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| Africa's Legacy in Mexico in remeberance of "Mexican Independence Day" Sep. 16  "Virgin of the Canes," Corralero, Oaxaca, Mexico, 1987 WHAT IS A MEXICAN? Miriam Jimenez Roman Black people in Mexico? The looks of amazement and disbelief on the faces of first-time viewers of Tony Gleaton's photographs are eloquent testimony to the significance of these images. Particularly to those who have little or no knowledge about societies beyond the borders of the United States, these photographs are a revelation. They force us to rethink many of our preconceptions not only about our southern neighbor but more generally about issues such as race, ethnicity, culture, and national identity. Not long ago, on a hot and humid July day, I rode with friends to the town of Yanga, in the state of Veracruz on Mexico's gulf coast. In recent years, Yanga has received considerable attention as one of the Americas' earliest "maroon communities": settlements founded by fugitive slaves. Originally known as San Lorenzo de los Negros, in 1932 the town was renamed for its founder, a rebellious Muslim man from what is now Nigeria. In 1609, after resisting recapture for 38 years, Yanga negotiated with the Spaniards to establish a free black community.  "Embrace of Memory," Cuajinicuilapa, Mexico, 1990 Today a recently erected statue of Yanga stands on the outskirts of the town, more a testimony to the persistence of a few Mexican anthropologists who "re-discovered" the place than to the historical memory of its founders' descendants. For as I strolled through the area and talked to the residents, and saw the evidence of an African past in their faces, I discovered that they have little more than amused curiosity about the outsiders who express interest in that past. Yanga's people have quite simply been living their lives as they always have, making the adjustments necessary in a changing world and giving little thought to an aspect of their history for which they are now being celebrated. The story of Yanga and his followers is remarkable for being so typical: The town's relative isolation is the reason for its founding and for its continued existence as a predominately black enclave. Fugitive slave communities were commonly established in difficult-to-reach areas in order to secure their inhabitants from recapture. But their physical isolation has also led to their being ignored. Particularly since the Revolution (1910-29), the Yangas of Mexico--most found dispersed throughout the states of Veracruz on the gulf coast and Oaxaca and Guerrero south of Acapulco--have been out of sight and out of mind, generally considered unworthy of any special attention. (1, 2) Mexico's African presence has been relegated to an obscured slave past, pushed aside in the interest of a national identity based on a mixture of indigenous and European cultural mestizaje. In practice, this ideology of "racial democracy" favors the European presence; too often the nation's glorious indigenous past is reduced to folklore and ceremonial showcasing. But the handling of the African "third root" is even more dismissive. For all intents and purposes the biological, cultural, and material contributions of more than 200,000 (3) Africans and their descendants to the formation of Mexican society do not figure in the equation at all. Because they live as their neighbors live, carry out the same work, eat the same foods, and make the same music, it is assumed that blacks have assimilated into "Mexican" society. The truth of the matter is, they are Mexican society. The historical record offers compelling evidence that Africans and their descendants contributed enormously to the very formation of Mexican culture. When Yanga and his followers founded their settlement , the population of Mexico City consisted of approximately 36,000 Africans, 116,000 persons of African ancestry, and only 14,000 (4) Europeans. Escaped slaves added to the overwhelming numbers in the cities, establishing communities in Oaxaca as early as 1523. Beyond their physical presence, Africans and their descendants interacted with indigenous and European peoples in forging nearly every aspect of society. Indeed, the states of Guerrero and Morelos bear the names of two men of African ancestry, heroes of the war of independence that made possible the founding of the republic of Mexico in 1821. It is within this context that we must view Tony Gleaton's photographs. The people in these images, ignored in the past, now run the risk of being exoticized, of being brought forward to applaud their "Africanness" while ignoring their "Mexicanness." The faces of these children and grandmothers should remind us of the generations that preceded them. But we must not relegate them to history. As always, they remain active participants in their world. To understand the implications of the people of Yanga--and of Cuajinicuilapa, El Ciruelo, Corralero, and other like communities--we must go beyond physical appearance, cease determining the extent of Africa's influence simply by how much one "looks" African, and go forward to critically examine what indeed is Mexico and who are the Mexicans. So, yes, there are black people in Mexico. We may marvel at these relatively isolated communities that can still be found along the Pacific and gulf coasts. But of greater significance is recognizing the myriad forms that mark the African presence in Mexican culture, past and present, many of which remain to be discovered by people such as Tony Gleaton and ourselves and certainly by the Mexican people.  Notes 1. There are notable exceptions to this lack of attention. The anthropologist Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran's seminal works ("La Poblacion Negra de Mexico, 1519-1810." Mexico: Ediciones Fuente Cultural, 1946; and "Cuijla: Esbozo Etnografico de un Pueblo Negro." Veracruz, Mexico: Universidad Veracruzana, 1989) remain among the most important on the subject. Doubtless influenced by the interest in Africans and their descendants in other parts of the world, during the past decade a small but significant group of Mexican intellectuals have begun focusing on black Mexicans. Back 2. It is true that the state of Veracruz (and especially the port city of the same name) is generally recognized as having "black" people. In fact, there is a widespread tendency to identify all Mexicans who have distinctively "black" features as coming from Veracruz. In addition to its relatively well-known history as a major slave port, Veracruz received significant numbers of descendants of Africa from Haiti and Cuba during the latter nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Back 3. It is impossible to arrive at precise figures on the volume of enslaved Africans brought to Mexico or the rest of the Americas. Hungry for slaves and eager to avoid payment of duties, traders and buyers often resorted to smuggling. The 200,000 figure is generally recognized as a conservative estimate. Back 4. The source of these figures is the census of 1646 of Mexico City, as reported by Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran in "La Poblacion Negra de Mexico" (p. 237). These approximate figures include as persons of African ancestry only those designated as "Afromestizos," in accordance with the caste-system definitions at the time. The census indicates that there were also more than a million indigenous peoples. In fact, such precise definitions were almost impossible to make, and it is highly probable that the categories "Euromestizos" and "Indomestizos" also included persons of African descent. Back The Black Commentator - Issue 182 - May 4, 2006 Africa's Legacy Black Mexico Homepage Racial AmnesiaAfrican Puerto Rico & Mexico By: Ted Vincent Racial Amnesia BLACK/ BROWN: SHARED LINEAGE IN MEXICO PERTINENT LINKS DALLAS MORNING NEWS ARCHIVES African Roots Stretch Deep into Mexico Racial Amnesia--African Puerto Rico and Mexico Jos Mara Morelos y Pavn Jos Mara Teclo MORELOS y PAVN Blacks in Mexico - A Brief Overview Morelos (y Pavn), Jos Mara VICENTE GUERRERO:---President: April 1 - December 31 1829 Vicente Guerrero Vicente Guerrero-2nd Pres. of Mexico Afro-Mexicans of the Costa Chica Current: Black Racial Identity in Mexico Grounded Networks
