The Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum presents “The African Presence in México: From Yanga to the Present, November 9, 2009–July 4, 2010. This traveling exhibition sponsored by the National Hispanic Cultural Civic Center spans five centuries of Mexico’s “third root,” people of African Descent. The early African presence in the Americas is normally associated with the slave trade in the United States, the Caribbean, Brazil, Central America, Colombia and Peru. Not generally taught in history textbooks is that Mexico was also a key port of entry for slave ships and consequently had a large African population. Blacks in Mexico weren’t simply slaves. Many were explorers and cofounders of settlements as far north as Los Angeles and other parts of what is today the Southwest United States. Between 1580 and 1640, Mexico had the largest African population in the New World.
Emiliano Zapata, a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, formed alliances with battalions of Afro-Mexicans, including battalions from Guerrero made up of widows of African descent who became soldiers. The photo on your right, “Portrait of a Female Soldier from Michoacan” by Agustin V. Casasola (1874-1938) shows one of Zapata’s allies.
A fascinating and informative cultural journey, The African Presence in Mexico is well worth your time!
Anacostia Community Museum
1901 Fort Place SE, Washington, DC 20020-3298
(202) 633-4820
Website: anacostia.si.edu
Map & Driving Directions
Photos: Gathering of Black Towns” by Mario Guzmán Oliveres. National Museum of Mexican Art Permanent Collection (top), “Portrait of a Female Soldier form Michoacan” by Agustin V. Casasola (right)
