Afro-Patriots and the Mexican War of Independence

Key Figures

Wife of Queretaro magistrate Miguel Domínguez; nickname highlights the (jokingly acknowledged) real power holder in the marriage.
Mother of 14; exemplar of “republican motherhood.”
Classified in legal papers as “morista” (mixed African heritage); mother was Black.
Hosted clandestine meetings for Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, others.
When conspiracy was about to be discovered, husband placed her under house arrest (she was pregnant).
Legend: pounded heels on wall to warn conspirators – physical impossibility per modern inspection, but survives as gender-coded folklore (using “fashion” – her shoe – as a weapon).
Got the warning out; Hidalgo’s “Grito de Dolores” followed.
Defied husband and Spanish crown simultaneously – atypical for elite women; shows women’s active political agency.
She and her husband later imprisoned for their activism.

Mixed ancestry: African, Indigenous, Spanish; often depicted wearing knotted head-scarf (both battle-practical and cultural signifier).
Took insurgency south (Guerrero, Michoacán); avoided disastrous set-piece battles after learning from Puente de Calderón.
Broke definitively with Spanish monarchy; independence declared 1813.
Helped create Congress of Chilpancingo (a.k.a. Anáhuac) – Mexico’s “Second Continental Congress.”
Captured and executed 1815; congress dissolved.

Recruited by Morelos 1810; shared African ancestry (Black father, Indigenous mother).
After Morelos’ death became Commander-in-Chief with scant resources.
Viceroy Apodaca sent Guerrero’s own father (with money & rank offer) to make him defect; famous response: “La patria es primero” – Country before father; i.e., “Independence & liberty or death.”
Negotiated end of hostilities 1820; kept general’s rank.
As President (2nd of Mexico) Apr–Dec 1829:
- Repelled Spanish reconquest attempt (3 000 troops from Cuba) at Tampico.
- Planned to send Haitian expedition to Cuba to foment slave revolt – strategic use of Afro-diasporic solidarity.
- Abolished slavery nationwide 1829 (36 yrs before U.S.); compensated owners; exception carved for Texas, later exploited by Stephen F. Austin to re-import slavery for cotton.
Ousted by VP Anastasio Bustamante while on campaign; captured via dinner-ship ruse; executed Feb 14 1831.
Remembered as Mexico’s first Black president; family later recovered history of Gaspar Yanga.

Born 1775 at Hacienda de La Laja near Lagos (Los Altos de Jalisco); affluent land-owning family of Afro-Mexican descent.
Tall, large, curly dark hair ⇒ nickname “The Bull.”
Ran a store in Lagos; traveled into insurgent zones, gathered intel.
Entire male kin rose with him 1814; women followed as nurses & morale-keepers.
Severe commitment: when youngest daughter captured, rejected prisoner exchange, shot captives, saying daughter “worthless to the nation.” 15-yr-old son Luis later killed.
Constructed mountain redoubt El Fuerte del Sombrero between Lagos & León:
- 45° slope approach, two-foot stone parapets, 17 artillery pieces (2–8-lb guns), barracks, warehouses, workshops, hospital, cemetery, church.
- Population ≈ 650 fighting men + 350 civilians (women, children, elderly).
- Operated ≈ 2 yrs as insurgent mini-state.

Navarrese Spaniard, liberal republican; exiled to London, recruited 269 mercenaries (U.S., Spanish, French, Black volunteers).
Landed in Mexico; series of victories, seized 140 000 pesos from royalist supporter; sought Moreno at Sombrero.

Spanish ring: 1 000 (+ later 2 500) soldiers at Barrancas de Barbosa & Cerro del Negrete.
Continuous artillery; sharpshooters controlled water sources; women rolled boulders down 45° slope.
Notable casualties: U.S. Colonel Guilford Young decapitated by cannonball.
Depleted food & water; rainstorm brief reprieve.
Spanish refused burial truces – > 400 decomposing bodies; sanitation & morale crisis.
Night retreat in heavy rain; women/children in front, horsemen rear; children’s cries exposed column – massacre; allows cavalry escape (tactical critique: order should have been reversed).
Fortress captured; wounded forced to dismantle works then executed; hidden pesos recovered.

Moreno & Mina reunited but repeatedly defeated; refuge discovered; Moreno shot in cave, decapitated, head displayed at Lagos.
Mina tried, executed Nov 11 1817.
Contemporaries believed insurgency crushed.

Representatives from insurgent-held provinces; drafted constitution:
- Abolished slavery & caste distinctions; all residents to be “americanos.”
- Catholicism sole state religion.
- Republican government model – violated later.
Internal split: military (militares) vs. lawyers (letrados); friction led to dubious orders (e.g., Morelos’ defeat at Laco de Baca 1814); dissolved post-Morelos.

Afro-Mexican presence central: Josefa (morista), Morelos, Guerrero, Moreno, Mina’s Black recruits.
Women’s roles: Josefa’s political leadership; Moreno family women nurses, logistical support; water gatherers under fire; boulder rollers in siege.
Guerrero’s presidency: first national abolition; highlighted tension with Anglo-Texan slaveholders; strategic vision of pan-Black liberation (Haitian plan).
Spanish negotiators originally denied Blacks social equality (1821 peace); Guerrero refused to sign until rectified.

Republicanism vs. monarchy; loyalty to ideals over kin (Guerrero disowns father; Moreno sacrifices family).
Brutality of total war: refusal to allow burials, execution of wounded/civilians, decapitation as terror tactic.
Slave emancipation as moral imperative and military strategy (Haitian expedition plan).

Chilpancingo parallels U.S. Second Continental Congress; Morelos era mirrors U.S. 1775–76 move from protest to independence.
Guerrero’s abolition 36 yrs before U.S. 13th Amendment.
U.S. involvement: mercenary Colonel Guilford Young; demonstrates North American participation against Spain.
Echo with earlier lecture on Gaspar Yanga (recovered by Guerrero’s grandson Ignacio Ramírez Palacios).

Lagos renamed Lagos de Moreno (spring 1829); surname widespread in region (workers/retainers may have adopted patronym).
Mexico has had two Black presidents (Guerrero first); U.S. far later.
Pedro Moreno body interred with Hidalgo in Mexico City; head never recovered.
Rita Moreno’s post-war suffering (jail with four kids; two die; miscarriage) underscores familial cost.
Story of Moreno & Mina little known even among Mexican historians – importance of recovering Afro-Mexican contributions.