================================================== ==== The Dallas Morning News 02-19-2001 Page 20A Black/Brown History There's a shared lineage in Mexico Blacks to the continent/To the New World you have given/The salt that was missing. Without black people the drums don't breathe/And without black people the guitars don't sound. - Pablo Neruda. Black history month, which is February, is for Mexicans, too. That may seem counter-intuitive since conventional wisdom holds that the vast majority of Mexicans are Indian or Mestizo (mixture of Indian or European). But things are not always as they seem. And so it is with the notion of the Mexican gene pool. For it is a barely acknowledged fact that the blood of black Africans also runs strongly through most Mexicans, according to Jose Antonio MacGregor Campuzano, a Mexico City anthropologist who spoke during Teatro Dallas' ongoing international theater festival. In the 17th century the population of New Spain, or what today is Mexico, was 3 million Indians, 1 million black African slaves and about 150,000 Spaniards. Most of the blacks were concentrated around the Caribbean coastal state of Veracruz and the Pacific coastal states of Oxaca and Guerrero. What happened to all those black Mexicans? Dr. MacGregor who works for Mexico's National Council for Culture and the Arts, says that they intermarried with Indians and Europeans and were eventually absorbed into the Indian and mestizo populations.The physical features of their descendants are especially evident in the people of the coastal states. The cultures that they brought from Africa are present in traditional Mexican music and dance. It is good that Mexico embraces its racial and ethnic past. ================================================== ===== HISPANIC Magazine FORUM By Antonia Marta Borrero Every time I hear the cry, Que Viva la Madre Espaa, I translate it in my mind to Que Viva la Madre Africa. Why? Because as an Afro Latina, I know that the African heritage has made Latinos what they are today. People of African descent have helped to mold the history, culture, religion, language, diet, music, literature, and psyche of every Latin nation. Yet too often we are invisible to our fellow Latinos and unacknowledged as being an essential element within our common culture and history. Ask most Latinos whether there's discrimination against black Latinos, and they will deny it. And yet, in most Latin societies, dark-skinned people are at the bottom of the ladder. At the same time, Latinos of African descent (from baseball great Sammy Sosa to Puerto Rican freedom fighter Pedro Albizu Campos and musician Juan Morell Campos) are revered for their accomplishments. We dance to the African-derived rhythms of tango and salsa, listen to the Moorish cante hondo style of the Gypsy Kings, or carry the Yoruba Orisha beads of Santera under our three-piece suits. The dichotomy is everywhere, especially in the media, where our printed and televised images portray Latinos as white Spanish Europeans, when in fact our culture, history, and people are more complex. Whether white or of mixed race, Latinos should not leave the African part of their psyche and culture behind. As Venezuelan patriot Simn Bolvar, a mulatto often held in contempt by "pure blooded" Spaniards, once said: "We are no longer European, just as Spain is no longer (just) European, because of its African blood, character, and institutions." It was the Africans in Spain (through eight centuries of Moorish rule from 710 A.D. to 1492 A.D.) who brought that country out of barbarism. Eurocentric scholars may claim that Moors were not black or mulatto, but Caucasian, but the truth is that the word Moor was synonymous with "black" in medieval times. There is a large body of evidence from tradition, history, art, and literature pointing to that reality. Much of what we consider to be the height of Spanish culture was built, influenced, or introduced by Moors (from cante hondo and Spanish architecture to flamenco and medicine.) They advanced our knowledge of astronomy, chemistry, medicine, physics, mathematics, geography, and economic theory. Moors built irrigation systems and introduced the manufacture of gunpowder. Perhaps most tellingly, Spanish Moors built more than 70 public libraries and seventeen great universities, when all of Europe had only two centers of learning and 99 percent of the European population could neither read nor write. In the new world, Latinos of African descent have played an important role in every phase of Hispanic history, from Pedro Alonso Nio, the great African navigator who piloted one of the Christopher Columbus' ships, to Vicente Guerrero, known as the Black Warrior, who fought in Mexico's war of independence and later became Mexico's second president. Guerrero abolished slavery in 1829. History does not substantiate the invisible second-class role Latinos of color often occupy in the rhythm of Hispanic life. This problem is deep, complex, and hypocritical, but like all family problems, only when we acknowledge it can we get on the road to recovery. Hispanic Americans have entered the new millennium as the fastest-growing minority group in the nation, and it's time to leave the stereotypes behind and acknowledge our story fully. It's time to honor the African current that has given so much substance to our collective identity and that, along with our Spanish and Indian roots, is one of our great binding legacies. Once the subject of whispered conversations, Latinos' African heritage needs to be recognized as a legitimate and important part of Hispanic history and life. Every element of our population contributes to the whole: We're Indian, African, Spanish, and now American. The mix is powerful: It is us. It is Hispanic culture. H Borrero dedicates this article to the memory of "my first black Spanish history teacher: my father, Heriberto Borrero." ================================================== ===== Ishmael Reed's Konch magazine Racial Amnesia--African Puerto Rico and Mexico by Ted Vincent The border agent was bothering an immigrant, and the aggrieved party declared, "You can't hassle me, I'm Puerto Rican." The agent replied, "I don't care what kind of Mexican you are. " Puerto Rico and Mexico share the dubious honor of being the two Latin American nations that have been forced to send the largest numbers of their citizens to the racist exploitative United States. The light-hued immigrants from each country tend to have money and they pass into the North American mainstream rather easily, leaving the dark Puerto Rican and Mexican to work for starvation wages--and be hassled by " la migra." In cities of the mid-west where the two nationalities often share the same neighborhood, the dark Puerto Rican will make introductions with a Mexican neighbor saying, "I am Puerto Rican," and the dark Mexican will respond, "and I am Mexican." Neither African nor Indigenous roots will be mentioned. The national pride of the two neighbors cloaks difficulties in both Puerto Rico and Mexico in acknowledging non-white roots. Puerto Rico and Mexico took different paths to achieve their racial denial. Puerto Rico has denial in an essentially black-white two race situation. A report in the 1560s said there were 15,000 black slaves and some 500 Spaniards on the island. As Jack D. Forbes has pointed out, Spanish head counts were always inaccurate. In this case, many of the "blacks" were mixed race children or grandchildren of the native Puerto Ricans, and a small handful of the latter still survived in 1560. Mexico has a three race situation, counting the Indigenous, the whites and the descendants of the estimated 250,000 to 500,000 African slaves brought to colonial Mexico by the Spaniards. And Mexico has a four race situation if one adds in the descendants of the estimated 100,000 Asian slaves brought to Mexico on the colonial Manilla to Acapulco route. Since the law decreed that only Africans could be slaves, and the Spanish wanted more slaves, the Asians were declared Africans. Most were dark, having been captured in parts of Asia where people are dark complexioned, such as Malaysia, New Guinea, and the southern Phillipine Islands, including the island of Negros, so named because the Negritos lived there. Puerto Rico gradually acquired white settlers in large numbers, and with consideration that Spanish census counts were inexact, we find that in 1827 in Puerto Rico the 159,527 African people (black and mixed), were only 49% of the total island population. A Spanish census made in Mexico in 1910 on the eve of its independence war showed 634,461 African people (real African and dark Asian). This was 10.2 % of the population. The native Mexicans were 60%, so-called whites were 18% and the rest mixed Indian and white. Racial amnesia over African roots is common in Latin America, and usually can be traced to the master slave relationship, which even after slavery is abolished leaves a belief among many dark complexioned Latin Americans that a successful life is one in which the children are lighter hued. Mexico puts an unusual twist on the Latin drift toward being white. In Mexico it is o. k. to stop at brown on the way to becoming white. Mexico calls itself "the cosmic race." A hospital certificate given to parents of new-borns at a large Mexico City hospital says, "Congratulations on your addition to our bronze race." Notes William Nelson in a 1997 study comparing racial attitudes of Mexico and Brazil, "Although Mexican culture has elements of racism, the concept of mestizaje - the idea of the goodness of being classed as racially mixed" is strong and contrasts sharply with Brazil, "where the population is increasingly collectively desirous of the white label... which points toward an ideal of being light rather than brown." In all of Latin America, Mexico is the only country with a national culture. Everyone else has a folk culture. In Cuba and Brazil people get down with the folk through African culture. In Peru and Guatemala people get down with Indigenous culture. In Puerto Rico, there is the Le Lo Lai Festival of folks songs and dances that "showcase the European and AfroAntillean heritage of the island. " Mexico has MEXICO! It has taken national culture to a higher level. It has its Indigenous "folk dances, " but it has a commercialized hybrid pop culture on top. Mexico's "high class" Ballet company doesn't do the Nutcracker. It is the Ballet Folklorico that raises, folk into high class "art. " Mexican dance is women twirling in skirts of beautiful Indigenous color patterns to rhythms of Africa that are stomped out on a "tarima" sound box, that is adapted from the African sound box used by rhythmic dancers there. Mexico is "La Bamba," which in beat and phrasing defies modern musicologists. This quintesenttial "Mexican" song and dance is too old for their analysis. It is dated to at least 1683 and historians show it was the creation of blacks in Veracruz who came from the town of MBamba in Angola, in