SOMOS PRIMOS: Black Latino Connection

ON THE SUBJECT OF SPANISH SLAVERY

Spanish slavery was . . . . more enlightened than that practiced by the British, Belgium's, Dutch and other Europeans. A slave under Spanish arms had rights and could marry; and despite their status as slaves, the marriage was deemed a holy, inviolate union. Contrasting slavery in the U.S., a Spanish owner could not separate a husband from a wife, or a mother from her children. Scholars William Mason and James Anderson from the L.A. Museum of Natural History state that "Slaves in Mexico could petition the government for their freedom if mistreated, and their pleas were often granted - a policy almost unheard of in the United States. Moreover, "A slave woman could be freed if raped by her master."

The Spanish slave, too, was thought to possess a soul, and human dignity - an English slave, on the other hand, was considered only property, with no rights, no dignity, no soul, no human worth, and no future.

In Spanish America any murder, or other crime against a slave, was considered a crime against a child of God and was punished accordingly.

By the 17th century Mexico City had become the largest city in the Western Hemisphere, with over 200,000 citizens. Of these 200,000 inhabitants 72,000 were European Spaniards, 80,000 were Native Americans, and 10,000 were Africans, slave and free. The Spanish instituted a race color caste to distinguish between these races.

At the top of the social ladder was the Peninsular, meaning a citizen born in Spain on the Spanish Peninsula. Next was the criollo, which was an individual of pure Spanish blood born in the New World, and was therefore, because of birth in the New World, considered inferior to his European - born cousins. Next there were the mestizo, who was a citizen of Spanish and Indian blood, a mulato was a child of a parents of European and African blood.

Conversion of the natives was a major theme of communication between Ferdinand and Isabella.
A Royal Order concerning Indians was given in the city of Barcelona on May 29, 1493 states:

". . . . since in all ways it is right and important that respect be paid to the service of God our Lord and to the praise of our holy Catholic faith; there their highnesses, desiring that our hold Catholic faith be enlarged and increased, order and charge the said admiral, viceroy, and governor in all ways possible to seek and work for the conversion of the inhabitants of the said islands and mainland to our holy Catholic faith."

Source: The Spanish Tradition in America, edited by Charles Gibson, Harper Torchbooks, 1968

AFROMEXICO
http://www.afromexico.org/ingles/ingles.htm

Gasper Nyanga, a native of Gabon, West Africa, was brought to Veracruz, Mexico, as one of the over 200,000 enslaved Africans shipped to the country's gulf and pacific coasts to work the sugar cane fields and mines controlled by the Spanish crown during the mid 16th and late 17th century.

As with other instances of slavery throughout the new world, no sooner did the initial ships disembark in 1537 that the first uprisings began. Throughout Mexico, Africans and Indigenous alike escaped the mines and haciendas to create "maroon" societies in the mountains.

After one of Mexico's most brutal rebellions, it was to the mountains of Veracruz that Caspar Nyanga led 500 other self-liberated peoples. For more than thirty years this community lived off goods secured through raids on caravans in route to Mexico City. As the community grew and the raids became more frequent, Nyanga became an increasingly hunted man: So fierce was this hunt that over 500 armed men ware sent to destroy his colony.

Nyanga and hundreds of men living in the highlands of Veracruz battled against the troops sent to capture them by order of the Spanish Crown. With hopes of causing enough destruction to force the Spaniards into negotiations that would help protect his people, Nyanga sent a message via a prisoner captured by his men. This message asked that a free homeland be granted upon fertile soil for his community of self liberated Africans and African descendants to settle.

At the end of a battle that suffered many casualties on each side, Nyanga and those under his care arranged a move to the lowlands of Veracruz. All African descendants and their offspring who had liberated themselves prior to 1608 were granted legal freedom to settle in this town, San Lorenzo de los Negros. In exchange, Nyanga assumed the position of mayor and agreed to pay taxes to the Crown as well as turn away any enslaved peoples seeking refuge within the city. Thus, Nyanga and his townsmen became the settlers of the first free town for Africans in the western hemisphere, later renamed Yanga, for its forefather.

Extract: 8. The Spanish Colonial System, 1550-1800
a. Population Development http://www.bartleby.com/67/908.html

By 1570 the Caribbean had 56,000 inhabitants of African origin, easily surpassing the Indian and white population.

The uneven distribution of the sexes and the harsh conditions of slavery made reproduction and the formation of slave families difficult. Nevertheless, slaves formed unions with native women, which increased the size of the mixed population. Children of these unions were born free, since the child's status derived from the mother. Between 1651 and 1760, slave traders shipped some 344,000 slaves to Spanish dominions. Between 1761 and 1810, in response to the booming plantation economy, 300,000 slaves were imported, mainly into Cuba and Puerto Rico. However, by that time most of the black population in Spanish domains was free. 4

Predominantly male migration at the beginning of colonization promoted unions between Spanish men and native women, which led to the growth of the mestizo population. Some were incorporated into the Spanish group, but illegitimate births were common among the mixed population. The mestizo rate of growth quickly surpassed that of the Indian population. 6

Mortality rates began to fall around the end of the 18th century. In 1803, Francisco Javier de Balmis
(1753-1819), a Spanish physician, carried out a general campaign of vaccination against smallpox, helping to improve health conditions in the colonies.

At the close of the colonial period, the estimated population of the Spanish colonies was:
3,276,000 whites,
5,328,000 mestizos,
7,530,000 Indians,
776,000 blacks.

Black Society in Spanish Florida

By Jane Landers Foreword by Peter H. Wood

The first extensive study of the African-American community under colonial Spanish rule, Black Society in Spanish Florida provides a vital counterweight to the better-known dynamics of the Anglo slave South. Jane Landers draws on a wealth of untapped primary sources, opening a new vista on the black experience in America and enriching our understanding of the powerful links between race relations and cultural custom.

Blacks under Spanish rule in Florida lived not in cotton rows or tobacco patches but in a more complex and international world that linked the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, and a powerful and diverse Indian hinterland. Assisted by the corporate nature of Spanish society, by Spain's medieval tradition of integration and assimilation, and by the almost constant threat to Spanish sovereignty in Florida, multiple generations of Africans leveraged linguistic, military, diplomatic, and artisanal skills into citizenship and property rights.

In this remote Spanish colony, blacks became homesteaders, property owners, and entrepreneurs, enjoying more legal and social protection than they would again until almost two hundred years of Anglo history had passed.

Chosen as a Choice Magazine's Outstanding Academic Book for 1999; co-winner of the Francis B. Simkins Award for 2001 from the Southern Historical Association

JANE LANDERS, an assistant professor of history at Vanderbilt University, is the author of Against the Odds: Free Blacks in the Slave Societies of the Americas and African American Heritage of Florida.

PETER H. WOOD, a professor of history at Duke University, is the author of Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion. A volume in the series Blacks in the New World, edited by August Meier and John H. Bracey

Slavery and Sanctuary in Colonial Florida

by Jean M. West

Florida: Sanctuary for Slaves
The English colonization of the Carolinas and Georgia threatened Spanish Florida. English raiders enslaved and killed thousands of Native Americans, so Spain fought back by offering sanctuary to English slaves. The first eleven fugitive slaves from Charleston, South Carolina arrived by boat in October 1687; they were granted refuge by Governor Cendoya.

On November 7, 1693, Spanish King Charles II issued a cedula (proclamation) promising that any English slave (maroon) who came to Spanish territory would be free. He said he was "giving liberty to all…the men as well as the women…so that by their example and by my liberality others will do the same."

Several hundred English slaves fled by foot, horse, and boat to the sanctuary of Spanish Florida. Although Spain provided some soldiers to the presidio (military post) of St. Augustine, there were not enough regular soldiers to defend Florida. By 1683, St. Augustine’s black and mulatto residents had formed a militia company. They pledged to "spill their last drop of blood in defense of the Great Crown of Spain and the Holy Faith, and to be the most cruel enemies of the English." These units distinguished themselves during English and Native American raids.

