Afro-Mexicans

Afro-Mexicans are Mexicans of African ancestry, descended from enslaved or free Africans. Although they are Mexican citizens and have been residents of Mexico since colonial times, they have often been ignored and, in some cases, persecuted. The population is centered in underdeveloped regions such as the Costa Chica region in Oaxaca and is little known elsewhere in the country. Many families live in poverty. A few famous Mexicans, including President Vicente Guerrero and independence leader José María Morelos, were Afro-Mexicans.

Background

Spanish colonizers arrived in modern-day Mexico in 1519, setting in motion a dramatic change in the ethnic and cultural makeup of the Americas. New Spain, as they called it, may have been home to more than twenty-one million Indigenous people before Europeans arrived. A century later, fewer than one million survived.

Africans were enslaved by Spaniards in the Americas as early as 1517. The colonizers relied on forced labor, but many of the Indigenous people they initially used died from introduced diseases—nineteen major epidemics swept through the Indigenous populations during the sixteenth century alone—or were killed. King Charles V of Spain agreed to permit Spaniards to ship four thousand Africans a year to the Spanish colonies of the Americas. Over three centuries, the slave trade delivered about two hundred thousand Africans to what became Mexico. Enslaved Africans were put to work in silver mines, on sugar plantations, and in textile production. Many also toiled in domestic roles and on cattle ranches. When King Carlos V abolished the enslavement of the Indigenous people in 1542, the demand for enslaved Africans increased.

The vast majority of enslaved Africans were men. Spain’s law permitted enslaved persons to choose their spouses, so most of the men found Indigenous wives. The children of enslaved Black people remained enslaved, but under the law, children of Indigenous women were free.

In the early nineteenth century, enslaved Africans played a key role in Mexico’s fight for independence from Spain. Some of the leaders of the revolutionary cause suggested that slavery should be abolished in an independent Mexico. While this message alienated some White Mexicans, it encouraged many hopeful Afro-Mexicans to take action. Ultimately, Mexico won its independence in 1821. The abolition of slavery did not immediately follow. The first leader to assume power in newly independent Mexico was General Agustín de Iturbide, a staunchly conservative figure who actually switched sides during the war and subsequently declared himself emperor in the aftermath. Since he did not support the idea of ending slavery, progress on achieving that end stagnated for some time. That changed when Vincente Guerrero, himself an Afro-Mexican, took office as Mexico’s second president in 1829 and formally abolished slavery.

By the time slavery was abolished, the population of Mexico included many mixed-race individuals. Increasingly, the Afro-Mexican community included not only those people of African descent already living in Mexico, but also African Americans who traveled south to escape slavery in the United States. Although the Underground Railroad is most remembered for offering escaped enslaved people a passage to freedom in the North, it also had a southern route through which some enslaved people traveled to Mexico. In the years between the end of slavery in Mexico and its abolition in the United States, a significant number of African Americans—both enslaved and free—made their way to Mexico. Still, despite their growing numbers, Afro-Americans became virtually invisible within Mexico until the early twenty-first century.

Overview

The modern Afro-Mexican population is the result of several generations of interracial marriage. As a result, the issue of Afro-Mexican identity is often a complex matter. Given the ethnic diversity within the group, Afro-Mexicans are often considered—and frequently consider themselves—to be afromestizos, or mixed-race. Some Afro-Mexicans also use terms like negro (Black), moreno (dark), or afrodescendiente to describe themselves. This identification is further complicated by the fact that many Afro-Mexicans are African or Caribbean immigrants.

Another issue compounding the matter is that the Mexican government did not formally recognize Afro-Mexicans as an ethnic minority for many years. It was not until the 2015 preliminary survey undertaken in advance of the then-forthcoming 2020 census that Afro-Mexicans were granted the opportunity to officially self-identify. According to that survey, there were approximately 1.4 million Afro-Mexicans in Mexico. In the subsequent 2020 census, which was the first to allow respondents to self-identify as Afro-Mexican, Black, or of African descent, about 2.5 million people identified as Black. This came just a year after the term Afro-Mexican was added to the Mexican constitution’s multiculturalism-touting second article. The census data also showed that the average age of an Afro-Mexican living in Mexico was thirty-two, and about 7.4 percent of Afro-Mexicans spoke at least one Indigenous language.

Historically, the largest portion of the Afro-Mexican population was found in Veracruz, a large state on Mexico’s eastern coast. This is primarily because the city of the same name within the state was a major slave-trading port for many years. In modern times, the majority of Afro-Mexicans are found in Costa Chica, a region that extends through parts of the southern states of Guerrero and Oaxaca. Many also live in Mexico City.