that nation's district of Bamba. Puerto Rico was held back in terms of cultural originality by the presence of a large white population that was happy with culture dictated from Europe. Mexico had a complex enough racial mix to create a new social synthesis. Africans in Mexico, in general, internalized the colonial master and slave self-depreciation only part way, only far enough to "pass" out of African identity. But they did not become white. They looked around and saw a huge Indian majority. And in a number of regions of Mexico, and under certain conditions that favored black and Indian alliance, there occurred what happened in the climatic scene in the film about the U.S. west, BUCK AND THE PREACHER. The black cowboys Sidney Poitier (Buck) and Harry Bellefonte (the Preacher) have battled the whites the whole movie. They are on the run and outnumbered, and it looks as if the whites will finally win out. Then on the horizon there appears a sea of Indians, friends of Buck and the Preacher. The two black heroes and the Indigenous unite and chase away the whites. Buck and the Preacher had horses and guns. They were free. One would hope that liberation would overcome self-depreciation, and there would be acceptance of the vibrant plus that being African brings to life. But freedom in our racist world is, apparently, not enough. Puerto Rico and Mexico are countries where most blacks were free from the shackles of slavery by around 1800. In Puerto Rico in 1827 only 32,000 Africans were in bondage, 21 % of their total. In Mexico in 1810 only 15,000 were in bondage, 2.5% of all Africans. The small number of slaves in Puerto Rico was related to the absence of a large sugar industry - - farms were small. They were effectively handled by free labor, and they produced food for some of the nearby slave islands, where life was marked by gangs of chattel suffering on agribusiness style plantations. An 1834 appraisal by a Britisher wished Puerto Rico luck in avoiding the profiteers who might turn it into another sugar island. Slavery declined in Mexico for three main reasons. First, manumission was encouraged by slave rebellions and the ease of slave flight into unconquered Indigenous lands. Second, Africans showed during the first decades of Spanish conquest that they could be quite useful when free. Freedom papers for becming translators was one case. Africans learned Indigenous languages far easier than did Europeans, said Spanish, English and Dutch reports. And according to a Spanish slave ship captain, slaves allowed on deck during the middle passage would learn Spanish before his ship reached the Americas. (Perhaps African language ability was related to attention to sound structure which came from African emphasis upon music? Perhaps becoming translators was simply a case of the African putting in extra effort so as to obtain a job that wasn't field labor? Perhaps Africans learned Indian languages more easily than did whites because the Indians, prefered to talk to their fellow oppressed and helped the Africans along? Whatever the reason, someone needs to explain this language knack to those school teachers in U.S. public schools who claim that blacks can't learn). In regard to abilities, the bulk of the slaves brought to Mexico in chains from Africa had seen cows and horses. The Indigenous were unfamiliar with these animals, as they were with the use of the wheel and many European tools, about which African immigrants were often acquainted. The skilled cattle hand from Africa soon won freedom. The slave on horseback tended to be a slave who disappeared. Within a century of the landing of Hernando Cortez and his conquistadors, Afro-Mexicans were a very disproportionately high percentage of the Mexican cowboys, and they practically dominated the all important mule driving business -- which compares to today's big-rig truck driving business. In the colony's all important mining industry, a labor force of free Africans and Indigenous peasants gradually replaced most of the slave labor. The third reason for the manumission trend in Mexico was related to the second. Mexico was by far the wealthiest of Spain's colonies. The wealth of the mines and large haciendas supported an elite that was large enough to isolate itself and forego much of the skilled labor needed in the colony, and to leave that labor to others (to free blacks, for instance). The size of the basically white elite of Mexico influenced how the nation's combined majority of Indigenous and Afro-Mexicans related to one another, and in certain areas, and under certain conditions, were able to unite. The Mexican elite had mansions, a university, monasteries, numerous cities to visit in, great governmental buildings to hang out in, and had the bishop's cloister for social teas and poetry readings. A tight and exclusive circle of wealthy whites and their lackeys hid in the mansions drinking Spanish wine, eating white bread rolls, and practicing the "Minuet.' Out in the town square, the dark hued people created Mexico, with tequilla, tortillas and La Bamba. When opportunity arose to strike for political independence large numbers of blacks and Indians had a common culture and life-style to fight for. It was a world that the Spanish had tried to repress. Blacks were hardly off the slave boats in Mexico when the Viceroy issued his first edict against black musicians, in 1537. The bans continued, but the party was still going in 1802 when the Viceroy issued a ban on that years hit song, an "Jarabe" that allegedly caused delinquent behavior and exhibited licentious African body movements. In terms of wealthy whites, colonial Puerto Rico produced little "surplus wealth" around which an elite could function. The whole island developed but one legitimate city, San Juan, which was actually but a small town that was isolated out on a spit of land across from Puerto Rico proper. Puerto Rico did not have a distinct Indian population around which blacks could juxtapose themselves and the whites. After the native Borinquens fought and lost a great battle with the Spaniards in 1510, their men were mostly killed off, or escaped to other islands, while many of their women ended up making families with black slaves, or with a conquistador. Without a sizable Indian presence Puerto Rico fell into the standard white master/black subject relationship, even without slavery. The African in Puerto Rico who sought mobility through a skilled labor position had to compete with those within the large white community who wanted those jobs. The wars of the decade of 1810 that brought independence to most of Spanish America left Puerto Rico in Spanish hands. During the 1810 wars great numbers of Spaniards fled the nations that were becoming free. Many thousands in this exodus resettled in Puerto Rico. The presence of zealous pro-Spain whites on the island dampened prospects for black militancy. And Puerto Rican radicalism was further weakened by a comparatively easy going, almost pre-capitalist way of life on the island, which encouraged intermarriage and a loose attention to caste law, which resulted in children of whites and mulattos being labeled "Espanol" (that is an increase in number of whites). In succeeding decades the notion that the people of the island were Puerto Ricans first, and a given race second, was fostered both by whites of wealth, who used the idea to deflect anger of the basically black peasantry, and by those who wanted Puerto Rico to gets its independence. The leaders of a brief rebellion for independence in 1868 declared that any slave who joined the rebellion was thereby free. The revolt was quickly suppressed, but the1868 effort at national unity for independence frightened the Spaniards into reforms. Slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico in 1873. The Puerto Rican uprising of 1868 was largely an effort of paternalistically minded whites. In Mexico in 1810, by way of contrast, the masses themselves produced independence leaders. An alliance of Afro-Mexicans, Indigenous and a few white intellectuals launched the war to oust the Spaniards with demands that all slaves be freed immediately, "under penalty of death for non-compliance" by the slave masters. Fear of the "ejercito moreno" (dark army) of Mexican peasants drove the White Mexican elite to rally around the resident Spaniards in defense of Crown and profit. The "ejercito moreno" fought on and eventually won independence. Of three heroes of the Mexican independence war to have states created in their names, two were AfroMexicans -- the ex-muleteer turned village- priest Jose Marra Morelos y Pavon, and the muleteer Vicente Guerrero. The third was the white radical, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costillo. At least 10 Afro-Mexican military heroes of the 1810 war have had cities named in their honor. Slavery was abolished in Mexico in 1829 by decree of the first of at least four Afro-Mexican presidents: Vicente Guerrero. Eight years earlier Guerrero was the Commander-in Chief of the Mexican independence army and led negotiations that created the peace Plan of Iguala of February 24, 1821 which led to independence six months later. As president, Guerrero led a political faction dedicated to throwing out the resident Spaniards. Guerreroistas raised nationalistic slogans, and called themselves "the Aztec," "Another Aztec," and "the Commanchie, " etc. A reactionary critic said that Guerrero's political activists were but a bunch of "blacks and mulattos" who believed they could get ahead by "passing for Indian." A look at racial roots of the Guerreroistas, shows that, a few intellectuals