General Bernardo de Galvez

September Somos Primos 2004, Galvez Patriots

When the Spanish Government took over territorial control of Louisiana, the Spanish government recognized the Black Militia unit that was in place. During the American Revolution, Bernard de Galvez, the Spanish Governor of Louisiana and Commander of the Fixed Regiment, mobilized a force of 670 men of which 80 were freemen organized into two companies. These companies helped in capturing Baton Rough, Mobile and Pensacola. In praising his troops for their performance Galvez sited, "no less deserving of eulogy are the companies of Negro and Free Mulattoes," who "conducted themselves with as much valor and generosity as the whites." Granville Hough, Ph.D.

Fugitive Communities in Colonial America

By Michael Kolhoff
http://earlyamerica.com/review/2001_summer_fall/fugative.html

The early colonial period was the heyday of the fugitive communities in North America. Europeans usually only occupied a small portion of a colonies available land. This left vast expanses of wilderness open to the fugitives. By the beginning of the 19th century expanded settlement and increased European populations had pressed the fugitive communities (with a few exceptions) ever further into the wild.

The Melungeons were driven from their farms in the Shenandoah Valley by the mid 18th century. Other tri-racial groups were driven deeper into the mountains and swamps. In the period prior to the Civil War, tri-racial people were classified as "free persons of color", a classification which has led many researchers to erroneously identify tri-racials as freed slaves.

After the Reconstruction period, with the rise of the Eugenics movement of scientific racism, tri-racial groups were classified as African Americans in many locations (based on the "one drop" rule: if you have ANY Negro ancestry, you are a Negro). These measures did much to destroy many tri-racial communities, since those who could "pass for white" eagerly did so to avoid the racist restrictions placed on Negroes. Those tri-racials who exhibited the most prominent Negro features were forced to dissolve into the African American community, where they became "mulattos". Those that exhibited the most prominent European features dissolved into white society, where they explained their dark features by various acceptable means. Tri-racial communities still exist, and many occupy lands that their fugitive ancestors settled generations ago. Their story is an important example of the determination and resilience human beings can achieve, as well as of the many complex possibilities that presented themselves in the early colonial period.

Afro-Mexicans of the Costa Chica
by Bobby Vaughn
http://www.afromexico.com

The purpose of this website is to introduce readers to the culture and unique experience of Mexicans of African descent. If you are like most people, you probably have never heard of Afro-Mexicans and are completely unaware that they exist. If you fall into this category, this page will hopefully be quite a learning experience for you.

As a cultural anthropologist, I am interested in how issues of race, color, and nationalism make the Afro-Mexican experience what it is, today, and hopefully, I can come to some general conclusions as to larger issues of race and ethnicity.

Perhaps the question most central to my thinking about the topic could be expressed succinctly as: "How do black people in Mexico understand and live their black identity?" This question fascinates me primarily because issues of blackness and race are rarely talked about in Mexico, and the black population is extremely small there.

California Afri-Am Genealogical Society Guide to African Ancestor Research Genealogical Resources on the Internet
http://www.afrigeneas.com/states/ca/index-links.html

It is interesting to note that, beginning in 1781, a document called a "cedula" could be purchased which would officially change one's racial designation. Many such records can be found at the Bancroft Library in San Francisco and at other California libraries, museums and historical societies. In addition, although Old Mexico had previously used a variety of terms to describe blood quantum similar to Louisiana's methods, once a couple reached California to the north, any of their children born there were automatically classified as Spanish if one parent was Spanish. For all practical purposes, early California could truly be described as a melting pot.

California

Californians like to think of their states as a freewheeling, tolerant place, one that entered the Union back in 1850 unbesmirched by the stain of slavery. But evidence to the contrary. Though California was admitted to the Union as a "free state," slavery still existed in 1850s California, and Joe Moore is leading a project to shed light on its contradictory history.

Moore's proof is through an accumulation of documents, such as an 1852 ad announcing the public auction of a black man valued at $300, newspaper accounts of fugitive slaves who were arrested and county records certifying slaves bought their freedom from their owners.
For more information go to http://www.digital.lib.csus.edu/curr

Afro-Argentine library in Santa Fe Argentina

This is a request for donations of books to an Afro-Argentine library in Santa Fe Argentina. Contrary to popular opinion Afro-Argentines are still very much in existence. There is a small community in Santa Fe north of Buenos Aires in the interior. Santa Fe was devastated last Spring by flooding. A library run by an organization called Casa de la Cultura Indo-Afro-Americana was severely damaged by the flooding. The director of the organization Sra. Lucia Dominga Molina is trying to rebuild the library. Some of the materials may be irreplaceable because they were materials pertaining to Afro-Argentine history and culture, but their is a general need for works dealing with African Americans in the US and the Afro-Latin experience throughout the hemisphere. She has asked me particularly for books dealing with Afro-Argentines and Afro-Uruguayans, but stresses that she is also very interested in receiving books on the US, the Carribbean and other parts of Latin America. She can accept books in English and Spanish although books in Spanish would be particularly welcome. I didn't ask her but I would suspect if you have books in Portuguese on Brazil that those would be welcome too.
Sra. Lucia Dominga Molina
Casa de la Cultura Indo-Afro-Americana
LaMadrid 2956 (3000)
Santa Fe, Argentina

Source: Robert J. Cottrol Harold Paul Green Research Professor of Law, and Professor of History and Sociology George Washington University BCottrol" <bcottrol@law.gwu.edu

Black family history conference event, February 28th, Georgia.
By Jennifer J. Howard
Jennifer@northfulton.com
http://www.northfulton.com/DisplayArticle.asp?ID={AF851B3F-0C12-4EAB-88A1-C59145EAC62F

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sponsored the Atlanta Black History Leadership Symposium in an attempt to help people find their roots. "The life stories of one’s ancestors weave the fabric of families and communities, and should be cherished and preserved for future generations," said Colleen Olsen of the Roswell Georgia Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Roswell’s branch of the church has been active in helping people of all beliefs and races find their roots. Tom Daily, of Roswell, started his research at LDS Family History Center, located at 500 Norcross St. in Roswell. He has traced his lineage back to the early 1700s to a man named Maximillian Colin, his great-great-great-grandfather who was a prominent land owner in the Mobile, Ala. area.

"Spanish baptism records don’t indicate a mother and father for Maximillian. My belief is that he was the son of one of the Bodins by one of the slave women. I feel certain that’s the case," Daily said. He basis this belief on evidence that Maximillian, a half-white, half-black slave, inherited a substantial amount of land from Monluis Bodin.

"Mobile had a more open society in terms of racial mixing under the French and Spanish colonists, before Alabama became part of the United States," Daily said. "Although they were slaves, they had a very open society. They began to tighten up on the non-white population in the early 1900s when Alabama began to pass a series of laws restricting relationships and activities."

Mrs. Connolly
August, Somos Primos 2004

In 1896, the Supreme Court made segregation legal in Plessy v. Ferguson. By the mid-1920's, black Americans everywhere were glued to a sensational, yearlong divorce trial involving a black woman named Alice Jones and Leonard Rhinelander, scion of one of New York's richest families. The Rhinelanders believed Alice had hidden her racial background to get at the family fortune. Alice was forced to disrobe in court, so that the jury could see the skin beneath her clothing.

White Americans are generally surprised when they encounter stories like this — of an African-American with a proud heritage who nevertheless decides to leave blackness behind. But just about every black family in the United States knows of a light-skinned person who decided to avoid the penalties associated with blackness by becoming white. Hundreds of thousands of these people set sail into whiteness — leaving behind black parents, siblings and children — and were never heard from again. The people who abandoned their families were described as "passed" —
a euphemism for dead.

