Commentary: Using the memories of conquest to fight for rights Omar Valerio-Jiménez, For the Express-News June 26, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail Failure to enforce the rights granted under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo led to the disenfranchisement of Mexican Americans and a civil rights battle that continues to this day. Here, a sign of segregation from 1954 in the small Texas town of Edna./RUSSELL LEE PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTIO Recent debate on the teaching of history underscores the importance of understanding the nation’s legacies of conquest. Since the U.S.-Mexican War, 1846-48, Mexican American activists, journalists and scholars have invoked collective war memories to seek civil rights reforms.