aside, the critic was essentially correct. Guerrero only became president because Afro-Mexican military and/or political leaders in six key states and the capital allowed and/or orchestrated street demonstrations and riots that overturned the initial election returns that had declared Guerrero's conservative opponent Gomez Pedraza the winner. The anti-Spanish campaign of the self-proclaimed "more Mexican" than the opposition Guerreroistas, bore fruit and many Spaniards were expelled, some of them seeking refuge in Puerto Rico. Mexican history is as much a story of social conflict and revolutions as Puerto Rican history is that of a respite from the traumas of the hemisphere. If "revolution" generates consciousness then Mexico should have much more African consciousness than it has shown. The masses rose up against the Mexican racist elite in 1810-1821, 1830-1831, 1854-1867, 1910 to around 1920, and in regional form over many more years, including 1994 to the present in the state of Chiapas. Mexicans with African heritage made a disproportionately high contribution during the revolution for independence, and continued in subsequent upheavals. The 1830-1831 fight was over the ouster of Guerrero from the presidency, and his defenders were heavily Afro-Mexican. The 1854-1867 struggle was launched by a half dozen militant commanders who included the old Guerreroistas, Juan Alvarez (the second "Black President" of Mexico) and Gordiano Guzman (for whom Ciudad Guzman is named). In the 1910 revolution, there is substantial evidence that Emiliano Zapata had an African heritage, and a major biography and other data show that the nationalizer of oil, President Lazaro Cardenas came from "mulatto" roots. Today, Cardenas' son Cuauhtemoc, is the twice presidential candidate of the left-opposition and is mayor of Mexico City, while a great-great-great-great grandson of President Guerrero is a prominent journalist on the left, Raymundo Riva Palacio. African heritage is being overlooked in Mexico, in part as consequence of the national ideal of an amalgamated "cosmic" or "bronze" race. With the argument, "we are all mestizos," Mexico overlooks even its obvious Indigenous heritage, except when radicals launch one of their periodic "Indigenismo" movements. The scholar Guillermo Bonfil Batalla pointed out in the late 1980s that since the time of Guerrero, there has been much radical play-acting at being "Indian," while actual Indian culture and life-style is ignored. Also ignored is the vibrant mix in the world of Mexico that grew in the shadow of the mansion. Recent studies have shown African contributions to Mexican music, dance, cuisine, marriage customs, medical practices, architecture, and language (the Mexican f-verb chingar coming from Angola). Denial of black roots is convienently congruent with the Latin American attitude that what is best for the family is children who are lighter than grandma or grandpa. Supposedly, Puerto Rico with its nationalism and Mexico with its "cosmic race" are beyond the mentality of this grangy "pigmentocracy." But Puerto Rico and Mexico are socially complex, and contradictory ideas can easily exist side by side. Moreover, the flight to the United States by impoverished Puerto Ricans and Mexicans has put them in contact with that virulent puss filled and thoroughly metastasized U.S. cancer: anti-black racism.  ================================================== ===== graces@angelfire.com Mexico's forgotten race steps into spotlight Mexico's forgotten race steps into spotlight | World news | The Guardian A row with the US has highlighted the discrimination faced by black population
Breaking off from his daily ritual, he looks into the distance and recalls the stories his grandparents used to tell him about how his ancestors arrived in the area on a ship that sank off the coast. They did not say where the ship came from, but now the 50-year-old knows, he says, that it was filled with slaves from Africa. Pointing out the natural beauty around him with understated head gestures, Mr. Garcia pronounces: "I like being black." But his pride in the colour of his skin soon runs up against a jarring contradiction. He says he is happy that the number of mixed marriages in his community is rising fast. "That's a good thing," the fisherman says, "it improves the race, cleans the blood." His statement betrays what many see as the limitations on advancement and the realities of life for Mexico's black population. They are few in number and rarely mentioned, but they are always there. They are there, for example, behind the bizarre international row about racism that is souring relations between Mexico and the US. That row erupted when President Vicente Fox announced in May that Mexican migrants in the US were doing jobs "not even blacks" would do. There were barbed comments from the White House, outrage among African-American activists and a half-hearted apology from the Mexican government. The tension worsened last week with the issue of a series of stamps honouring a popular 1950s cartoon figure called Memin Pinguin, a little black boy drawn with exaggerated features, thick lips and wide-open eyes. Vehement complaints from the US that the stamps were racist sparked a nationalistic backlash, with public figures from across the Mexican political spectrum rushing to defend Memin, and the public rushing to buy up the stamps. Memin is lovable, they insist. They add that it is silly to get upset about a cartoon, and after all Mexicans are not racist because most have mixed European and indigenous ancestry and consider themselves "brown". But throughout the row there has been barely a reference to the fact that Mexico also has a black population and a black history. "This is the one community that is not recognised nationally. Indigenous groups are worse off in many ways, but at least they are paid lip service," said Bobby Vaughn, an African-American anthropologist who specialises in the Costa Chica. "Mexicans of African descent have no voice and the government makes no attempt to assess their needs, no effort to even count them." Colonial records show that around 200,000 slaves were imported into "New Spain" in the 16th and 17th centuries to work in the silver mines, sugar plantations and cattle ranches. For centuries this ensured that there were more black than white people here. The demise of Mexican slavery, just when the trade in other parts of the continent was getting going, helped the descendants of slaves rise to prominence early on, including two of the main leaders of the independence struggle at the beginning of the 19th century. But independence also put the black population on the road to invisibility with the drive to eliminate ethnic distinctions and build a national identity on the idea of mestizaje, or mixed race. The African part of Mexico's story was relegated to a few sentences in school books, where it is likely to remain unless the mestizaje concept is to be redefined again. Some observers say Mexico's African past has been buried so deep that even black Mexicans on the Costa Chica are only just beginning to hear about it. "We don't know what race we are, all we know is that we are black," said Saturnino Castaneda. "Now people talk about us coming from Africa, but I don't know if that is true or just a story." After five centuries of intermarriage, identifiably black Mexicans are only found in the Costa Chica and in the state of Veracruz, where their persistence is related to proximity to the Caribbean. In the Costa Chica it is due to the region's near-total isolation, as well as feuds between the local indigenous and black populations. But things began to change with the arrival of a coastal road in the mid-1960s, cutting the journey time to Acapulco, the nearest city, from a week on a donkey to three hours in a bus. Electricity and television soon followed, and today the internet is making inroads. One consequence is a new groundswell of consciousness within the community about their identity as Mexicans of African descent. "When we never left the region we didn't have to explain ourselves to anybody, but when we started to go elsewhere we did," says Eduardo Anorve, a moderate in the movement. He wants the text books rewritten and the constitution reformed to recognise Afro-Mexicanos as a distinct ethnic group. A more radical group of activists has focused on reaching out to the African diaspora rather than seeking entrance into the Mexican mestizaje family. "You have to peel away 500 years of history, peel our minds of all the prejudices to see who they really are," says Father Glyn Jommett, a Trinidadian priest who is a key figure in the movement. Both branches have their work cut out. The moderates can point to some minor advances in education and legal reform but little else. The radicals, meanwhile, are racing against time trying to instill a black identity before the population intermarries itself out of existence. Meanwhile the vast majority of Mexicans remains loyal to a traditional concept of mestizaje that by definition denies the existence and importance of black people in their country, and has now put them on a crash course with those in their northern neighbour. BLACK HISTORY MONTH: AFRO-MEXICANS Jump to Comments Afro-Mexicans. Theirs is a unique and unknown history that sadly many people are unaware of, especially the two groups of people who need to learn of them the most: Black Americans and Mexican-Americans. I have known of the Afro-Mexicans for over 20 years, and th eir history should be championed and given to the world. With the strained relationships that exist now between