Too dark to pose plausibly as northern European, black people of Mrs. Connolly's color passed as Italian, Greek, Spanish or Portuguese — anything to escape segregation and the penalties associated with blackness. No one knows when she decided to leave blackness behind, or whether her white husband knew her secret.
Mrs. Watt thought that she knew her friend pretty well. She then stumbled upon a startling secret. Mrs.
Connolly had once let the secret slip to strangers but, for most of her life, she had apparently seemed intent on carrying it to the grave.

Mrs. Connolly, who had straight dark hair and swarthy skin, explained her appearance throughout most of her life by describing herself as Portuguese. The disguise began to crumble as she moved into her 90's and became too ill to care for the straight black hair — which turned out to be a wig. When it slipped away, Mrs. Watt recalls, the hair beneath was revealed to be short and coarse to curly. Combined with the darkish skin she had attributed to a Portuguese heritage, it gave her an African-American appearance.

This finally made sense when Mrs. Watt received her friend's meager possessions. They included old photographs, showing Lydia posed with family members. There was also a leather-bound book
handwritten by Wallace Turnage, her father. It contained his account of his life as a slave in Alabama.

Sterling Je'rome De La Ranzie Santiago Walker~Brown
April, Somos Primos March 29th, 2004

Hi, I know its been a long time since I last emailed you, but things are going great.
I found some old census records and on one record, they had my race down as Mexican, on another record and mulatto. I'm not sure if it was just something they called Mexicans back then or not.

I just got back from New York I'm a model and actor so that's why I'm always out of town. Your book really is a great help, and I tell every one to get it.

So far I'm Mexican, Spanish, African, Cuban, Creo, Hawaiian, and Indian . . I really feel more complete now in my life. And so does my family there is still more to find out like I'm going to Mexico some one said they think after my grandfather was killed they took his body back there.

I'm excited because my career is going really good. I'm going to be playing a racially mixed character in a lot of the movies they have me working on. And before I went on a search to find who I was I would have never been able to be the person I am. Your book is what I have to thank for a lot of that.

Well I just wanted to check in I have to go I'm at a photo shoot.
Thank you for everything

Sterling Je'rome De La Ranzie Santiago Walker~Brown

March 30, 2004

My career just started 2 years ago. You see before I read your book I never really knew what race I was. I knew I was different and part Mexican, but I felt like I was more.

My uncles, Roy and Milton came to live with us. My uncle Milton told me everything about being part Mexican and to be proud of what I am. I used to tell him how I wanted to be an actor or model but I felt like I was never good enough. Before he died, Uncle Milton died, he made me promise that me and my mom would find out what my heritage was mixed with.

After Milton died I felt like my life was going no were, but I had to keep the promise. My grandmother knew what race my mother was, but would not tell me.

I went to the library and looked for hours then I found this book. I believe it said searching your family tree to Mexico. I know it had a family on the front and it had your picture in the back. I read the whole book.

It helped me, so I started my search and day by day things got better. A clue here and a clue there. Your book told me to go to http://www.familysearch.com

In the middle of my search I found out that my uncle had sent off for me to go to an acting agency, it was like he was helping me do my dreams even when he was gone.

So I left and went to Chicago for an audition for IMTA http://www.imta.com.

There were lots of people at the audition. I was number 400. They had told me that there was only 65 people getting in. So when it was my turn to audition for the judges, in my head I'm thinking they won't let me in. I had tried to make my dreams come true earlier, but felt I needed to take time off to find out who I was.

I heard someone say once, you will never know who you are until you know were you came from.

The next day they called me and told me I had made it. I was in. I feel like I would not have been here if I I had not searched for myself. I feel like I could have never been here unless I had searched for my self.

Everyone can see me July28th, I'll be at the IMTA competition.
I'm a little nervous because I'll be interviewed by famous acting and modeling companies.

I'm sorry for going on and on but I really am thankful because your book really has helped me find my cultures and has made me a greater actor and model.

Please let me know if I can help more.
Always a friend, God bless . . . .

