Black Mexico

This edited volume compiles the most recent research on a pivotal topic in Latin American history--Afro-Mexican experiences from pre-conquest to the modern period.

The history of the black race in Mexico is both illuminating and mysterious. What makes the story of especially profound is the lack of documentation and discussion on the subject.Scholars have long been acquainted with the history of slavery in Mexico. In fact, long before the first Spanish galleons appeared on the horizon, the practice of slavery was common amongst several indigenous tribes in Mexico. So while it may be said that the Spanish did not invent slavery, they nonetheless relied upon it to expand their empire and to increase their already enormous wealth.As the colonial period in Mexico unfolded, in particular during the 16th and 17th centuries, the indigenous population became decimated by disease. To make up for this labor shortage, African slaves were brought to Mexico to toil in sugar fields and work in underground mines. Worth four times more than their indigenous Indian counterparts, these African slaves were highly prized for their reported physical endurance and stamina in the hot, tropical sun. The author explains the concise truth of the Black Mexicans.

2016 Victoria Urbano Critical Monograph Book Prize, presented by the International Association of Hispanic Feminine Literature and Culture Winner of the 2018 Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize presented by the Modern Language Association Honorable Mention, 2018 Elli Kongas-Maranda Professional Award presented by the Women's Studies Section of the American Folklore Society Analyzes cultural materials that grapple with gender and blackness to revise traditional interpretations of Mexicanness. México’s Nobodies examines two key figures in Mexican history that have remained anonymous despite their proliferation in the arts: the soldadera and the figure of the mulata. B. Christine Arce unravels the stunning paradox evident in the simultaneous erasure (in official circles) and ongoing fascination (in the popular imagination) with the nameless people who both define and fall outside of traditional norms of national identity. The book traces the legacy of these extraordinary figures in popular histories and legends, the Inquisition, ballads such as “La Adelita” and “La Cucaracha,” iconic performers like Toña la Negra, and musical genres such as the son jarocho and danzón. This study is the first of its kind to draw attention to art’s crucial role in bearing witness to the rich heritage of blacks and women in contemporary México.

A brilliant and surprising account of the coming of the American Civil War, showing the crucial role of slaves who escaped to Mexico. The Underground Railroad to the North promised salvation to many American slaves before the Civil War. But thousands of people in the south-central United States escaped slavery not by heading north but by crossing the southern border into Mexico, where slavery was abolished in 1837. In South to Freedom, historianAlice L. Baumgartner tells the story of why Mexico abolished slavery and how its increasingly radical antislavery policies fueled the sectional crisis in the United States. Southerners hoped that annexing Texas and invading Mexico in the 1840s would stop runaways and secure slavery's future. Instead, the seizure of Alta California and Nuevo México upset the delicate political balance between free and slave states. This is a revelatory and essential new perspective on antebellum America and the causes of the Civil War.

The most comprehensive reference on Mexico's diverse mammalian fauna. Mammals of Mexico is the first reference book in English on the more than 500 types of mammal species found in the diverse Mexican habitats, which range from the Sonoran Desert to the Chiapas cloud forests. The authoritative species accounts are written by a Who’s Who of experts compiled by famed mammalogist and conservationist Gerardo Ceballos. Ten years in the making, Mammals of Mexico covers everything from obscure rodents to whales, bats, primates, and wolves. It is thoroughly illustrated with color photographs and meticulous artistic renderings, as well as range maps for each species. Introductory chapters discuss biogeography, conservation, and evolution. The final section of the book illustrates the skulls, jaws, and tracks of Mexico’s mammals. This unparalleled collection of scientific information on, and photographs of, Mexican wildlife belongs on the shelf of every mammalogist, in public and academic libraries, and in the hands of anyone curious about Mexico and its wildlife.

"A book that must be read by all Americans who desire a more critical understanding of the historical contributions that Africans made beyond the borders of the United States. It dramatically captures a history that has long been neglected by historians of the Mexican Revolution of 1810. . . . An important contribution that links the common histories of African and Latino Americans."--Carlos Muñoz, Jr., University of California, Berkeley Elected the first black Indian president of Mexico in 1829, Vicente Guerrero has been called the country's Washington and Lincoln. This revisionist biography of one of Mexico's most important historical figures--the person who issued the decree abolishing slavery--traces the impact of race and ethnicity on Mexico's national identity. An activist from boyhood and a mule driver by trade, Guerrero led a coalition of blacks and indigenous peoples during the difficult last years of Mexico's war for independence from Spain, 1810-21. In office, he taxed the rich, protected small businesses, tried to abolish the death penalty, and championed the village council movement in which peasants elected representatives without qualifications of race, property ownership, or literacy; he enjoyed signing his correspondence "Citizen Guerrero." In 1831 he was kidnapped and killed by his political opponents. This book also tells the story of seven generations of Guerrero's activist descendants, including his grandson Vicente Riva Palacio, the historian whose well-known writings elaborate on the ideals of a multiracial and democratic nation. Still in print today, his novels, essays, and five-volume national history are used here to help explain the factors that made the region of "El Sur" a center for political radicals from 1810 up to the revolution of 1910. For all readers interested in issues of diversity, this book will illuminate the evolving and distinct interactions of Indians, whites, and the descendants of the 250,000 Africans and 100,000 Asians brought to colonial Mexico. Theodore G. Vincent, a retired history instructor from the University of California, Berkeley, is a former newspaper columnist for the Los Angeles Herald Dispatch. He is the author of four books, most recently Keep Cool: The Black Activists Who Built the Jazz Age, and has published many articles on Afro-Mexico.

Drawing on archives on both sides of the border, the author chronicles the political currents which created and then undermined the Mexican border as a relative safe haven for African Americans.