Afro-Americans and Mexican Americans, many people in both groups do not realize that there was a time when relationships between black and brown were positive with the coalitions between blacks and browns dating back centuries. But, with some gang warfare (California) and ethnic tensions (all across America) that is occurring between Latinos and blacks, many people would think that blacks and Latinos never had a history of solidarity together. From the ancient Africans who journeyed to Mexico before the coming of Columbus, from the days of slavery, when slaves in Texas were able to escape slavery and run across the border to freedom in Mexico, when Mexicans in Texas participated in the underground railroad to shuttle black slaves to freedom in Mexico, when Latinos risked their lives and property to give shelter and protection to Black Americans who were trying to escape death from vicious race mobs in the Greenwood/Tulsa, OK race massacreblack people and Latinos had a more positive relationship in the past than the one they have now. Much of that ignorance of this historical relationship has been erased from the history books in Mexico or not put into history books at all in America. Blacks and Latinos have a rich heritage that needs to be recognized by both groups and no where is this more needed than in the country of the origin of this relationship: Mexico. Not only should black and brown Americans learn of their history together, so too, should the country of Mexico. Mexico should not only be proud of its Indigenous and Spanish bloodit should also be proud of its African blood, and thus its black history as well. There has been a tremendous black influence in Mexico, and some of it was before the escaped slaves found refuge in Mexico during the inhumanity of Americas chattel slavery of the peculiar institution, but, there was black history and black presence in Mexico before Columbus. Ivan Van Sertima in his famous book, They Came Before Columbus, spoke of the African presence in Mexico and the historical artifacts that lay claim to the legacy of that presence as seen in the towering Olmec heads of Mexico. Many people cannot picture, nor fathom an African presence in the Americas, but Van Sertima and others are finding evidence that does prove that Africans made it to the Americas and definitely left an imprint of themselves on the native peoples. Here is an excerpt of my essay on the African presence in the Americas: And just as the history of native peoples in the Americas has been thoroughly white-washed, the history of black America, both pre-slavery, and after slavery is practically written out of Americas history books. Especially, the pre-slavery history: -Islamic historians have recorded histories of voyages west from Mali in West Africa around 1311, during the reign of Mansa Bakari II. (5) -African pilots helped Prince Henry the Navigators ship captains learn their way down the coast of Africa; -in 1526, 500 Spaniards and 100 black slaves founded a town near the Pee Dee River in what is present-day South Carolina. The slaves rebelled, killed some of their masters, and escaped to the Indians. By then only 150 Spaniards survived, and they retreated to Haiti. The ex-slaves remained behind and probably merged with nearby Indian nations. -1,000 BCE 300 AD, evidence of Afro-Phonecians is found in Central America.  If Columbus is especially relevant to western Europeans and the Vikings to Scandinavians, what is the meaning to black Americans of the pre-Colombian voyagers from Africa?After visiting the Von Wuthenau museum in Mexico City, the Afro-Carib scholar Tiho Narva wrote, With his unique collection surrounding me, I had an eerie feeling that veils obscuring the past had been torn asunder.Somehow, upon leaving the museum I suddenly felt that I could walk taller for the rest of my days. (5) As with the Norse and European, including the Afro-Phonecians gives a more complete and complex picture of the past, showing that navigation and exploration did not begin with Europe in the 1400s. Unlike the Norse, the Afro-phonecians seem to have made a permanent impact on the Americas. The huge stone statues in Mexico imply as much. (5) American history textbooks promote the belief that most important developments in world history are traceable to Europe. To grant too much human potential and endeavors to pre-Columbian Africans would definately jar European American sensibilities. As Samuel Marble put it: The possibility of African discovery of America has never been a tempting one for American historians. (5) It is in contradiction to the most elementary logic and to all artistic experience that an Indian could depict in a masterly way the head of a Negro without missing a single racial characteristic, unless he had actually seen such a person. The types of people depicted must have lived in America. . . .The Negroid element is well proven by the large Olmec stone monuments as well as the terracotta items and therefore cannot be excluded from the pre-columbian history of the Americas. Alexander Von Wuthenau, The Art of Terracotta Pottery in Pre-Columbian South and Central America (5) The negro started his career in America not as a slave, but as a master. -R. A. JAIRAZBHOY, Ancient Egyptians and Chinese in America (5) http://kathmanduk2.wordpress.com/2007/10/09/in-1492-columbus-sailed-the-ocean-blue/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Monument 1, one of the four Olmec colossal heads at La Venta. This one measures nearly 3 meters (9 ft.) tall.  Colossal Olmec head No. 6 from San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, taken at the Museum of Anthropology at Xalapa, Vera Cruz, Mexico. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That the pre-slavery history of blacks in the Americas is not known is bad enough; that the later history during the time of Americas slavery era is not known, is unconscionable. Black Americans, Mexican-Americans and Mexicans need to know of this history. There has been an important existence of a black African presence in Mexico. There is Gaspar Yanga, an Afro-Mexican who is never mentioned in history books in America, and most probably not mentioned in Mexican history textbooks. Gaspar Yanga was a leader of a slave rebellion in Mexico during the early period of Spanish colonial rule. Said to be a member of the royal family of Gabon, Yanga came to be the head of a band of revolting slaves near Veracruz around 1570. Escaping to the difficult highlands, he and his people built a small free colony. For more than 30 years it grew, partially surviving by capturing caravans bringing goods to Veracruz. However, in 1609 the Spanish colonial government set itself to regain control of the territory. Yanga was made a national hero of Mexico by the diligent work of Vicente Riva Palacio. The influential Riva Palacio (grandson of Mexicos Black President, Vicente Guerrero) was an historian, novelist, short story writer, military general and mayor of Mexico City during his long life. In the late 1860s he retrieved from moldy Inquisition archives accounts of Yanga and of the expedition against him. From his research, he brought the story to the public in an anthology in 1870, and as a separate pamphlet in 1873. Reprints have followed, including a recent edition in 1997. Others have written about Yanga, but none have matched the flair of Riva Palacio in conveying the image of proud fugitives who would not be defeated.  A statue of Gaspar Yanga, located in the town of Yanga, Veracruz. Other Afro-Mexicans practically many people know nothing of are Vicente Guerreo and Jose Morelos:  Portrait of Vicente Ramon Guerrero Saldana, Mexican president. Vicente Ramn Guerrero Saldaa (August 10, 1782 February 14, 1831) was a Mexican revolutionary leader and president. He was one of the main rebel leaders of the War of Independence who fought against Spain for independence in the early 19th century; and an early President of Mexico. Guerrero was born in the town of Tixtla, some 100 km inland from the port of Acapulco, in the Sierra Madre del Sur. He belonged to a poor rural family of mixed Spanish, Amerindian and African ancestry. He was the grandfather of the Mexican politician and intellectual Vicente Riva Palacio. And Jose Maria-Morelos:  Portrait of Jose Maria Teclo Morelos y Pavon Jos Mara Teclo Morelos y Pavn (September 30, 1765, Valladolid, now Morelia, Michoacn December 22, 1815, San Cristbal Ecatepec, State of Mxico) was a Mexican priest and revolutionary rebel leader who led the Mexican War of Independence movement, assuming its leadership after the execution of Miguel Hidalgo in 1811. He was later captured by the Spanish colonial authorities and executed for treason in 1815.  