Sterling Je'rome De La Ranzie Santiago~Brown
I felt I should add my ancestor's name to mine.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Afro-Mexican Racial and Ethnic Self-Identity: Three Generations of the Thornton Family in Nogales, Arizona A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Afro-American Studies by Alva Moore Stevenson 2004 © Copyright by Alva Moore Stevenson 2004
The thesis of Alva Moore Stevenson is approved. _________________________________ Walter R. Allen ________________________________ Aziza Khazzoom ______________________________ Juan Gomez-Quinones, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles, 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Brief History of Afro Mexicans in Mexico and California 1 Biographies of the First Generations: James and Adeline Thornton And Daniel and Tráncito Thornton 7 Daniel Thornton’s Migration to Mexico 8 Tráncito Perez de Ruíz 10 The Afro-Mexican Community in Nogales, Arizona 11 Lydia Esther Thornton: Biography and Early Racial Self Identification 12 Influences on Racial Self Identification and Transmission of Culture 14 Grand Avenue/Frank Reed School 19 Influences upon Racial Identification in Early and Later Adulthood 21 Self Identification in Lydia’s Adulthood 23 Advantages and Disadvantages of Spanish Language Fluency for Lydia 24 Imparting Race and Culture to the Third Generation 26 Lydia: Fitting into or Falling out of Existing Theories of Race and Ethnicity 27 Rosalva Edna Thornton Murphy: Biography and Early Racial Self Identification 32 Edna’s Perceptions of the Advantages and Friction Caused by Spanish Language Fluency 37 Edna’s Interactions with African Americans and Mexicans 39 Edna: Fitting into or Falling out of Existing Theories of Race and Ethnicity 41 María Elena Thornton López: Biography and Early Racial Self Identification 43 Lydia and Edna’s Perceptions of Daniel II’s and William’s Self Identification 49 Self Identification of Daniel Thornton and William Thornton 52 Self Identification in the Third Generation: Rosenda Elizabeth Moore, Alva Moore Stevenson and Victoria Reyes Díaz 54 Conclusions about Self Identification in the Third Generation of the Thornton Family 68 Conclusions about Self Identity in the Second Generation of the Thornton Family 71 Endnotes 89 Figures 95 Bibliography 112
LIST OF FIGURES DOCUMENTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
DOCUMENTS Photograph of James Thornton n.d 95 Photograph of Adeline Thornton n.d 96 Photograph of Daniel Thornton c.1890. 97 Photograph of Tráncito Perez de Ruíz Thornton, c. 1932 98 Photograph of Lydia Esther Thornton, c. 1924 99 Photograph of Lydia Esther Thornton, c. 1939 100 Photograph of Edna Thornton, c. 1940 101 Photograph of María Thornton, c. 1935 102 Photograph of William Thornton, c. 1950 103 Photograph of Daniel Thornton, II, c. 1945 104 Photograph of Lydia Thornton, 6888^th CPD (Central Postal Directory) United States Army, c. 1943 105 Group Photograph of 6888^th CPD (Lydia in bottom row, third from left) Fort Jackson, Columbia, South Carolina, c. 1944 106 Photograph of Tráncito Perez Thornton (95 years old) 1987 107 Photograph of (from left to right) Edna Murphy; Flora Goudeau, Lydia Moore and María López in 1991 108 Photograph of Victoria Reyes Díaz c. 1940s 109 Photograph of Rosenda Elizabeth Moore, 2004 110 Photograph of Alva Moore Stevenson, 2004 111
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to thank my family for all their support during this long project: my parents Alfred and Lydia Moore, sister Rosenda Elizabeth Moore, aunts María López and Edna Murphy, cousin Victoria Reyes Díaz; my husband Pancho, daughter Julie, son Richard and mother-in-law Berta Stevenson. Also to Professors Walter Allen, Aziza Khazzoom, and Abel Valenzuela; and to Carlos Vásquez of the National Hispanic Cultural Center of New Mexico: your support and criticism was appreciated. A special thank you to my thesis committee chair and mentor Professor Juan Gomez-Quinones. Many thanks also to the staff of the UCLA Bunche Center for African American Studies, especially Lisbeth Gant-Britton. Finally a thank you to my many friends and colleagues in the Oral History Program and at UCLA for supporting my work. All photographs courtesy of Lydia Thornton Moore.
ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Afro-Mexican Racial and Ethnic Self-Identity: Three Generations of the Thornton Family in Nogales, Arizona by Alva Moore Stevenson Master of Arts in African American Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2004 Professor Juan Gomez-Quinones, Chair
Research on biracial identity in the U.S. (i.e., Rockquemore and Brunsma, Maria P.P. Root ) focuses upon persons of Black and White descent. Scant attention has been given to biracials of two historically-marginalized groups. Several scholars including Bobby Vaughn (Colby College) and Sagrario Cruz Carretero (Universidad Veracruzano) have explored the issue of Afro-Mexican self-identity in Mexico. No research exists however on the multi-generational self-identity of American-born Afro-Mexicans. Oral interviews were conducted with members of the Thornton family in the second and third generations. Readings in existing identity theories determined how similar or divergent the Thorntons were from those models. Thirdly, existing works on the history and identity of Afro-Mexicans and Afro-Latinos in the U.S. and Latin America were read. Self-identity among the second generation of the Thornton family varied according to gender, parental and external push and pull factors. Cultural and racial identification of the parents proved to be salient to their children’s self-perception in varying degrees. Third generation self-identity either mimicked their parents or took other paths Speaking Spanish was salient in articulating towards or away from a Mexican-Indian or Latina self-identity. The self-identity of the second generation Thorntons is a potpourri of existing models of biracial identity. No one fits neatly into any one model. They exemplify Black identity as inclusive of all parts of their heritage. This can mean not articulating solely to a Black identity or not racially self-identifying at all. The Thorntons creatively redefine race as it makes sense to them and maximizes their quality of life.
AFRO-MEXICAN RACIAL AND ETHNIC SELF-IDENTITY: THREE GENERATIONS OF THE THORNTON FAMILY IN NOGALES, ARIZONA BRIEF HISTORY OF AFRO MEXICANS IN MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA
The self-identity of of Afro Mexicans cannot be discussed without situating them in a historical context. Scholars such as Ivan Van Sertima (They Came Before Columbus) assert that Egyptians and Nubians came to Mexico in the Pre-Columbian period (c.1200 BC). The Olmec civilization may be descended from or had contact with Africans, he asserts. He cites as evidence the African facial features of the Olmec heads at La Venta, Tabasco and San Lorenzo. Van Sertima’s research is controversial and not widely accepted by mainstream historians. Those in the field would probably agree that Blacks who accompanied the conquistadors were the first persons of African descent in Mexico. One of the earliest was Juan Garrído who accompanied Hernán Cortes (c.1519) and participated in the fall of Tenochtitlan. . He was also credited with introducing wheat into the Americas. Afro Mexicans in the 16^th century fell into three categories: slaves; unarmed auxiliaries (servants and slaves) and armed auxiliaries such as Garrído who obtained their freedom. According to Matthew Restall, "it is primarily after this date [1510] that armed black servants and slaves begin to play significant military roles in Spanish conquest enterprises." The first Africans brought to Mexico as slaves came with the party of Pánfilo de Narváez also in 1519. They replaced Indios in the early 1500s because of European-imported diseases that had decimated the indigenous population. In the period between the mid-16^th and the mid 17^th centuries, the numbers of Africans at times exceeded the indigenous population. For a very short time, more Africans were imported into Mexico than any other part of the Americas. As in other parts of Latin America, African slaves in Mexico resisted their oppression. The runaways called maroons or cimarrones were reported to have fled and settled in such places as Coyula, Cuaxinecuilapan and Orizaba. One of the more famous was Gaspar Yanga, reportedly descended from a royal family in Gabon, he led a revolt on the sugar plantations of Veracruz in 1570. Yanga led his followers into the nearby inaccessible mountains and kept the forces of the Spanish Crown at bay for many years. Unprecedented in Mexican history, the Crown acceded to a treaty in 1630 which included freedom for the Yanguícos; self-government; and a farmable land grant. The import of African slaves had all but ceased by the mid-16^th century. What the Spaniards were confronted with in Mexico was an increasingly mixed society racially due to miscegenation. These castas or person of mixed blood not only blurred and crossed racial lines but economic ones as well. As discussed by Douglas Cope in The Limits of Racial Domination, this created a dilemma for the Spaniards:
	"Stunning wealth and wretched poverty, elegance and squalor, and sophistication and ignorance all existed side by side...Hispanic order [was imposed] on a recalcitrant population. In short the elite faced a rising tide of mixed-bloods, blacks, Indians and poor Spaniards that (in their view) threatened to submerge the city into chaos."
The Spanish-casta dichotomy gave way to a social dichotomy based on culture and economics not race. To reinforce their exclusive class, a sistema de castas or caste system was instituted in Mexico as a method of social control. This was a hierarchical ordering of racial groups according to their limpieza de sangre or purity of blood. That is—their place in society corresponded to their proportion of Spanish blood. According to Cope, the castas for the most part eschewed the sistema:
	"[By the late 16^th century] Africans and Afro-Mexicans created a ‘sphere of relative autonomy.’ Their unity and boundaries didn’t shield them from ‘ideological or structural oppression.’ Through these multiple identities they structured social relations and built boundaries of kinship and family. Black boundaries were characterized by interactions between ethnic Africans, Africans and Creoles, Negros, Mulatos, And Moriscos. In turn this reflected a wide range of African and Afro Mexican identities. Persons of African descent were only united though contact with the non-African ‘other.’…This did not mean Africans...left their culture behind. Rather they molded it to fit circumstances. [In the New World]."
