An Alliance That Became Family
From the late 18th century into the mid 19th century, dark-skinned Native Seminoles and formerly enslaved Africans banded together in Florida to protect one another from slavery. After decades of alliance and intermarriage, they became known as the Black Seminoles. Eventually, the U.S. government forcibly removed their tribe from Florida between 1830-1850. This was the same time period as the notorious Trail of Tears, during which the U.S. Army forced native peoples to walk to Oklahoma. As for the Seminoles, however, the arm forced them onto ships traveling across the Gulf Coast.
In Oklahoma, the threat of kidnapping and slavery surrounded the Black Seminoles because of their skin tone. This pushed many to embark on migrations seeking autonomy, sovereignty, and freedom elsewhere. One group of Black Seminoles made their way to Mexico and became known as the Negros Mascogos. In exchange for land to call their own in Coahuila, they served as border guards against Apache raiders and US Americans seeking people to kidnap and enslave.
El Nacimiento - The Birthplace
In exchange for their efforts against Apache raiders along the borderland, the Mexican government promised a land grant at Haciendad de Nacimiento along with equipment and seeds for their first crops to Los Negros Mascogos. President Benito Juárez formalized their full possession of the land in 1867.
El Nacimiento, Coahuila, remains to this day the land of the Negros Mascogos. Their culture has gone through the deterioration many tribes face from a dominant national culture intent on ignoring afrodesciendentes (African descendants), as well as from youth moving away to find more jobs and opportunities elsewhere. Nevertheless, an blending of African, European, and Mexican influences survives in their unique cultural identity. The oldest aspects of this culture are primarily passed on and safeguarded by the women of the tribe.
Celebrating Juneteenth
On June 19th, 1965, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation and months after the end of the Civil War, almost 2,000 Union troops marched into Galveston, Texas, to physically announce over loudspeakers that slavery was illegal and any person held in slavery was officially free. This day of freedom would become known as Juneteenth.
Because Los Negros Mascogos were either descendants of those who'd escaped or had forged their own paths of freedom from U.S. slavers, when news reached them of the events of Galveston, Texas, they were moved to celebrate, and have done so consistently every year since.
The segment below is a from a local Texas news channel discovering this fact in 2023.
Invisibility in México
While Los Negros Mascogos did find a home in Coahuila, living Mexico came with the challenges of poverty and racism...
Safeguarding a Culture
The culture of Los Negros Mascogos is a blend of many into one and its oldest traditions are safeguarded and passed down by the elder women of the tribe.
Two aspects of their culture demonstrate the melding of the distinct identities of their ancestors. One is a tradition of song and another a tradition of food.