Statue of Morelos at Janitzio, Michoacan. In the early Spanish conquest of the Americas, Spainiards who came to America during the time of colonial conquest, brought African slaves with them mainly for labor and as military soldiers/guards. Since the Spanish and Africans came to the Americas with no women, they began to mix with the native Indigenous women. Slavery in the Americas began with the Spanish enslaving the native peoples, but the priest Bartolomeo de las Casas saw the cruelty in this type of slavery, and advocated the enslavement of black Africans. When he saw how barbaric slavery was towards the black Africans, he lobbied for the abolition of slavery of black slaves. During the days of colonial domination, Spanish enslavement of blacks grew hellish and this maltreatment of the slaves formented rebellions, most notably the rebellion led by Gaspar Yanga and Francisco de la Matosa, in 1609. After fierce battles, Yanga came to negotiate a peace with the viceroy Luis de Velasco. A black community, called San Lorenzo (Later renamed Yanga) was founded and still exists; it would be the first of several. But this would not stop the brutalities committed by the Spanish. The Spanish authorities suspected a new rebellion, and in 1612, they imprisoned, tortured and executed 33 slaves (twenty nine males and four women). Their heads were cut off and remained in the main square of Mexico City for a long time as an example. There were also some persons of African descent who were not made slaves. These were the descendants of slaves who escaped their slave-masters in the sugar cane farms in United States, especially Texas, and settled as free people in Coahuila in the nineteenth century. Mexico also experienced a settlement of thousands of Black Seminoles, who are descendants of free and escaped Africans who married Native Americans of Seminole ancestry. These settlers also escaped their slave-masters in Oklahoma Indian Territory and made a free African village in Nacimiento, Coahuila and a few villages along the Texas-Mexico border. Unlike some Native American tribes in America, the Five Tribes, wko kept blacks as slaves and returned escaped slaves back to their owners either alive, or the cut-off ears of dead black slaves for bounties/rewards put out by the white slavemasters, Mexicans allowed escaped black slaves to settle in Mexico and live lives free of enslavement and degradation. Mexicans did not take escaped slaves back across the order. They did not forcibly return escaped slaves back to a living nightmare. Those slaves who could escape to freedom across the Rio Grade in Mexico were able to make lives and communities for themselves, free from the racial cleansings that blacks living later in the Reconstruction South suffered through. Some of the Indio African in Yucatan traveled to the country of Belize. Though there is an African presence in Belize some forget their roots. In recent years, some Afro-Mexicans include blacks who immigrated to Mexico from Caribbean countries such as Cuba, or from Africa to earn money in Mexico as contract workers. Many Afro-Mexicans also went abroad to find better economic fortune, mostly to the United States, where they and their U.S. children are called African Americans and Mexican Americans of African descent. The best site that I know of that gives an excellent history of the Afro-Mexicans is the website of Bobby Vaughn. I discovered his site over 3 years ago, and it it well worth anyones time to visit and learn of the true history of Mexicos Afro-Mexicans. Bobby Vaughns site is entitled, The Black Mexico Homepage: http://www.afromexico.com/ Mr. Vaughn gives a wonderful history of the Afro-Mexicans, or Costenos as they are known since so many of them live on Mexicos coastal areas, the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Vaughn provides links of Africas legacy in Mexico, a photo gallery of Afro-Mexicans, and many books on Afro-Mexicans to further ones knowledge of these forgotten and marginalized people. readers to The purpose of this website is to introduce readers to the culture and unique experience of Mexicans of African Mexican-Americans need to learn of their African roots and the richness of of their Afro-Mexican heritage. Black Americans need to learn of the history of the Afro-Mexicans. Because of the embracing of the whiteness of Spanish blood, and the vilification of African black blood, Mexico has tried to wipe out its black blood through the centuries. The idea of the so-called Cosmic Race spoken of by the racist Mexican author, intellectual Jose Vasconcelos, was sought in Mexicos attempt to commit a process of de-Africanization in Mexico. Vasconcelos advocated the wiping out of the black blood to make way for the Indian and white Spanish blood, so that those two blood types would reign predominantly. Here Vasconcelos argues in effect of a one drop of white blood rule. This is opposite of the one drop ruled used in the United States. This twist of racism is linked to beauty, which according to Vasconcelos ruled out black features as beautiful and put forth that so-called white and Indian blood was more beautiful and should be more sought after-in essence, rid Mexico of its black blood, its black history, its black people. The closer blacks looked Mestizo/European/Light with the hiding of the blackness/Africaness, the more Mexico tried to stamp out the African bloodthereby the African presence, from Mexico. As Vasconcelos stated in such racist terms: The awareness if the species itself would gradually develop . . .in a very few generations, monstrosities will disappear; what today is normal will come to seem abominable. The lower types of the species will be absorbed by the superior type. In this manner, for example, the Black could be redeemed, and step by step, voluntary extinction [my emphasis], the uglier stocks will give way to the more handsome. The Afro-Mexican population has mixed mostly with the larger populations and many have forgotten their African ancestry, but some populations like Costa Chica and others still remain with stronger visual cues of their African ancestry. Mexicans need to know and accept that cultural diversity does exist in their country and that the Indigenous and Spanish heritage is not the only aspect of Mexico that should be celebratedAfro-Mexicans are the missing group. The missing piece that has just as much an important part of Mexico as are the Indigenous peoples and the Spanish. Many of the present-day Afro-Mexicans live now largely assimilated in the general population, and have historically been majorities in certain communities in Mexico. They are currently concentrated in the coastal states such as Guerrero, Oaxaca, Michoacn, Veracruz, Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatn, but mostly in Oaxaca and Veracruz. Mexico states in evolution: Animated map/timeline of the territorial evolution of Mexico. Just as many Mexicans do not know of the major impact Africans have made all across Mexicos history, so too do the Mexican-Americans and Black Americans not know of this history either. Mexican-Americans, both native-born and foreign-born, need to learn of their African history. Black Americans sholud learn of this history. It is a rich, varied and proud history. The many contributions that Africans through the centuries have made to Mexico have been both positive and long-lasting to Mexico and her peopleon both sides of the Rio Grande. The drive for the preservation of Indigenous cultures in Mexico is definitely necessary; but, so too should the preservation of Afro-Mexican culture be upheld. The Afro-Mexicans have made many contributions to Mexico, and these contributions should be promoted, preserved and presented to the world: technology, archaeological artifacts, arts, music, dance, language, agriculture, culinary all of which are heavily influenced by a strong African presence. Afro-Mexicans are a presence that cannot be denied, hidden away, nor ignored any more. They have been forgotten in Mexico. They have been forgotten in America. Visitors to the coastal areas of Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Guerrero can see Africa in the faces of people who live in these coastal areas. And Vicente Guerrero and Jose Morelos are not the only historical Mexican figures who had African blood in themothers did as well, such as Emiliano Zapata, and so too did Pancho Villa, the Mexican revolutionary. Although history books speak nothing of the Afro-Mexicans, they do indeed exist. It is important to rescue the history of solidarity that once existed between blacks and browns from the collective historical amnesia that has erased this knowledge of Afro-Mexicans from the minds of many people, in order to re-unite the Black American and Mexican-American communities in the United States, once again. This huge chasm that has grown as wide as the Grande Canyon between blacks and browns has created animus between both groups because they know so little of their history and solidarity both groups once shared with each other. Only when blacks and browns learn of their past history they once had together, only when they realize they have so much in common with each other, only when they find they can rebuild that broken link-the link they had shared during Spains period of colonial conquest, Americas period of slavery, during the time of the 19TH Century when Mexico had presidents with black blood flowing in their veins-then with this knowledge that arms them against the forces of the status quo that seeks to drive wedges between black and brown to divide and separate themwhen blacks and browns learn of and embrace their shared historythen, will the fears, distrusts, rivalies, the wary circling of each other, then will the barriers that have built up between black and brown finally begin to crumble, then will the wall that has been erected between black and brown start to come tumbling down. To know your past, is to know your history; to know your history, is to know your future. RELATED LINKS: BLACK MEXICANS SEE PRIDE IN LOST HISTORY: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/mexico/black-mexicans.htm AFRO-MEXICANS FACE DISCRIMINATION: http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=10462&tabla=miami HISTORY OF MEXICAN-BLACK SOLIDARITY: http://www.workers.org/2007/us/solidarity-0503/ THE UNEXPECTED FACE OF MEXICO: http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/08/entertainment/et-gleaton8 REFERENCES: WIKIPEDIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-Mexican GASPAR YANGA AND HIS STORY AND A VISIT TO YANGA: HISTORY: LOOKING FOR AFRICAN ROOTS: THE FIRST FREE TOWN FOR SLAVES IN AMERICA - http://www.johntoddjr.com/86%20Yanga/yanga01.htm VICENTE GUERRERO A STUDY IN TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY:http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/history/jtuck/jtvguerrero.html JOSE MORELOS: ARTICLE AN AFRO-MEXICAN LEGEND, JOSE MORELOS (from African American Registry: http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/2778/An_AfroMexican_legend_Jos_Morelos THE AFRICAN PRESENCE IN MEXICAN NATIONAL IDENTITY: http://www.nhm.org/africa/gleaton/terra.html FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE BLACK SEMINOLES, VISIT THIS LINK: http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/ BLACK SEMINOLES IN TEXAS AND MEXICO: http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/seminole/blackseminoleintro.htm CALIFORNIA AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM - AFRICAN PRESENCE IN MEXICO: http://www.caamuseum.org/ce_3.htm PRESS RELEASE: Feb. 2, 2008 cover story on this exhibit in the Los Angeles Times newspaper: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-culture2feb02,0,7120599.story)