Martha Menchaca (Recovering History, Constructing Race) discusses the reasons behind the northward migration of Afro Mexicans and other non-white Mexicans:
	"Blatant racial disparities became pain-fully intolerable to the non-white population and generated the conditions for their movement toward the northern frontier, where the racial order was relaxed and people of color had the opportunity to own land and enter most occupations."
In the period up to 1848 and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the sistema "which was designed to ensure the maintenance of caste…quickly disintegrated on its northern frontier, allowing persons of African ancestry remarkable social fluidity."^- Like the castas in that time period in Mexico City, early Afro-Mexicans in California were "uninterested in the complexities of the sistema de castas" and it did not dictate daily life. The ambiguity of the sistema made possible the success of Andrés and Pío Píco. Pio Píco was the last Mexican governor (1831, 1845-46) of California. A "consummate politician and ‘revolutionist’ "Pío Píco was also a wealthy landowner, military commander and Los Angeles city councilman (1853). His brother Andres represented California at the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga (1847) ending the Mexican War in California. He also served as state senator (1851, 1860-61). Not only in California but across the southwest, "afromestizos were part of the population that founded Nacogdoches, San Antonio, Laredo, La Bahía, Albuquerque, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara."^-- Several of the pobladores recruited by the Spanish Crown to settle Los Angeles in 1781^--were of African descent. Of the afromestizos in the group some hailed from Rosario, Sinaloa—a town where many of the residents were of African descent. Indeed the Píco family also hailed from Rosario. Among the Afromestizo families who became prominent landowners and politicans in Southern California during the late 18^th-early 19^th century were the families of Luís Quintero; María Rita Valdez; Juan Francisco Reyes and José Moreno. In contemporary Mexican society the sistema no longer functions overtly but Afro Mexicans remain largely marginalized and occupy places at the lowest rung of the economic ladders. Bobby Vaughn, a scholar of Afro Mexican Studies, asserts that issues of race in Mexico have "been so colored by Mexico’s preoccupation with the Indian question that the Afro Mexican experience tends to blend almost invisibly into the background, even to Afro Mexicans themselves." The national focus on Mexican identity as a dichotomy of Spanish and Aztec-Mexica-Maya or indigenismo-mestizaje effectively excludes them. Anani Dzidzienyo characterizes it as follows, "mestizaje ignores Blacks to such an extent that it would make all Blacks mestizos of some sort." The history of Afro Mexicans in Mexico and in California is emblemmatic of the American Southwest. I have laid the groundwork for the story of the Thornton family in Nogales, Arizona who were neither isolated nor unique. The Thorntons must be viewed through the larger historical context of Afro Mexicans in Mexico and the American Southwest. In the early years of this century they followed in a long line of Afro Mexicans—indeed of Afro Latinos in the Spanish-speaking Americas--from the most northern reaches of Alta California to the southern countries of Latin America. African-descended peoples in the Americas responded to the inhumanity of their beginnings with vigorous self-determination in their identities. With this as a backdrop, I hope to tell their story in their own words how the Thorntons--straddling two racial and cultural worlds—self-identify. Perhaps most importantly how—like their forebears in the Americas--their path to self-identity differed widely among each member of the second and third generation of the Thornton family. The historical family background of the first and second generation Thorntons is significant because their life experiences profoundly impacted the succeeding ones. In this case slavery, revolution, migration and flight not only informed the identity of those who experienced it—but their children and grandchildren as well. It is a story of how Tráncito and Daniel—he of African American and she of Mexican descent—raised their children racially and culturally. More importantly how the second and third generations self-identified in ways which were both congruent with and divergent from their upbringing. For some of the second and third generation Thorntons external social, cultural and racial factors were more salient to their self-identity. In concluding this story I will demonstrate how the Thorntons exercised agency in their self-identity. Who they are does not fit neatly into any existing models. They shatter these models and create ones of their own--of creative self-identification which maximizes their quality-of-life.
Biographies of the First Generations: James and Adeline Thornton and Daniel and Tráncito Thornton James Thornton (1835-1911), of mixed Native American and African American lineage, was born a slave in Versailles, Kentucky, owned by one of the prominent white Thornton families of Woodford County. James obtained his freedom by mustering into the Union Army on July 22, 1864. During the Civil War he served at Camp Nelson in the 12^th Heavy Artillery regiment of the United States Colored Troops. He, along with other African American soldiers, was court-martialed for attempted mutiny. James’s sentence was to be shot by musketry—later commuted to hard labor at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas off the Florida coast.He was dishonorably discharged from the army on January 17, 1866. Along with his sons, Abe and Clarence, he migrated to Kerr County Texas in the late-1860s with his two sons. Adeline Joyner Thornton (1852-1940) was born a slave in Tallahassee, Florida and migrated with her mother Mahala and Uncle Theodore to Kerr County, Texas with the Thompson family that owned them—they were later given or sold to the Charles Ganahl family. According to Edna Thornton Williams (Adeline’s daughter) her mother was thirteen when Emancipation came (1865). James and Adeline married at Turtle Creek Texas in 1871. He was reportedly the first Black landowner in Kerr County, buying a parcel of land along the Guadalupe River from John Parsons in 1884. They raised thirteen children, including my grandfather Daniel was born in 1876. Adeline and James counseled their children to seek employment outside the United States rather than endure the racism suffered by African Americans in the post-Civil War time period.
Daniel Thornton’s Migration to Mexico Some of Daniel’s siblings went to Canada, while others stayed in the U.S.—he migrated to Guadalajara, Mexico in 1901:
	"They [Southern Pacific] encouraged a lot of Black Americans to go to Mexico because they could help in the translation of the orders given by the white higher-ups."1
Black workers who learned Spanish became crucial communication links between non-Spanish speaking White management and non-English speaking Mexican workers. Daniel did just that and became a foreman supervising Mexican workers:
	"I don’t know why he went [to Mexico] but it’s true that they encouraged a lot of Black Americans to go to Mexico. Because they could help in the translation of the orders given by the White higher-ups in the railroad. [This was] translation between Black Americans who spoke English and the men that were in charge of the railroad which was American [Whites]. The Whites couldn’t communicate with the Mexican workers." 2
He certainly follows in the footsteps of other persons of African descent who were interpreters and translators such as Estevaníco the Moor, a scout in the party of Cabeza de Vaca in the 1530s who led the first expedition into the American Southwest (Arizona):
	"Estevaníco was especially gifted in languages and became fluent in several Indian dialects."³
Daniel joined the ranks of many African Americans who, dispirited with racism in the United States, migrated to Mexico in search of employment. James Hughes, father of writer Langston Hughes was in that number:
	"To James Hughes, a bitter man, the United States was so much sandpaper on his nerves…In 1909 he moved toToluca [Mexico] to begin working for the American-owned Sultepec Electric Light and Power Company. His brown skin, knowledge of American and Mexican law, and fluency in Spanish made him especially valuable."⁴
James Hughes admittedly was in a higher class, having amassed some property and status in Mexico. The fact remains, however, that such opportunities for Blacks in that time period were quite rare in the United States. Daniel had been immersed in the Mexican culture since his migration from Texas to Mexico. As a foreman and translator for the Southern Pacific Railroad he had gained a measure of occupational security. However short-lived—it was something few Black men would have aspired to or achieved during Reconstruction in the United States. More importantly he had earned respect from Whites as well as Mexicans. In marrying Tráncito, Daniel now had a more salient connection with his adopted culture.
Tráncito Perez de Ruíz Tráncito Perez de Ruíz (1892-1991) was born to Rosenda Pérez Ruíz, a housewife, and Jorge Sauceda, a miner, in San José de Grácia, Sinaloa near the town of Rosario. During the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917) she was sent from her home because the Revolutionary soldiers often kidnapped the young girls and raped them. Tráncito’s escape to safety was through a network of "safe houses:"
	"They used to hide the girls. They had a communication means. In one ranch house—if they saw the troops— they would send all the girls to a station. Far as they could get—but the people knew they were coming. They would stay until it was safe. And they would send somebody to send them on. A lot of times they never came home—they just kept going."5
Her family also endured the horror of her brother’s Cástulo’s [Aceves] execution by firing squad perpetrated by the federales. By 1911 Tráncito worked in the army of General Plutárco Elias Calles as a cook and babysitter and was immediately forced to take a vow of silence because of the conversations and secrets of the army that she was privy to:
