If we don't understand our history, how can we build a better future?

That question is at the heart of Monica Munoz Martinez's work as an author, educator,

and public historian.

Monica focuses on histories of racial violence and policing on the U.S. Mexico border

and many other topics that have not gotten their fair share of space in our history textbooks.

This work is deeply personal for Monica.

We will talk about that. And it has earned her a prestigious MacArthur Genius grant,

awarded to those who are on the precipice of something truly extraordinary.

Monica, thank you so much for doing this.

Thank you for having me.

Tell me, growing up, what were the stories you were told about your own family's history?

Well, I grew up hearing stories about Evaldi, the place where I was born and raised.

For someone who doesn't know, can you give us a sense of place?

Yeah, it's a rural town in southwest Texas.

It's about 80 miles west of San Antonio and about 60 miles east of the border.

Taking trips to San Antonio was something that we grew up doing to go shopping or to go to a baseball game or to visit family.

But we also made trips to the border to places like Eagle Pass and Del Rio to go shopping or to go eat.

Or to cross the border to places like Bias Negress and Okunia, where we also had family.

I grew up hearing about Evaldi, the history of Evaldi, the history of the civil rights movement

in Eauldi and in South Texas.

But I also grew up hearing about the stories of migration, of people moving, building lives in the border region, and also how the region had changed, how the border

itself had changed and how the communities on either side of the border had changed as a

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