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Earlier this week I caught a ride to Mexico with some extremely nice folks who were driving down to celebrate Juneteenth in Nacimiento de los Negros, a village with a fascinating history. https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/mexican-village-juneteenth-celebration/ 1/12
Nacimiento was settled in 1850 by Black Seminoles (Negros Mascogos in Spanish), a band of black people who'd escaped slavery and aligned with the Seminole Indians of Florida. Here’s Mascogo descendant Lee Torralba of San Antonio. 2/12
I found out about Nacimiento via my love of rivers. When I came across a picture of the beautiful Rio Sabinas, I traced the river’s course on Google Maps to Nacimiento de los Negros—Birth of the Blacks. With a name like that, I had to know more ... 3/12
... which led me to this affecting Washington Post article from March: "Their ancestors fled U.S. slavery for Mexico. Now they’re looking north again." https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/their-ancestors-fled-us-slavery-for-mexico-now-theyre-looking-north-again/2019/03/15/6c64a14c-45cf-11e9-94ab-d2dda3c0df52_story.html?utm_term=.8ec483c17982 4/12
My takeaways were different than the Post's. Because my Spanish skills are limited, I visited more with Texans who were nostalgic for the land of their Negro Mascogo ancestors. But even the locals painted a less dire picture. Not so worried about cartel violence etc. 5/12
Also, I got the impression that people of Negro Mascogo descent have always moved back and forth between Mexico and Texas, at least since the end of the Civil War. Northern migration is not a new thing for them, as the Post story seems to suggest. 6/12
I wanted my Juneteenth story to appear on the actual holiday, so I was writing fast & I filed at midday while drinking a Tecate Light under a Mexican juniper. I didn't really have time to write about some of the other African Americans who fled to freedom in Mexico. 7/12
Frederick Law Olmsted saw escaped slaves in the 1850s when he visited Piedras Negras (where I also crossed the border). See pp 323-326 of his book A Journey Through Texas, which the late Tony Horwitz revisited in his great Spying on the South. https://ia800302.us.archive.org/26/items/ajourneythrough00olmsgoog/ajourneythrough00olmsgoog.pdf 8/12
Also in the 1850s, Nathaniel Jackson freed his family’s slaves in Alabama and settled with his wife, Matilda Hicks, one of his family’s former slaves, on the Rio Grande near Brownsville. Their ranch is said to be a refuge for those fleeing southward. https://www.history.com/news/underground-railroad-mexico-escaped-slaves 9/12
Before my trip, @LorienTinuviel was kind enough to chat with me about her fascinating research into the Southern Underground Railroad. I hope to write more about her findings after she completes her dissertation. 10/12 https://notevenpast.org/love-in-the-time-of-texas-slavery/
In case you're wondering, here's the dried mountain lion meat we tasted in Nacimiento. Mountain lions are magnificent and I certainly do not, under any circumstances, advocate killing them. Also, they taste bad. But the Sierra Madres are beautiful. 11/12
Read the story please :) https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/mexican-village-juneteenth-celebration/