	"Tráncito, from now on you are blind, deaf and mute. It will cost you your life if you say anything."⁶
Yet one of Tráncito’s fondest memories was serving breakfast on one occasion to Generals Cálles, Pancho Villa and Alvaro Obregón. In 1911, at the age of nineteen, she met Daniel. They were married in 1914. When asked how her parents’ interracial marriage was received in Mexico, Lydia relates:
	"They said the people were friendly and anyone that spoke their language was alright with them. At that time it was a revolution—everybody was so glad to have somebody to help them. And food was very scarce—so whatever one person had—they all had.⁷
Speaking Spanish was a unifying factor and seemed to transcend race in this instance. The realities of war seemed to outweigh any misgivings one might have had over Tráncito and Daniel’s interracial marriage. The Southern Pacific provided Daniel with a caboose in which he and Tráncito lived:
	"They traveled to different parts of Mexico as they built all the way… into Mexico. When they finished the railroad [Daniel and Tráncito] came back north to Arizona."8
The Afro-Mexican Community in Nogales, Arizona Daniel and Tráncito migrated north to Nogales, Arizona on the U.S.-Mexican border in the late teens of the century. They joined a small Afro-Mexican community—within a slightly larger African American community. These families, including the Clarks, Irvings, Jacksons, Jennings, Kisers and Reeds, consisted of African American fathers—many soldiers from nearby Fort Huachuca (formerly Camp Stephen D. Little). The wives were Mexican women from across the line. They joined African American families not of Mexican lineage such as the Biggs, Simpsons and the Jelks to form a small, tightly-knit enclave from the 1920s to the 1950s. Tráncito and Daniel had nine children: Soledad, Lydia, Rosalva, Flora, María, Delia and Rosenda, William and Daniel II. Soledad Laíja was Tráncito’s daughter by her first marriage. Délia and Rosenda died in childhood. Daniel worked at various times as caretaker at the Nogales City Cemetery; mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service; worker at the Tovrea meat packing plant and owner of a shoeshine parlor. Tráncito owned a restaurant for a short time but gave it up to raise her children. She was ordained a minister in the El Mesías United Mexican Methodist Church in 1947. Tráncito outlived Daniel (who died in 1957) by forty-four years. Lydia Esther Thornton—Biography and Early Racial Self Identification Lydia Esther was born on February 19, 1922 in Nogales to the Thorntons—the third oldest daughter. She attended the segregated Grand Avenue/Frank Reed School and Nogales High School. She enlisted in the Womens Army Corps during World War II and served in the only all-Black women’s regiment: the 6888^th Central Postal Directory ⁹or the "Black WACs" as they were called. Lydia’s unit served in England, Scotland and Rouen, France. After the war she migrated to Los Angeles, California and married Alfred Scott Moore. They have three children: Alva Phoebe, Alfred Scott II (deceased in 1975), and Rosenda Elizabeth. Lydia returned to school and obtained her bilingual teaching credential. She taught in both public and parochial schools before retiring. When asked when she became aware of skin color or racial differences:
	"I was really aware of skin color as long back as I can remember. I discovered it on my own and also my parents taught us the different relatives and the difference in their color"10
Lydia learned early on that their Afro Mexican family did not exist in isolation but was part of a larger "micro" community within the larger African American Nogales community:
	"We learned that in our neighborhood most mothers were Mexican and fathers were Afro American. Most of the fathers were military men or men that had gone to Mexico and worked on the railroad."11
Neither of Lydia’s parents specifically discussed the fact of their mixed-racial heritage or other issues of race. Daniel did instill—though—a strong sense of Black pride in his children and told Lydia and her siblings they should always be proud of who they were. Tráncito’s Mexican family readily accepted her Afro-Mexican children. This is contrary to findings in a study, though in the contemporary time period, by Lawrence Bobo and James Johnson, "prejudiced attitudes are a function of the Mexican tradition, which is not one of tolerance…Hispanics bring with them prejudices towards blacks from their own countries. Spanish and Mexican cultures have historically denigrated dark skin…"¹² Peter Skerry also states that, "like whites, many Hispanics hold negative stereotypes of blacks." A visit from friends of Tráncito during Lydia’s childhood is perhaps revealing of her views and her recognition of the African roots of some Mexicans:
	"some very dark Mexican people that came from other states like Guanajuato..that were very dark with wavy hair. And my mother would say, ‘they are colored people who settled there. [Mexico]" And she said, ‘everybody is not the same color—but we’re all Mexicans. She [Tráncito] told us that she [the visitor] had ancestors that came from Africa"13
The reasons for Tráncito’s views on race and her relatives’ acceptance of her children might be explained by a point made by Carlos A. Fernández in La Raza and the Melting Pot:
	"Latinos, and especially Mexican Americans, have been conditioned by their history, however imperfectly and unevenly, to accept racial ambiguity and mixture as ‘normal"¹⁴
But Lydia also cites something her mother said which is contradictory as well:
	"I remember one time she said something —I don’t know why she said it—Whether deep inside of her she thought like that or whether —we were talking about somebody and she said, ‘so-and-so is so cute—but she’s so dark.’ So I don’t know if she felt dark people are not as good-looking. Or whether she was talking about somebody in the family or what."¹⁵
Influences on Racial Self-Identification and Transmission of Culture Lydia speaks of how the cultures of her parents were transmitted to them. Tráncito—who exerted her Mexican identity and chose not to learn English—taught her children Spanish as their native tongue. Since Daniel spoke Spanish fluently; they did not converse in or were taught English at home. The children learned Mexican history through the first-person accounts of Tráncito’s role (heretofore mentioned) during the Revolution of 1910. The culture was further inculcated by teaching skills for finding edible foods in the wild; herbs as curative agents and folktales:
	"The wild fruits—they had like—we would go to the hills and get what they called ajos- just like garlic only. They had purple flowers and we used to eat seeds—the outside it tasted very good. And then we used to have covenas — they were some little flowers and we used to eat the roots too. But they tasted different from the ajos. And then we used to have sallas — they were some roots that we would dig up the whole plant and eat the roots. We used to have black walnuts to eat and mesquite they're the — roots. We used to have black walnuts to eat and mesquite they're the — it's a tree and its gets long beads and it has to stay on the tree on the trees for us to eat them. You would chew them and they're very sweet. And wild bananas — you know these macho bananas about this little? Well we had those. We waited till they were ripe — they were very good."
	"We had ruda—that’s very green on the order of parsley. And that was for—you put it with oil—and put it on the ears for earache. And then mint for stomach[ache] and cramps. And there was té de comadre that would be a tea out of different—the seed of a nutmeg and whole cloves and cinnamon and two kinds of anise—anise estrella and the plain anise. You would boil them and make tea with them. And for hemorrhoids you would take chamomile –the dry flowers—and put it in a little cup—it has to be fireproof— with a little oil and mix it up and put it on a sanitary napkin and put it on your hemorrhoids and it would cure them."¹⁶
Daniel regretted the geographic distance of his family in Texas but did transmit the African American culture to his children by telling them of the foods he had eaten in Kerrville, Texas:
	"[My father Daniel] ate Mexican food but then he would tell us about cornbread and lima beans and blackeyed peas. here were some other African American foods that we didn’t eat because they didn’t smell so good and we weren’t used to them like chittlins’. He told us about using salt pork to season everything."¹⁷
She and her siblings—though--would learn much about not only the Thornton family history but African American history:
	"He told us his father [James Thornton] had gone to live with the Indians I think. I don’t know if there were children born of that time or not. Anyway in one of the courthouses in Texas —I think it was Kerrville—I’m not sure. It would be your great -grandfather [James Thornton]—left a statement with a dedications ‘my children—be good citizens…’ You saw a copy of that and [it] had all the children right after she died. She stayed there to live. The dress she had to be buried; she had made it 30 years before to be buried in"¹⁸
Daniel, by relating the history and culture of his family, also related the history of African Americans to his children. More importantly--and what influenced Lydia’s self-identity--was a strong pride in being Black. That pride instilled by Lydia’s father was positively reinforced by others such as her elementary school teacher Florence Mills. There were also negative experiences in Lydia’s childhood related to her African descent:
	"There were a few—well all the neighbors were friendly—children didn’t know prejudice unless you teach them. They were just as friendly as if we had had the same color and had the same hair as they did. One thing I remember is curly hair— some people would touch it and say, ‘China, its very, very curly and you can’t even comb it.’ I remember that my mother couldn’t comb it—she didn’t know how. So we could— your grandfather would cut it just like a man’s haircut. That’s the way we used to wear it."19
Lydia perceives that the limits to her social interactions in Nogales were more informed by low socioeconomic status than her color. Lack of money meant they could not afford to patronize restaurants or other businesses. This socioeconomically-driven lack of contact with Whites and others in Nogales meant they experienced few racial slurs or racism. In fact the sisters were simply referred to as the "Thornton Girls." In a publication, The Grand Avenue/Frank A. Reed School, Nogales, Arizona the author discusses racism against African Americans in Nogales:
