Remember the Alamo? It's Under Siege Again -- This Time From Within
There's a new battle under way for control of the Alamo -- and just like the Texas legend, neither side shows any sign of surrender.
For more than a century, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas -- nearly 7,000 women who trace their pedigrees back to the origins of the Texas Republic -- have had total control of the Alamo, the state's most revered historic site. They maintain what's left of the old mission, manage its historic exhibits and run the gift shop. They don't charge admission, and the site doesn't cost the state government a penny.
Now a small group of renegade Daughters has broken away, saying the Daughters' outmoded traditions and iron grip on the "Shrine of Texas Liberty" are holding back progress and preventing much-needed preservation work from moving ahead. They liken their declaration of independence to Texas's own split from Mexico in 1836.
"We're still fighting for the same things," says Erin Bowman, the 60-year-old leader of the breakaway group, called Friends of the Alamo. Ms. Bowman's family has owned the same ranch in Independence, Texas, since the days of the Republic more than 150 years ago...
Read entire article at The Wall Street Journal
For more than a century, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas -- nearly 7,000 women who trace their pedigrees back to the origins of the Texas Republic -- have had total control of the Alamo, the state's most revered historic site. They maintain what's left of the old mission, manage its historic exhibits and run the gift shop. They don't charge admission, and the site doesn't cost the state government a penny.
Now a small group of renegade Daughters has broken away, saying the Daughters' outmoded traditions and iron grip on the "Shrine of Texas Liberty" are holding back progress and preventing much-needed preservation work from moving ahead. They liken their declaration of independence to Texas's own split from Mexico in 1836.
"We're still fighting for the same things," says Erin Bowman, the 60-year-old leader of the breakaway group, called Friends of the Alamo. Ms. Bowman's family has owned the same ranch in Independence, Texas, since the days of the Republic more than 150 years ago...