How Silvia Hector Webber risked it all to guide escaped slaves to safety in Mexico
A Texas exhibit honors the life and work of Silvia Hector Webber, who became known as the "Harriet Tubman of Texas" for helping enslaved people flee the States.
ALAMO, Texas — Along the winding Rio Grande in South Texas lies a history many have never heard, of a southern route to freedom for enslaved people on the Underground Railroad into Mexico.
“It’s so close, but yet it was so far for so many people,” O.J. Trevino said, peering across the river at the Mexican side of the border from his family’s property. “Knowing that they just had to get there.”
Trevino, who grew up just 5 miles from the border, was shocked to learn that his fifth-great-grandmother helped ferry escapees across that river to freedom.
“I come from a Mexican family, but then to understand, she was formerly enslaved. They helped other people that were enslaved into freedom,” he said. “It’s a sense of pride knowing that you had family that did that.”
Dubbed the “Harriet Tubman of Texas,” her name was Silvia Hector Webber.
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