This article explores the public spaces of Laredo, a city situated on the border of the United States and Mexico along the Rio Grande. The construction of urban history is shaped by changes in public space—its physical settings, access to residents, and utilization by people. The author analyzes the transformation of public spaces and public events of Laredo to trace how amnesia and remembering are reflected in the cityscape. Public events reproduce assorted versions of urban history and help scholars to locate what part of history is preserved and what part is erased in the collective psyche of the community. The visual history of public spaces and events thus conserves a narration of the past, one that shapes collective memory and self-image.
In this article, I seek to combine the two areas of popular cultural studies and urban social history through a study of what I call street culture, including the use of the street as a public
arena, changes in the regulation of the street and the popular response to these changes, and the redefinition of street politics during the decades immediately prior to the [Chinese] Revolution of 1911.
