The restrained mouth of history for where once was a hundreds of thousands of wrestles truths buried insignificantly in shame and all but forgotten has been rescued and resurrected from centuries of silence to reveal timely cultural treasures in the exhibit of African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present now showing at the Oakland Museum of California. This is a small exhibit, nonetheless powerfully significant.
It is common place in the US that Americans traditionally discuss race relations in terms of American History, past and present. At times it appears that most American students have little knowledge about geography or anything about countries outside of the US. Unlike many European nations and countries that were colonized by the United Kingdom with educational institution established by the monarchy, most students outside of the United States have a far better awareness of countries and geographical locations. Perhaps this can partly be attributed to Great Britain’s successful colonization and claim on several countries. Whereas in the US, history largely focused on the mark of establishing independence from Great Britain and later the Civil War that was fueled by the political dissension of providing freedom to enslaved blacks.
But here we are today in the twenty-second century with the booming influx of Mexican and Hispanic immigrants over the last two decades; while challenging the politics of black and brown race issues and immigrant workers, the Nation Museum of Mexican Art tours the exhibit of African Presence in Mexico revealing the third root that made a strong cultural influence on art, music, food, and wars.
Who Knew
Between 1580 and 1640, Mexico had the largest African population in the New World.
1570 New Spain’s (Colonial Mexico) population includes 23,008 blacks and mulattoes.
1573—Professor Bartolome de Albornoz of the University of Mexico writes against the enslavement and sale of Africans.
1598 Isabel de Olvera, a free mulatto, accompanies the Juan Guerra de Resa Expedition which colonizes what is now New Mexico.
1600-1790s—Persons of African ancestry are among the founders or early settlers of numerous towns in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California including San Antonio, Laredo, El Paso, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Tucson, San Diego, Monterey and San Francisco.
1602 By Spanish law, mulattoes (people of combined African and European ethnicity), convicts, and "idle" Africans may be shipped to Latin America and forced to work in the mines there.
1609 Fugitive slaves in Mexico, led by Yanga, sign a truce with Spanish colonial authorities and obtain their freedom and a town of their own.
1617 The town of San Lorenzo de los Negros receives a charter from Spanish colonial officials in Mexico and becomes the first officially recognized free settlement for blacks in the New World.
1646 New Spain’s (Colonial Mexico) population includes 35,089 blacks and 116,529 mulattoes.
1750 The census of Albuquerque reveals that 25% of the families have some African ancestry.
1778 A census of San Antonio, Texas shows 759 male residents including 151 blacks and mulattoes but only four are enslaved.
1781 Los Angeles is founded by 44 settlers including 26 who have some African ancestry.
1820-1825 Free African Americans from the United States settle in Mexican Texas. One of the most notable is former North Carolinian William Goyens who settles near Nacogdoches in 1820. By the time of his death in 1856, Goyens will have acquired 13,000 acres of land.
1824 A New Mexican Constitution adopted on October 4 outlaws slavery throughout Mexico including Mexican Texas.
1829 On September 15, Mexican President Vicente Ramon Guerrero mixed of African Indian ancestry, issues the Guerrero Decree which prohibits slavery in any form in Mexico. Guerrero however issues a subsequent decree on December 2 which exempts Texas from the ban.
1831 Pio Pico, a descendant of persons of African ancestry, becomes governor of Mexican California after overthrowing Colonel Manuel Victoria, another person of African ancestry.
1835 At the beginning of the year there are approximately 25,000 English-speaking inhabitants of Mexican Texas including 5,000 enslaved African Americans. The Tejano population is approximately 6,000 and there are 14,500 Indians.
Pio Pico again serves as Governor of Mexican California. He is the last governor during Mexican rule.
1846-1848 War with Mexico.
1848—On February 2, Mexico and the United States sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty transfers control of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah from Mexico to the United States. Mexico also relinquishes its claim to Texas in exchange for $20 million.
1849 The California Gold Rush begins. Eventually four thousand African Americans will migrate to California during this period.
Early African American settlers in San Francisco create the first two mutual aid associations for blacks in the far west, the West Indian Benevolent Association and the Mutual Benefit and Relief Society.
1850—The Compromise of 1850 revisits the issue of slavery. California enters the Union as a free state, but the territories of New Mexico and Utah are allowed to decide whether they will enter the Union as slave or free states. The 1850 Compromise also allows passage of a much stricter Fugitive Slave Law. Despite California’s status as a nominally “free” state, approximately 1,000 blacks are in slavery with most of the bonds people brought in from slaveholding states.
Resources: http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/migrations/legacy/alm.html
http://www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/af/africanpresence.html
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