I Wept When I Heard African-American Gospel Music!
By Patricia Ann Talley, Editor, and Representative in Mexico for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Task Force of Southfield, Michigan, USA
I have lived and conducted research in Mexico for over 20 years. My first trip to the Annual Meeting of the Black Towns of Mexico (Encuentro de los Pueblos Negros) was in 2018, in El Nacimento, Coahuila.
WOW! It was such a life-changing experience for me as I learned, firsthand, about the connection between the African and Indigenous cultures in both the USA and Mexico. It was an amazing learning experience!
It was also very personal to me; it touched my soul when I heard black Mexicans play the same gospel songs that my grandmother taught me. I wept as I “felt” the connection. In the words of my hero, Afro-Mexican President Vicente Guerrero, “We are all Americans.” I get chills just thinking about it!
A Brief History – Who are the Black Seminoles (Negros Mascogos) of Mexico?
The 2018 Meeting of the Black Towns of Mexico was held in the community of “El Nacimiento” which is part of the municipality of Muzquiz in the Mexican state of Coahuila (right under Texas). Coahuila and Texas were once the same Mexican state (“Coahuila y Tejas”) before its northern part was taken during the Texas Revolution.
Black Seminoles (Negros Mascogos) from the USA were the founders of “El Nacimiento” community. Their story began during colonial times when Africans in the British colony of America fled to the Spanish territory of Florida to escape slavery. They intermarried with the native Seminole tribe, thus becoming the “Black Seminoles.”
When the British began to advance into Florida, these Black Seminoles fled through Texas into Mexico to escape enslavement. Mexico abolished slavery in 1829, under the administration of Afro-Mexican President Vicente Guerrero. The USA abolished human slavery in 1865, so Africans could escape across the Rio Grande to freedom. This pathway to freedom is known as the “Underground Railroad to the South.”
A map of the Native territories in the USA is on display at the Museum of Negros Mascogos in the community of El Nacimiento in Muzquiz, Coahuila, Mexico.
Also on display is a map of the routes that African-Americans took to escape slavery in the USA.
Soul Music from the Black Seminoles – Negros Mascogos
I visited the local museum, attended the lectures, and watched a documentary video. It was fascinating! But, then, they started playing some local “folklore” music and I lost it! I heard the same melodies that my grandmother in Michigan taught me! I started singing and crying!
Listen!
It May Be My Last Time
Let It Shine
Songs are published with the permission of the producer, Patricia Carrillo.
Go to our section on the Black Towns of Mexico to learn more about this history and tradition.