Black history – Fake Flamenco

bilingual, En español, Spanish Culture and Language, writing

What’s On Your Bookshelf? March 2022

The rule of three seems to dictate my monthly reads. In March so far, I’ve read El Principito (The Little Prince), A Life in Parts, and Bone Black. Three different lenses on the world; all with a touch of coming of age themes. (En español: Lectura de marzo, más adelante) El Principito by French writer […]

Afro-Latinos, history, Immigration, Mexico, Spanish Culture and Language

Freedom 1st Step on Mexican Soil

Did you know the Underground Railway went south to Mexico as well as north to Canada? The route was more informal, but the liberation was just as real. At least 5,000 to 10,000 enslaved Africans sought their freedom in Mexico in the 1800s. Why? In Mexico, the enslaved Africans were freed by law in 1829, […]

Life as a Woman

Books I’ve Read in May

I began the month reading about women spies; Josephine Baker’s Last Dance by Sherry Jones. Ms. Baker was a Civil Rights activist, a singer, a dancer, part of the French Resistance in WWII, and the first Black woman be the star of a film. Sherry Jones tells her story well, especially the heartbreak of Josephine […]

Afro-Latinos, Spanish Culture and Language, travel

The 36 Remarkable Women of the Anza Expedition

Women’s History post: The year is 1775. You are traveling to Spanish California, riding horseback 1200 miles, mostly on desert trails. Now imagine those three months bouncing on a mare while expecting a child! In 1775, eight out of 36 women on the Second Anza Expedition were pregnant on the journey. The Second Anza Expedition […]

Afro-Latinos, history, Mexico, Spanish Culture and Language

Who Was the Last Black Governor of California?

Can you remember when the last Black Governor of California served? I couldn’t and looked it up. It was over 150 years ago. In 1845-1846, the last Mexican governor of southern Alta California was Pío Pico. He was born in 1801 at the San Gabriel Mission in California. He was and is a famous Californio, […]

Afro-Latinos, history, Spanish Culture and Language

1738: Black Freedom Fort Built in Florida

Harriet Tubman did wonderful work in the Underground Railroad, but this is not a story about her. This is an earlier account of an Underground Railroad, that went from South Carolina to Florida in the late 1600s and into the 1700s. At that point, the Spanish still owned Florida. They wanted to increase their population […]