Mission San Antonio De Valero

We are the Tāp Pīlam Coahuiltecan Nation, a Tribal community of families affiliated with the Missions of San Antonio, South Texas and Northeastern Mexico.  Our traditional homeland consists by today’s political boundaries of Texas, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and Northern Potosi. We are people of two Countries and have been regarded by both as foreigners in our own homelands. 

Our tribal community, which represents Lineal Descendants of the Mission San Antonio de Valero (Alamo), is raising funds because the Texas Historical Commission voted on July 19, 2019 NOT to recognize the cemetery of Mission San Antonio de Valero. The reason that was given was that the Cemetery designation would stop the $450 million Alamo Redevelopment project. The Cemetery would not stop the Project, neither are we against the Project.  We just want our history to be included, which also happens to be the site of the first Catholic Cemetery of the City of San Antonio.   We have exhausted all legal bureaucratic remedies through the City of San Antonio, the Texas Historical Commission, and the State of Texas General Land Office.  We need to raise a minimum of $30,000 to pay for legal fees. Over the course of 25 years, our community has sought to have this Cemetery designated and protected under the Laws of Texas.  The General Land Office and the Alamo Trust Inc.  have said that this does not meet the definitions under the Laws because there are no headstones.  In other words, since our families did not put granite stones that would last 300 years, they don’t deserve equal protection under the laws.  Laws that have been extended to other cemeteries of ethnic groups across the State of Texas.

 

Tap Pilam has invested thousands of dollars and man hours researching official burial books, marriage records, and death records. In 1995, during the Alamo renovation of the Alamo Chapel, buried human remains were discovered and all parties were in accord for the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation to conduct reburial ceremonies and memorial ceremonies on an annual basis.  Again in 2016 Human remains were found and the Tap Pilam families conducted another re-internment on the site.  By donating to this cause, it would benefit the children of the lineal descendants, and the first families of San Antonio, that contributed to the development of the city and the state whose descendants went on to be revolutionaries of the liberation, signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.  Whose contributions continue to this day as Teachers, Doctors, Business owners, Attorneys, Directors, and City Council Members.


This is the final resting place of over 1000 of our Coahuiltecan families, the first Spanish settlers, soldiers and officers of both the armies of Tejas y Coahuila and the Texians. The Texas General Land Office and the Alamo Trust Inc., is working diligently against telling the history of Mission San Antonio de Valero.  Supporting this cause will help us in the fight against continuation of cultural genocide and erasing our people's culture. If we do not find a solution now, our history will continue to be minimized in San Antonio and the State of Texas, and it's the only way to have our truth incorporated in this $450 million project. If it were up to them, they would continue to plow over the resting places of our ancestors that were buried there. 

Our gratitude for this support goes far beyond this generation. The ripple effect will continue along for many generations to come.  We want our history told too. The time is now and your support will go much further than the present moment.  You would play an important role in helping us share the untold story of the Mission San Antonio de Valero. 

Additional payment methods can be done at https://aitscm.org/ (210) [phone redacted]

Donations go to our legal fund with Martinez De Vara Law Firm.


https://tappilam.org/