Her Escape Led To The First Black Mexican Village

Painting of interacial couple and mulatto child
Shonda Buchanan
November 29, 2020

The thick, hot dust rose in the air as she and her people fled. The young girl cried – they’d had to leave her grandmother behind.

The barking dogs of white soldiers and slave catchers sounded in the distance. Would they make it?

As soon as they crossed the border, setting up camp at the base of the Sierra Madre mountains, she shouted with relief.

Her family was one of 60 Mascogo Black Indian families, who’d lived first with the Seminole Indians and then in Oklahoma. But some Native American tribes wanted to enslave them again!

They were tired of fighting racism. American enslavement had nearly crushed their spirits. But was it really safe in their new land, Mexico? Would their new country try to enslave them as well?

No! Lucia Vazquez Valdez and her descendants founded one of the first Black Mexican villages, and lived free! They spent the next 170 years building their community and adapting Mexican culture and language to their own.  

We must fight for liberation using any means at our disposal – sometimes by escaping from a hostile area to a more just one. How are you thriving in the face of oppression?

We have a quick favor to ask:

PushBlack is a nonprofit dedicated to raising up Black voices. We are a small team but we have an outsized impact:

  • We reach tens of millions of people with our BLACK NEWS & HISTORY STORIES every year.
  • We fight for CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM to protect our community.
  • We run VOTING CAMPAIGNS that reach over 10 million African-Americans across the country.

And as a nonprofit, we rely on small donations from subscribers like you.

With as little as $5 a month, you can help PushBlack raise up Black voices. It only takes a minute, so will you please ?

Share This Article: