
Mapping Violence (Course Syllabus, Brown University). (https://hcommons.org/deposits/obj
ects/hc:30226/datastreams/CONTENT/content)
Refusing To Forget (https://refusingtoforget.org/)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Monica_Muñoz_Martinez&oldid=1251255079"