By Isaiah Montoya
Photos Courtesy Tiguas
The Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (Tigua) Indians have been in the El Paso area since 1680 and their story is long and varied. Thanks to people like the tribe’s Director of Cultural Preservation, Rick Quezada, some light can be shed on how they arrived here and what they’ve done to survive and thrive.
Quezada was born on the Tigua Reservation, which is mostly nestled in El Paso’s Mission Valley (Lower Valley). He spent most of his life learning his unique culture through oral tradition and he now passes it on to the next generation in the same way.
“We govern ourselves by oral tradition,” explains Quezada. By combining his lifelong experiences with the knowledge he gained by earning an MA degree in Borderlands History from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Quezada now applies himself for the overall benefit of the Tigua tribe and it comes from a place of honoring his people’s unique heritage.
In 1680 the Pueblo Revolt occurred. The Pueblo people of various tribes conspired together to retake their land from the Spanish inhabitants. “The Spanish were defeated at the Battle of Santa Fe,” explains Quezada. “Governor Antonio de Otermin was forced to retreat to the Pueblo of Isleta, and that’s where he regrouped, and while he regrouped he captured a lot of my ancestors. After he regrouped he decided to come down to the El Paso area. He brought down a little over 300 Pueblos, but he also brought down another tribe, the Piro Indians. After about a year there, Otermin received orders from the viceroy in Mexico City, that he needed to re-take the kingdom of New Mexico.”
According to Quezada, “(Otermin) went back a year later and he was defeated again. The Indians were just too strong, yet he stopped at the Pueblo of Isleta and he captured another 385 Tiguas and he brought them down to the El Paso area.”
Quezada’s short version of the complicated story of the way the Tiguas arrived in El Paso is a testament to his abilities as an oral storyteller. He continues, “We were forcefully brought here from the mother Pueblo in 1680, which is the Pueblo of Isleta (south of present-day Albuquerque). Our official tribal name is Isleta del Sur, which is Spanish for Ysleta of the South. Our present-day population descends from those two groups of people, the first group in 1680 and another group in 1681.”
After settling in their new homeland, the Tiguas were allotted three different pieces of land; Seneca del Sur in southern Juarez for the Piros; one called Socorro del Sur for the Piros and Santo Domingos and Tigua in Ysleta. The current Tigua tribal setting was originally on the south side of the Rio Grande but when the river shifted due to flooding in 1831, they were suddenly on the north side of it. “The old people used to talk of a land grant,” relays Quezada. “Today we know it as the old Spanish land grant of 1751.” The grant was comprised of 36 square miles and surrounded Corpus Christi de la Isleta Mission, which was constructed in 1682.
For each allotment of land, the Spanish also installed a Catholic Mission in the crusade to Christianize the Indians. Along with their language and belief system, the Tiguas brought with them river water bleeding, the acequia (irrigation) system, and the planting of corn, beans and squash. “We established what we had up north,” continues Quezada. “We were isolated for many centuries and we kept to our own. We practiced our own belief system and we still speak our own language. Isolation does a lot. It keeps your culture and your ceremonies. Most important; it keeps your language. Tiguas walk in three worlds. We walk in English. We walk in the Mexican American culture and then our own. Most of us are tri-lingual.”
As with many Native tribes, maintaining the old way of life was not easy due to their new neighbors. By the Civil War Texas was part of the U.S.A., yet the Spanish/Mexicans surrounded the Tiguas in El Paso, and during the Civil War a new set of problems arose. “The civil war was huge,” interjects Quezada. “The state of Texas was part of the confederacy, so it brought in a lot of white settlers who were coming into the area and chipping away at our land grant.”
The Tiguas survived the Civil War and by the early 1900’s it was obvious that many tribes across the nation were beginning to be federally recognized. Quezada explains, “As late as the 1940’s the Feds would come down to their Pueblos and they would get federally recognized, but they were also obligated to accept a form of constitution.
Because the Tiguas don’t have a constitution their federal recognition came late (1968) but before that, the city of El Paso annexed the town of Ysleta which presented a new set of obstacles to overcome. Quezada explains, “The city started imposing property taxes on the tribe. That is when we started strategically planning and organizing for some form of recognition as Native American.”
Quezada continues, “Federal recognition helped us function politically outside the village; government to government. With recognition comes the ability to apply for funding. The luck of the tribe started changing when we were recognized.” At this point, the tribe is using some of its funding to purchase back segments of land in the area that they claim was originally granted to them.
Currently, there are over 5,400 Tigua tribal members. The tribe is recognized by the All Pueblo Council of Governors, based in New Mexico. Although displaced they still maintain ties with the more Northern Pueblos, but Quezada says, “We didn’t need other tribes to continue our culture,” relays Quezada. “I come from a long line of traditional conservative Tigua people.”
On June 13th the Tigua holy day of the Feast of St. Anthony (San Antonio) is celebrated. “We’ve been holding it here in El Paso since 1680,” says Quezada. In addition to recalling his tribe’s history, Quezada uses his education and passion to maintain recognition for his tribe. “I was able to use it to the Pueblo’s advantage. I was able to get federal funding to provide job opportunities for tribal members, especially the youth.”
The Tigua tribe continues to persevere in modern El Paso, through determination and respect. For more information on the Tiguas, you can visit the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Cultural Center at 305 Yaya Lane or call 915-859-7700.