5. Black and Brown: African Americans and Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920 by Gerald Horne (Paperback Feb 1, 2005) ************************************************** *************** The Mexican Cultural Institute presented the African By Legacy, African Blood, by Roberto Olivares April 13, 2006 as part of the screening of African Blood. Mexican identity is assumed as the fusion between Indigenous and European cultures.
However, this definition excludes a very important component: our African their own identity makes the wide diversity of cultures in Mexico even greater.blood. This documentary will bring us closer to these forgotten roots, through testimonies, reflections and powerful cultural expressions made by our brothers and sisters who live in the Costa Chica region, in the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero. These are the people who carry this great legacy: the Afro-Mestizo, or Afro-Mexican culture. Their struggle to strengthen and claim BLACK HISTORY MONTH: AFRO-MEXICANS BEAUTIFUL, ALSO, ARE THE SOULS OF MY BLACK SISTERS Afro Mexican (Spanish: afromexicano) is a term used to identify Mexican people of African ancestry. African Mexicans, now largely assimilated in the general population, have historically been located in certain communities in Mexico. They are currently found in the coastal areas of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Michoacn, Veracruz, Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatn. The term Afro-Mexican, as used in this article refers specifically to black African ancestry. The term is not widely used in Mexico outside of academic circles. Normally Afro Mexicans are called "black" (in Spanish negro).
History When the Spanish first arrived in Mesoamerica, they brought free Africans with them. Among them was Juan Garrido, a conquistador who belonged to Juan Ponce de Len's entourage. Garrido was born on the West African coast, the son of an African King. Garrido went on to join Hernando Corts in the Spanish conquest of Mexico. These African contributed to the conquistadors success in New Spain, but they did not share in the victory because of their status. [1] The decline of the Amerindian population and the difficulty of making Native Americans into slaves and later the Pope's prohibition against enslaving them, prompted the Spanish to import large numbers of from Ghana, Cte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Gambia, Nigeria, the Congo, and Angola. During the colonial period in Veracruz, Spaniards placed restrictions on contact between Africans and Natives to discourage the formation of alliances [2]. Intermarriage between the races, whose descendants were called Lobos in the caste system of New Spain and Zambos in other parts of Spanish America, was heavily discouraged by some individuals in the Catholic clergy. Africans soon outnumbered Europeans in certain areas, and the Spanish implemented many tactics to ensure that they remained the dominant racial group in Mesoamerica. In the early days of the colonial period, slavery was very harsh, and lead to rebellions. In 1609 there was a black rebellion in Veracruz, lead by Gaspar Yanga and Francisco de la Matosa. After fierce battles, Yanga came to negotiate a peace with the viceroy Luis de Velasco. A black community, called "San Lorenzo" (Later renamed Yanga) was founded and still exists; it would be the first of several. But this would not stop the hostilities. Spanish authorities suspected a new rebellion, in 1612, they imprisoned, torture and execute 33 slaves (twenty nine males and four women). Their heads were cut off and remained in the main square of Mexico City for a long time as an example. These settlers are from Oklahoma Indian Territory and made a free African village in Nacimiento, Coahuila and a few villages along the Texas-Mexico border. Some of the Indio African in yucatan traveled to the country of Belize. Though there is an African presence in Belize some forget their roots. In recent years, some Afro-Mexicans include blacks who immigrated to Mexico from Caribbean countries such as Cuba, or from Africa to earn money in Mexico as contract workers. Many Afro-Mexicans also went abroad to find better economic fortune, mostly to the United States, where they and their U.S. children are called Hispanic Americans and Mexican Americans of African descent. Vicente Guerrero  The story of the past five hundred years involves the saga of the Afro-Mexico of the villages and small towns where over generations efforts have continued to maintain an African cultural and social tradition. And the story also involves the efforts of a far larger group of Afro-Mexicans who have lived in the regions that had the Afro-centric villages, but who recognized that the vast nation of Mexico was at root Indigenous, and that Indigenous and Black unity was needed to effectively fight the oppression of the Europeans and Europe worshipping Mexican elite. From this sector of Afro-Mexicans has come most of the best known leaders of the politically progressive mainstream of the nation. Vicente Guerrero exemplifies the progressive tradition and how it has been carried forward from fathers to sons and daughters and grandchildren. The mule driver Vicente Guerrero rose to become Commander-in-Chief of the Mexican army during the last years of the 1810-1821 independence war with Spain. Eight years after independence he was president and he issued his nation's slavery abolition decree. Guerrero was a descendant of African slaves brought to colonial Mexico. He also had Indigenous and Spanish roots, and his multi-cultural experience was enriched by contact among the many in his region who were descendants of the estimated 100,000 Asians brought to Mexico in slavery on the Manila to Acapulco galleons. The Asians were labeled "African" because the Spanish wanted more slaves, and by law only Africans could be slaves. Most of the Asians did come from places where people were dark, such as Malaysia, and the southern Filipine Islands, including the island of Negros, so named because the Negritos lived there. The Black Indian Family on the Museum Wall Guerrero has a state in his name, only one of four heroes of the nation to be so honored. On a wall in the National Museum of History in Mexico City is a display of the family tree that stems from President Guerrero. He and his wife Guadalupe Hernandez de Guerrero had one surviving child, Dolores. She married Mariano Riva Palacio, who was head of the city council in Mexico City during Guerrero's presidency. Mariano was later the mayor of the capital city, a state governor, a prominent promoter of public education, and a general in the army during the mid-century war of the Reform. In 1831 Vicente Guerrero was assassinated, and in the years that followed Mariano and Dolores made their home a gathering place for followers of the fallen leader. In this environment the children of Mariano and Dolores were politicized. Their sons Vicente (named after grandfather) and Carlos became state governors and army generals. Vicente is best known as a literary light, and for being the most read historian in Mexico. The tall and thick multi-volume compendium, MEXICO A TRAVES DE LOS SIGLOS, that he directed to publication in the 1880s continues to go through reprintings today. Also much republished is Riva Palacio's account of the African slave Gaspar Yanga, who led a revolt in the sugar plantations of Veracruz in 1570. Additional Guerrero/Riva Palacio generations produced more state governors, including a second Carlos Riva Palacio. During the latter stages of the 1910 social revolution, Carlos #2 supported President Calles, a loudly nationalistic leftist who drew threats of intervention from the U.S. in 1927. In 1934 Carlos was first president a new ruling political party, which is said to have been originally progressive, and now, under its new name, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, is said to stand for "technocrats" beholden to a wealthy clique. Emerging in the late 1980s to fight the corrupted PRI from a left wing perspective was Raymundo Riva Palacio. A crusading journalist, Raymundo was instrumental in making two Mexico City dailies, EL FINANCIERO and LA REFORMA, into popular anti-establishment papers. The physical appearance of Raymundo does not suggest that he is a descendant of the first "Black President" of Mexico. But he is nonetheless following the family business, opposition to the elite. Palenques To escape the oppressiveness of slavery, some African Maroons escaped to the mountains and formed their own settlements. These settlements, called palenques, were composed of mostly African males. The men in these settlements would periodically raid Native villages and plantations for women and bring them back to their settlements (Carroll, 2001). One of these palenques is Cuajinicuilapa in the state of Guerrero, home to a small enclave of Afro-Mexicans whose ancestors were slaves who escaped from the sugar and coffee plantations along the coast and settled into the mountainous regions of Guerrero (Hamilton, 2002). Today the Afro-Mexican residents of this town have a museum that displays the history and culture of their ancestors. They honor their African heritage through traditional dance and music. The end of slavery In 1810, the declaration of Independence of Mexico, called for the ban of slavery and the caste system, although this could not be done until the end of the independence war in 1821. This ban called for the death penalty for those who opposed the ban, so it was adopted. Even so, some "forms of slavery" like the tienda de raya (workers under perpetual debt) remained until the early twentieth century, but this slavery was more oriented to indigenous population.  