MEXICO – Juneteenth -- first known as “Jubilee Day” -- has been observed in Texas now for 158 years. What most people may not know is that the anniversary has also been celebrated in a small Mexican village for nearly as long.
KPRC 2 anchor Keith Garvin recently traveled to Mexico with station photojournalist Roger Franco to discover the connection between Juneteenth and the village of Nacimiento de los Negros.
Corina Torralba, who now lives in San Antonio, was born and raised in Nacimiento.
“Our roots are here,” says Torralba. “For us, everything began here.”
It is a place most people have likely never heard of, much less visited, and one that many have left behind over the years.
In the north-central section of the Mexican state of Coahuila, it sits just 115 miles from the Texas border, 450 miles from Houston, and 500 miles from Galveston. It is village hours away, yet closely connected to the tradition of Juneteenth.
Nacimiento de los Negros is Spanish for “birth of the blacks.”
“They got here July 12, 1850, to Coahuila,” says Torralba.
Torralba grew up celebrating Juneteenth with the entire village. She has traveled back to Nacimiento to mark the holiday almost every year of her life. Like most people here today, she is an ethnic mix of Mexican, African, and Seminole -- descendants of the Negros Mascogos -- the Spanish phrase for “Black Seminoles.”
“If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have what we have here today. This land, this freedom,” said Torralba.
How did they wind up in Mexico and whatever caused them to start celebrating Juneteenth?
Jordy Barrera is a historian and tourist guide in the Nacimiento area. Barrera says the people of Nacimiento played a vital role in protecting Mexico.
“The history of the Mascogos is so important here in Mexico,” said Barrera. “Because their group helped the government when the other groups were harming the lands.”
The Mascogos started as escaped slaves and freedmen from South Carolina and Georgia, taken in by the Seminole tribe in Florida in the 1820s.
In the following decade, they were forced to Oklahoma, along with several other tribes, during what was known as the “Trail of Tears.”
Although many had intermarried with the Florida Seminoles because of their noticeably darker skin, they were under constant threat of kidnapping by slave traders.
The Black Seminoles eventually fled to Texas and then Mexico where slavery had been abolished in 1829.
The government granted them citizenship based on several stipulations: if the Black Seminoles would defend the country’s northern border and take Mexican names, they, in turn, would receive money, livestock, and tools plus 70,000 acres of land.
They defended for several years and they received the land that became Nacimiento.
Torralba said her ancestors should be fully hailed as heroes.
“The work that they did to free themselves, to liberate themselves, and look for a safe place for their people as a tribe,” she said.
Slaves were set free in Galveston in 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
When that news reached Nacimiento a few years later, the people there began celebrating “El Día de Los Negros” -- “The Day of the Blacks.” It was a day to revel in solidarity, but also in relief.
The end of slavery in neighboring Texas meant the Mascogos were no longer under threat of being captured and returned to bondage.
About 300 people call Nacimiento home today, with others working to make sure the history and connection don’t fade.
“It’s real special to me now because my father is now gone,” says Dina Rodriguez.
The Lubbock resident’s parents were born and raised in Nacimiento.
“It’s really close to my heart because that’s my ancestors, that’s my history,” she said.
Rodriguez travels to Nacimiento often to visit and celebrate Juneteenth, which is something her friends and neighbors find interesting.
“They’re like, ‘Why are they celebrating that there? There are no black people in Mexico,’ she says. “Yes, there were black people here in Mexico. There are black people everywhere.”
They have opened a cultural center in Nacimiento to teach not only visitors, but also the younger generation about their history so they can learn to be proud of that rich history.
More on KPRC 2′s Juneteenth coverage:
The history behind Juneteenth you might not have known
Celebrate Freedom: KPRC 2 hosts Juneteenth event filled with music, food and FUN!
Where to celebrate Juneteenth in Houston and Galveston this year
QUIZ: Let’s Celebrate Freedom! How many facts do you know about Juneteenth?