As an ethnic minority, Afro-Mexicans face an array of social and economic challenges. Many live in isolated rural communities and struggle with poverty. Such communities often have little access to quality health care, education, and sanitation. Infrastructure is also a serious problem, as there are few roads in Costa Chica to facilitate trade and other economic activities. Most Afro-Mexicans in Costa Chica rely on agriculture, fishing, or domestic work to make a living. Afro-Mexicans also frequently endure discrimination from others who overlook or deny their existence. This problem persists to the point that some Afro-Mexicans find themselves incorrectly accused by authorities of being undocumented immigrants and facing deportation even though they are legitimate Mexican citizens. These challenges often make Afro-Mexicans reluctant to embrace their true cultural heritage.

Despite the difficulties they have and continue to endure, Afro-Mexicans have a vibrant culture that has significantly influenced the broader Mexican culture. Thanks to Afro-Mexicans, modern Mexican cuisine has a strong African influence. Specifically, using ingredients like plantains, peanuts, taro, and sweet potatoes is the result of Afro-Mexican culinary contributions. Afro-Mexicans’ greatest cultural contribution may be their influence on Mexican music and dance. The son jarocho style of music that originated in Veracruz—perhaps best exemplified by the classic Afro-Mexican folk song “La Bamba”—has strongly shaped traditional Mexican. Afro-Mexicans also introduced a number of unique musical instruments, including the quijada—a dried donkey jawbone with audibly rattling molars—and the bote—a type of friction drum. In terms of dance, Afro-Mexicans were responsible for developing the Dance of the Devils, a classic dance traditionally performed during Day of the Dead celebrations.

Notable Afro-Mexicans

Despite the reality that Afro-Mexicans so often go unrecognized in Mexican society, some have risen to become significant, influential figures in their home country and around the world. Among these individuals, Vincent Guerrero may have had the greatest impact on Mexico and its history. Born in a village called Tixla—later part of a southern Mexican state that would be named after him—in 1783, Guerrero was the son of an Afro-Mexican mother and an Indigenous father. As a young man, he found himself drawn into the Mexican independence movement and eventually became a high-ranking officer in the rebel army. During the war, Guerrero helped guide the rebel forces to a resounding victory that at last freed Mexico from Spanish control. Later, he was one of three members of the junta that governed Mexico in the first years after the revolution. In 1829, Guerrero was elected as Mexico’s second president. His most important act as president was formally ending slavery in Mexico that same year. Ultimately, a number of reactionaries betrayed Guerrero and removed him from power. He was executed in 1831.

Another historically significant Afro-Mexican—and one who also had ties to Guerrero—was military commander, statesman, and priest José María Morelos y Pavón. Morelos was born in Valladolid, Mexico, in 1765. His career path first led him to the Catholic priesthood, with his full ordination taking place in 1797. Morelos’ mentor in the priesthood was Padre Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a strong advocate for Mexican independence. With Hildago’s encouragement, Morelos joined the revolution and eventually became a commander. During the war, Morelos led troops in Mexico City and formed the National Constituent Congress, Mexico’s first independent congress. He was later captured by the Spanish, convicted of treason, and executed in 1815.

One of the most well-known modern Afro-Mexicans is actress Lupita Nyong’o. Although she is of Kenyan descent and actually spent much of her childhood in Kenya, Nyong’o was born in Mexico City in 1983 while her parents were temporarily living there in political exile. By the time she was a teenager, Nyong’o found herself drawn to acting. After briefly returning to Mexico to learn Spanish, she moved to the United States to pursue a college education. During one of her summer breaks back home in Kenya, Nyong’o took a job as a production assistant on the set of The Constant Gardener and soon decided to make acting her career. Her breakout role came when she played Patsey, an enslaved woman who befriends Solomon Northup in 2013’s 12 Years a Slave. Nyong'o’s performance in the film earned her an Academy Award for best supporting actress. Since that time, she has appeared in such films as Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2016), Black Panther (2018), Us (2019), Human Resources (2022), and A Quiet Place: Day One (2024).

Juan Correa was a noted Afro-Mexican artist who flourished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. During the height of his career, Correa was among the most famous artists in what was then known as New Spain. One of the main Mexican practitioners of Baroque style, Correa often focused on religious imagery. Some of his best-remembered works included Women of the Apocalypse, The Four Parts of the World, and The Four Elements.

Many Afro-Mexicans have found success in the sports world, including former Major League Baseball (MLB) player and two-time All-Star Jorge Orta. Born to Cuban parents in the Mexican city of Mazatlán, Orta started his career playing in the Mexican Baseball League before being acquired by the Chicago White Sox in 1972. During his time in MLB, Orta also played for the Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Kansas City Royals. While playing for the Royals late in his tenure, Orta was involved in one of the most controversial plays in World Series history. In the ninth inning of game six against the St. Louis Cardinals, Orta came up to bat as a pinch hitter and hit a slow roller down the first-base line. Although he was ruled safe, television replays revealed that the first baseman actually beat him to the bag. Orta made it to second base and was thrown out on third in the ensuing plays, but the Royals managed to score two runs in the inning and won both the game and—thanks to the momentum shift that carried into the next game—the World Series. Orta retired in 1987.

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