Admixture Graph, Bonilla et al. 2005 Mixed population The Afro Mexican population has mixed mostly [1] with the larger populations and many have forgotten their African ancestry, but some populations like Costa Chica and others still remain with stronger visual cues of their African ancestry. Admixture levels in Mexico have been studied in multiple studies and have shown a strong presence of Amerindian and European genetic contributions with a significant African contribution as well.[3] Current situation Many Afro-Mexicans make their homes along the Costa Chica, a 300-km (200-mile) long coastal region beginning just southeast of Acapulco, Guerrero, and ending at Huatulco in the state of Oaxaca (Vaughn, 2004). Most of the occupants of the Costa Chica derive their income from agriculture and fishing. The Costa Chica is also occupied by many indigenous groups, and Bobby Vaughn, creator of the website "Black Mexico," describes the relationship between the Afromestizos and the Indians as strained ([2], 2004). In the last few years, more discourse has been taking place about why so little is known about the afro-diasporic population in Mexico. Since the nationalistic movement of the 1940s, the Mexican government states there is no distinction made between white, mestizo, mulatto, black, or Amerindian, so the population is classified on cultural bases rather than racial. As a result, most of the population is classified as mestizo, which is defined as someone who does not belong to an indigenous group (participate in their customs or speak their language). This criterion results in a much lower number of black and Amerindian population. Charles Henry Rowell, the editor of the Callaloo Journal, believes that the majority of the descendants of African slaves have disappeared through assimilation and miscegenation (2004). In the eyes of Mexican population, only people with very dark skin are actually called "negro", so the black population is not perceived as a community. Lack of acknowledgement sometimes makes it difficult for Afro-Mexicans to take pride in their African heritage. Many have chosen to assimilate completely into Mexican society. A recent survey (2005) found that most of the people who show obvious black ancestry prefer to be considered mestizos. There is also outside pressure from other Mexicans that causes them to assimilate. Because their existence is not widely known throughout Mexico and the rest of the world, they are often assumed to be illegal immigrants from Belize or elsewhere in Latin America (Sailer, 2002). There have been many accounts of Afro-Mexicans being pulled over by the police and being forced to sing the Mexican national anthem to prove they are Mexican (Graves, 2004). This discrimination causes many Afro-Mexicans, if they are able, to conceal their African lineage. Despite being faced with discrimination and poverty, there are some Afro-Mexicans who openly embrace their African heritage and want it to be recognized. In Coyolillo, located in Veracruz, they celebrate Carnival, which has its roots in African culture. In the village of El Ciruelo, there is a small group of Afro-Mexicans who have organized as Mexico Negro, and they are fighting to have a racial breakdown added to the census before the 2010 count (Graves, 2004), but the National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Data Processing (INEGI) [4] census does not record race. It is based only on socioeconomic criteria. About 200,000 Africans were brought to Mexico during the time of the Spanish Empire (Sailer, 2002). Although it is not common knowledge, the descendants of these slaves still live in Mexico today. Anthropologist Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrn has called them "The third root". Costa Chica  Afro-Mexicana in Oaxaca The Costa Chica is one of two regions in Mexico with significant black population today, the other being the state of Veracruz on the Gulf coast. The Costa Chica is a 200-mile (320 km) long coastal region beginning just southeast of Acapulco, Guerrero and ending at Huatulco in the state of Oaxaca. The climate is very hot most of the year, and the summer rains can make transportation somewhat difficult, as the roads don't generally hold up that well. There are few major tourist attractions in the parts of the Costa Chica where most blacks live, although there are a few pleasant local beaches: Playa Ventura and Punta Maldonado in Guerrero and the beach at Corralero in Oaxaca. Most of the homes in the region were round mud huts, whose roots have been traced back to what is now Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Now, the norm is a one-room or two-room house with wall of adobe or cement cinder block. The economic base of the Costa Chica, not unlike most of the rest of the countryside, is agricultural. These campesinos, or peasant farmers, concentrate most of their efforts in the cultivation of corn, almost exclusively in order to make tortillas for their own consumption. Other common crops are coconut, mango, sesame, and some watermelon. Costa Chica communities Not all of the people in these communities consider themselves black (negro or moreno, to use the local terminology) and the Mexican government does not include use "race" in its census data. This numbers presented here include all residents counted in 37 towns throughout the Costa Chica that I might be considered significantly and historically black, largely based on how people self-identify. I have personally visited the majority of these towns over the years. I also have been told of other Afro-Mexican communities in the region that I have yet to visit, and therefore did not include those on the list. This collection of towns, then, is far from definitive. The only purpose of the list is to give the reader a rough idea as to the size of the Afro-Mexican population of the Costa Chica and is not an estimate upon which to draw firm demographic conclusions. GUERRERO STATE Cerro del Indio 608, Cuajinicuilapa 8932, Maldonado 892, Montecillos 893, El Pitahayo 2365, Punta Maldonado 1110, San Nicols 3275, El Cacalote 119, Cerro de las Tablas 255, Copala 6540, Azoy 4244, Banco de Oro 164, Barra de Tecoanapa 1024, Huehuetn 1827, Juchitn 2846 OAXACA STATE El Ciruelo 2397, Collantes 2325, Santa Mara Chicometepec 1477, Corralero 1597, Cerro de la Esperanza 1058, Lagunillas 495, El Azufre 451, Chacahua 714, Charco Redondo 444, El Lagartero 91, Llano Grande 260, Zapotalito 829, Morelos 2028, Lagunillas 69, Santo Domingo Armenta 2739, Lagunillas 129, Callejn de Rmulo 541, Santiago Tapextla 1566, Llano Grande 1065, Mrtires de Tacubaya 839, San Jos Estancia Grande 916, Santa Mara Cortijo 968 Notable Afro Mexicans Historical figures Gaspar Yanga founded the first free African township in the Americas in 1609.[4] Artists Actor Zamorita. Kalimba Marichal, M'Balia Marichal, Johnny Laboriel, Mara del Sol and Veronika con K are famous Mexican singers with African heritage. The late Toa la Negra was also an Afro-Mexican singer. Politicians Heroes of the Mexican War of Independence Vicente Guerrero and Jos Mara Morelos y Pavn were both mulattos. Also Joaqun Hendricks and Po Pico former governors of Quintana Roo and California respectively, Luis Cortazar Guanajuato governor, and politian Luis Malanco, grandson of President Guerrero Vicente Riva Palacio, and Historian Ignacio Manuel Altamirano[citation needed]. Modern day Afro-Mexican politicians: Mario Marcel Salas, City of San Antonio City Councilman 1997-2001 Guillermo Galvn Galvn is also a Afro-Mexican he is a political figure. Fictional figures The comic character Memn Pingun, whose magazine has been available in Latin America, the Philippines, and the United States newsstands for more than 60 years, is an Afro-Mexican. The Mexican Government issued a series of five stamps in 2005 honoring the Memn comic book series. The issue of these stamps was considered racist by some groups in the United States and praised by the Mexican audience who remember growing up with the magazine. Others Former and current boxer Juan de la Rosa, Ericka Cruz Nuestra Belleza Mexico 2002, footballers Melvin Brown and Edoardo Isella, and Major League Baseball player of the 1970s, Jorge Orta. See also References
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