	"Prejudice against Blacks in Nogales was prevalent, but never discussed. Everyone knew it existed. Some students recall seeing "WHITE ONLY" and "COLORED ONLY" signs at businesses and there were restaurants where Blacks weren’t allowed to eat. Still others recalled that the signs read, ‘We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.’ (actually it meant the same as ‘no blacks allowed’).There existed no hair salons in Negates where Black women and girls could get their hair fixed. According to one student, you could go across the line to the market. When you came back, you could sit in La Placíta and have a cold drink (horchata) [or some] bírria,churros and other treats. If you were older and had a car, you could go to El Molino Negro in Nogales, Sonora past a gas Station with an airplane propeller on the top of the building and be served drinks."20
	"He said his mother told them [him and his siblings]—like in a gathering--‘You will never be treated right in this country. Go and work some place—but don’t stay here [the United States]’ And so I don’t know if that was the reason he was recruited [ to work the railroad in Mexico] or whether he had seen a lot of segregation [and discrimination]."21
The following narrative from Daniel’s sister Edna Thornton Williams articulates not only the family’s history but (in the first line) her own attitude towards slavery:
	"Those times, slavery had to be,’" said Edna Williams, as she talked of her mother and grandmother. ‘My grandmother and Theodore Blanks, that worked here, was sister and brother. Her name was Mahalia [Mahala]. My mother’s name was Adeline. My grandmother and mother were slaves brought to Center Point [Texas] by Charles Ganahl. My mother was thirteen or fourteen when they were freed. My father’s name was Thornton, but that wasn’t his real name, it was the name of his captain. His mother’s name was America."22
Grand Avenue/Frank Reed School In the South and other parts of the country Black children attended segregated schools—Nogales was no different. Lydia attended the Grand Avenue/Frank Reed School (c.1928-c.1952) which was built in Nogales to accommodate the children of Black soldiers serving in the 25^th Infantry including the Afro-Mexican children discussed herein:
	"With the Black soldiers by this time (late 1920s) leaving [Camp Stephen D.Little or "Campo De Los Soldados"] and transferring to Fort Huachuca [200 miles east of Nogales], there weren’t enough students to maintain the school. In 1929 the Grand Avenue School opened. Why the decision was made to segregate all Black Nogalian students in one school including those of non-military families is unknown."23
Although no segregated schools for Black children had existed in the Nogales area previously; a decision was made to do just that when large numbers of Black and Afro-Mexican children came of school age in the late-1920s:
	"But as long back as I can remember the schools were separated. But that was after the army troops came to Nogales and segregation is supposed to have started then."24
It is worth noting here that in several of the Afro Mexican families including the Thorntons and the Reeds--Mexican mothers had children by previous marriages to Mexican men. Those children, by virtue of having a Black stepfather, were mandated to attend the segregated school. The two-room school (one room for primary grades and one for secondary) was staffed by African American teachers and had, not only substandard physical premises, but inferior textbooks and other resources. The order to desegregate came in 1952. A discussion of the school is salient to a discussion of Lydia’s self-identity. She recalls the positive affect of Mrs. Mills:
	"In school we had a teacher named Mrs. Florence Mills (taught at Reed School from 1928-1942) And She always made us feel very important. She would say—especially if you were a good student—(and I was a very good student). She would say, ‘I wish I could speak Spanish and English. You are very smart—you speak two languages and you write two languages.’ Because my mother taught us from the beginning how to read and write Spanish. So anyway Mrs. Mills would tell us, ‘Be very proud of yourself—learn all the English you can and all the Spanish you can.’ And it was positive. And this teacher I met her—I kept in touch with her until she died. She lived here in Los Angeles."25
Social experiences with other Afro Mexican and Black students offered her friendship and camaraderie by virtue of a shared racial background. As for dating and social relationships Lydia states that the pool of available Afro Mexican and African American men was quite small. Dating Mexicans or Whites was an unstated taboo. Rather than experience bias or racism when she attended Nogales High School; Lydia remarked that she, along with other native Spanish-speaking students, were actually held to a higher standard. This was perceived by white students as favoritism:
	"And the high school was mixed. We had never really dealt with large numbers of white people as our equals. We just had the teachers and one of the Spanish teachers was Magdalena Espinoza(sp?)And she addressed this to the Spanish-speaking students., ‘there is no reasons why you can’t learn Spanish very well. You have the ability —you brought the language from your home.’ At those times we could take Spanish 1,2,3,4.. So anyway she made sure if we made a mistake in Spanish—there was no excuse. We had to do the work over.And she always —the white students thought that she was giving us too much attention."26
Influences Upon Racial Identification in Early and Later Adulthood Lydia graduated from Nogales High School in 1945, and along with all Nogalians--Black, White or Mexican--unemployment loomed:
	"There was nothing to do in Nogales as far as jobs. I never applied to any like stores because I didn’t see anybody asking to go to any jobs. And I did take a civil service typing test and I didn’t pass it. I typed 72 words –but somehow got nervous and I didn’t pass it. So after that I said well—I’d seen the ads for the WAC [Women’s Army Corps] so I applied."27
Entering the 6888^th CPD (Central Postal Directory) or the "Black WACs" during World War II was Lydia’s first real encounter with racial bias:
	"I think that was the first time I came across real segregation. When they called me to go—I had to report to Tucson to recruiting. And then from there they took me to Tucson—there were a few other Black women. They took us to Phoenix and where we had to wait was like a house that black people owned—sort of like a hotel. So we stayed there and there were no whites. That was the first time-- After that I couldn’t speak English that well—but anyway I was doing the best I could. Anyway I met a very nice lady—she was much older. She started speaking to me. She said her husband was in the army and she had orders to go to Des Moines. She had enlisted in the service. She said we can become friends on the way. So anyway we did and she told me a lot of things. I was dumb—I didn’t know too many—she told me about men and what to be careful of. I got to Des Moines and you know I found out. They [the army] asked me in Tucson. They said, ‘do you want to go into the white army or the black army—the colored army?’ I said, ‘well I’ll go in the colored army.’"28
Lydia’s encounter with the aforementioned Black servicewoman, who took her under her wing, was one of the experiences which informed her racial self-identification:
	"Some women in the service--one was from Panama [one] from Jamaica, New York, and one from Puerto Rico. And they had their act together. They had grown up being proud and they had a strong Black heritage. I appreciated that and wished I had the same experience. It’s a good thing that I came in contact with people like that. It gave me more incentive to go ahead. You could still learn."29
She felt a racial and cultural similitude with these Afro-Latino servicewomen with whom she served in World War II. Their example motivated Lydia to succeed.
Self-Identification in Lydia’s Adulthood In her adulthood, friendships with other Afro-Latinos (Carmen Patton Williams, the Jorríns and others) have reinforced her self identity as have the biannual reunions of the Grand Avenue/Frank Reed School:
	"Since we started going to those reunions, I really —its really my thing. We actually met people to identify with."30
When Lydia was asked how she has self-identified over her lifetime she says:
	"Well I can truly say that I’m both Mexican and Black and just as proud of one as the other… When you’re younger, looks like you can tell the difference with your feelings [and] from your feelings--what you think you’re getting deprived of. As you grow older and you realize you have something to be proud of —then you start looking for things and ways that you have that are valuable. And [you] appreciate them and try to improve. So when you have your children—they’ll have something to be proud of. It wasn’t all bad"31
Lydia’s dual self-identity as Black and Mexican makes her perceptions on other Afro Mexicans in Nogales worth noting:
	"The Jackson family was—the father taught them to be very proud Black. And they all have done very well. The father taught them the importance of education and the rest will take care of itself."³²
In fact the family—and in particular David Jackson --have led the effort in recent years to see that the story of…Afro Mexicans [and other Afro Nogalians] is an enduring part of the historical record. From her vantage point years later Lydia observes Afro Mexicans in Nogales who consciously self-identified as non-black such as the Irvings who articulated to a Mexican identity. They legally changed their names and encouraged their children to marry Mexicans (and they did). In denying their African descent—they in effect "became Mexican." The Maxie family—according to Lydia—as well did not identify as Black. And they indeed had the social tools to do so: light complexion and a higher class status—the father was an engineer on the Southern Pacific railroad. Lydia further relates that the daughter Berta was allowed to attend the White school because of the parents’ persistence. Other Black Nogalians could have done the same—Lydia feels. They did not because many were from the South—where challenging the White status quo could have disastrous consequences. Therefore—Lydia felt—they "went along with the Program." Advantages and Disadvantages of Spanish Language Fluency for Lydia Fluency in the Spanish language was one of the many positive legacies Daniel and Tráncito passed onto their children. Their father—throughout his life--personified the advantages of bilingualism. Similarly, being a native Spanish speaker had distinct advantages for Lydia at various times in her life. One of those was during World War II as a member of the Black WACs:
