In celebration of African Heritage Month, for profiles and excellence, we honor Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, born 1918, died 1995. Beltrán was a groundbreaking Mexican historian and anthropologist who uncovered a hidden black history in the country. Born and raised in Veracruz, along Mexico’s Gulf Coast, this was also the site of black settlement and culture. In 1946, Aguirre Beltrán published La población negra de México (The Black Population of Mexico) which documented that the African population far outnumbered the Spanish colonists, and also traced ship routes and source nations in Africa from which they came.
And although many came via slave ships, Black historian Ivan Van Sertima has established that explorers from the Mali Empire in Western Africa were sent to that region several centuries before Columbus touched the Americas. Although fought and opposed when Aguirre Beltrán first published, time has turned the tide. Many Mexicans today proudly embrace their country’s Indian, European and African roots. For Hard Knock Radio and Prison Radio. This is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
