We Were Illegal

Uncovering a Texas Family's Mythmaking and Migration

By: Jessica Goudeau

Narrated by: Jessica Goudeau

An award-winning author's deep exploration of pivotal moments in Texas history through multiple generations of her own family, and a ruthless reexamination of our national and personal myths

Seven generations of Jessica Goudeau’s family have lived in Texas, and her family’s legacy—a word she heard often growing up—was rooted in faith, right-living, and the hard work that built their great state. It wasn’t until her aunt mentioned a stowaway ancestor and she began to dig more deeply into the story of the land she lives on today in suburban Austin, that Goudeau discovered her family’s far more complicated role in Texas history: from a swindling land grant agent in the earliest days of Anglo settlement that brought slavery to Mexican land, up through her Texas Ranger great-uncle, who helped a sociopathic sheriff cover up mass murder.

Tracking her ancestors’ involvement in pivotal moments from before the Texas Revolution through today, We Were Illegal is at once an intimate and character-driven narrative and an insider’s look at a state that prides itself on its history. It is an act of reckoning and recovery on a personal scale, as well as a reflection of the work we all must do to dismantle the whitewashed narratives that are passed down through families, communities, and textbooks. And it is a story filled with hope—by facing these hypocrisies and long-buried histories, Goudeau explores with us how to move past this fractured time, take accountability for our legacy, and learn to be better, more honest ancestors.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF with a family tree.

Very good read

I really enjoyed this book. The author appears to have done extensive homework into a topic she feels personally invested in. The flow of the stories from one era to another is very good.

Understanding the cost of establishing and growing Texas into my 'Lone Star State', in terms of those who benefitted and those who lost, is well communicated. She conveys that history is not clean, and all who settled Texas did not wear white hats. However, she does not beat us over the head; instead, she wants us to be informed so we can understand the mosaic.

I would recommend reading 'Lone Star' by T.R. Fehrenbach as a contrasting book. It takes a macro view of the evolution of Texas. Further, he put it in terms of a primitive environment with competing and often hostile parties vying for territory.

Thank you Dr Goudeau!