It has often been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. The images of Black men and women with arms in hand together with their Mestizo counterparts in revolutionary Mexico eloquently confirms this truism. Many of the combatants fought on the side of the legendary general from the south Emiliano Zapata; others under the command of Francisco “Pancho” Villa, while yet others served forces on the opposing side. Not many people are aware that General Zapata himself was partly of African ancestry as the rare photo of him clearly attests to. Indeed, one of his sisters Maria Luz was darker than this writer. As someone interested in ending the conflict between some of our uninformed Black and Brown companero’s and companera’s, I consider the presentation of these images a worthwhile exercise.
- In unaltered pictures of Mexican Revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata you see his dark/African complexion.
I was privileged to be a delegate to the Culture Strike gathering in Tucson/Phoenix during mid September 2011. The focus of our interaction and discussions was to build support against punitive anti immigrant laws and policies. While visiting a progressive bookstore during my stay in Tucson I stumbled upon the book “Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution” by Elena Poniatowska. On a subsequent day, while touring a cultural center in Phoenix, I was shown a photo gallery with some unusual images of the Mexican Revolution. The images that you have before you are some of what I viewed in the book “Las Soldaderas” and in the cultural center’s photo gallery. So here you have it. If “seeing is believing” as the old adage goes, then here it is. I had seen some of these images before, such as the one of General Zapata and that of Colonel Carmen Amelia Robles. However, what I learned for the first time upon reading “Las Soldaderas” is that Colonel Robles had “participated in many battles” and would shoot her pistol with her right hand and “hold her cigar with her left”. I am reminded of one of my initial trips to Mexico’s Costa Chica region when I met the late Solomon Vargas, a 101 year old Afro Mexican veteran of the Revolution, who recounted for me and others how he had ridden with Emiliano Zapata.
Colonel Carmen Amelia Robles, Afro Mexican Woman Leader in the Mexican Revolution
It is important to note that the role of Afro Mexicans in Mexico’s struggle for independence one hundred years earlier (1810 to 1821) was even greater. So much so, as to be pivotal, as recounted in the works of the late historian Ted Vincent. There are in addition to these examples other occasions where this mutually supportive historical relationship between “Mexicans” and “Africans” manifested itself which will be explored later. Let this piece and the powerful images that undergird it, serve as an opening to more information on the suppressed history of Black and Brown unity during the new year that lies before us.
The Soldiers of the Mexican Revolution were a mix of the Indigenous, the descendants of freed African Slaves, and Mestizos .
Many Soldiers displayed strong African features.