	"After I finished basic training [to be a WAC]… I think it was sort of an edge--speaking Spanish. Because they assigned me to a hospital unit working in the admitting office registering and filling out papers—helping the soldiers before they went to the hospital. It was a battalion of Puerto Ricans who didn’t speak English. I don’t know if they were volunteers. So you had to be Spanish-speaking and translate."33
In later years African American students would question her presence in Spanish classes—her superior performance apparently a threat. More than that—puzzled to encounter a Black person who was fluent in Spanish:
	"In certain classes when I was studying--I would pick up courses because I need [them] for my major. And there were some Black students that sort of like insulted me saying, ‘why would I like to be in a class when they’re other people who can’t perform as well as I did?’ and I would answer, ‘I need this class for my major. They didn’t quite say ‘what are you?’ They would say, ‘where did you learn [Spanish]? These questions came from other Blacks. The Mexicans were pretty friendly —it didn’t seem to bother them [my color]. They were glad they had somebody to communicate with."34
So Lydia’s high achievement in Spanish elicited questions not of "what are you?" But rather, "how and why can you Spanish so well?" At the same time her Spanish-speaking ability made possible linkages with Mexicans which crossed racial lines. Her Spanish-speaking ability afforded her an edge—not always—but many times. Lydia would later become a bilingual teacher in the Los Angeles City and County school districts as well as in the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese. Imparting Race and Culture to the Third Generation Lydia imparted her racial heritage to her children with some compromises made to accommodate her husband Alfred’s wishes to raise their children as African American:
	"When I was raising my children I wanted them to have both importance—the black heritage and the Mexican. Both of my first two children were Christian in the Catholic Church and my oldest daughter Alva went with her godmother [Carmen Patton Williams] to Catholic mass every Sunday until my husband said she can’t go anymorebecause I’m Black and she should go toMethodist Church because I’m Methodist. I said okay so we all went to the Methodist Church. And as far as heritage for Mexico—I always stress the point— I always visited my mother and took my children. And we always ate Mexican food together with American food."35
In further commenting on how the Black and Mexican heritage were imparted to their children, Lydia remarks on whether she and Alfred clashed in these decisions:
	"No—except that I think now I should have spoken my mind better on the language [Lydia did not teach her children Spanish] because your father always said. Well in those days he was a teacher and there was no bilingual anything. Evidently he said it was not good for me to be talking one thing and doing another thing [the wisdom at that time in the 1950s in educational circles said that a child should not be taught a foreign language as their native tongue]."36
She perceived the Spanish language as an important part of the Mexican culture, but deferred to her husband in the raising of their children. Lydia: Fitting into or Falling out of Existing Theories of Race and Ethnicity So where does Lydia fit into or fall out of existing theories of race and ethnicity particularly as they apply to biracial people? Although the theories I will cite apply exclusively to Black-White biracial persons; they are applicable to the Afro Mexicans who are the focus of my study. It is important to note at this juncture that Black-White biracials deal with two heritages—one of which (White) is perceived as superior. The racial dynamic is different in the case of the Thornton second generation. Both Blacks and Mexicans are historically-marginalized groups:
	"Persons of color mixing with other persons of color—such as American Indians and Blacks, Filipinos and Native Americans, Latinos and Blacks…This mixing does not conventionally threaten the border between White and non-White.³⁷
So what we may confront is the person’s choice between that part of themselves which is Black and that which is as G. Reginald Daniel states, "just a little less Black and thus a little less subordinate." Kerry Ann Rockquemore and David L. Brunsma in Beyond Black: Biracial Identity in America³⁸say that, "racial identities are socially constructed and maintained to support existing social relations." They suggest that outside appearance or "whether or not biracial people appear black" is less important than their own self-understanding. Particularly important for our understanding of Lydia is Rockquemore and Brunsma’s assertion that both peers and family outweigh appearance in the construction of identity. Simply stated, "parental socialization and peer influences proved to be more influential." Both childhood and adult socialization and the transmission of norms and values is critical. Rockquemore and Brunsma discuss how being biracial has multiple meanings in the form of either border, singular, protean and/or transcendent identities³⁹. William Gross suggests a nigrescence model of biracial identity. The basis of his model theorizes a reference group orientation rather than a group identification. The biracial individual participates and enjoys the culture of both the Black and white [for purposes of this thesis—Mexican] communities—somewhat like the border identity. Gross further states that there may be an overidentification with the White parent as the symbol of the dominant majority resulting in rejection of the Black parent and—further—negative feelings about Blacks. G. Reginald Daniel theorizes a blended identity as that which resists "both the dichotomization and hierarchical valuation of African American and European American cultural and racial differences. Individuals with an integrative identity, according to Daniel, reference themselves within two different racial communities. Variations on the theory are synthesized integrative where the person feels equally comfortable among both groups and functional integrative meaning that they not only feel comfortable but function and identify in both settings. With a functional integrative identity the person feels a stronger acceptance and orientation to one race. Marc Pizarro in his essay on Racial Formation and Chicana/o Identity delineates the many different components of a person’s identity—familial,, ethnic, academic and occupational. Each of these is interwoven into the person’s outcome and is linked to their sense of social self. Like Rockquemore and Brunsma, Pizarro believes that family identity is an important precursor to social identity. School identity is also important but heavily influenced by familial and social identification. Lydia’s identity does not strictly fall into any of the biracial models I’ve described. Her identity falls tenuously within both the singular and border models, the nigrescence model as well as the functional integrative identity. The admonition of her father Daniel to be proud in her Blackness was strong. In relating the Thornton family history, he transmitted African-American history and culture to his children. Lydia admits that she wished the orientation towards a pride in Blackness had been even stronger. Just as salient in forming her identity was her mother Tráncito. In terms of transmitting the Mexican culture—her mother taught food preparation, knowledge of herbs for curative purposes and perhaps most importantly the Spanish language. To look at it simplistically—Lydia received more identification/culture molding from her mother. This combined with her light skin coloring meant she could have identified—perhaps lived—as a Mexican. But her father’s influence was more salient. Lydia says that she identifies dually as Mexican and Black and is proud of both. I perceive as in Gross’s functional integrative identity—that she does feel a slightly stronger acceptance and orientation towards Blacks—largely due to the influence of her father. Or as María Root cites in Racially Mixed People in America:
	"Psychological identification with the beliefs and values of one parent may also increase identification with the group from which that parent derives."⁴⁰
Also important for understanding Lydia is Pizarro’s take on the role of class in identity. He states that:
	"[Chicanos] viewed class as part of their ethnic and racial experience…Either consciously or sub-consciously [class] deemed a part of…being Chicana/o."⁴¹
Lydia clearly states that the businesses they could not frequent was not due to racism and discrimination but because they were poor—that economics was more salient than color. Beyond the salience of Daniel’s influence; I believe Lydia is more strongly oriented towards a Black identity for the following reasons: marriage to an African American and deference to his culture and feeling comfortable in that space, lifelong friendships with other Afro Latinos—the Black servicewomen during World War II and later in her life. She experiences a consciousness of kind as discussed by Cookie White Stephan which begins with "commonalities of culture, such as language, religious beliefs, and styles of living." A research study by David Demo, Stephen Small, and Ritch Savin-Williams concludes:
	"the quality of interpersonal relations with family and friends positively influences both racial self-esteem and feelings of closeness to other blacks."⁴²
The factors I cited may bear out a functional integrative identity but not totally. Lydia also has lifelong friendships with Mexicans and other Latinos not of African descent and she maintains ties with Tráncito’s family. I believe speaking Spanish is a link which transcended any misgivings either these friends or family may have had. This was also demonstrated when Lydia taught in a