History of slavery in New Mexico

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Slavery in New Mexico had varying legality and levels of enforcement until 1867, when the U.S. Congress banned slavery in the territories. Spain had introduced slavery to the area, Mexico tried to restrict it, as a U.S. territory it was made fully legal again until the Peonage Act of 1867 would officially abolish slavery in the U.S. Territory of New Mexico. During these years, however, black slavery was rare in New Mexico with most slaves being Native Americans.[1] Today, it has been argued that slavery exists in the form of human trafficking.

Spanish rule[]

See also: Genízaro and Slavery in the Spanish New World colonies

When Spanish colonists arrived in New Mexico, they began exploiting the people, resulting in their conducting nearly continuous raids, reprisals and capturing of slaves on the nomadic Indian tribes on the borders. The slaves were referred to as genízaros. Most Genízaros were Navajo, Pawnee, Apache, Kiowa Apache, Ute, Comanche, and Paiute who had been purchased at a young age and worked as domestic servants and sheepherders.[2] In some cases, Pueblo peoples were enslaved by court order. The 1659 court case of Juan Suñi, a young Hopi man accused of stealing food and trinkets in the governor's mansion, resulted in a sentence of ten years of enslavement.[3] By the mid-1700s, stronger tribes raided weaker tribes for slaves and traded the captured Indians for commodities. By the mid-18th century, the Comanche dominated the weaker tribes in the eastern plains and sold children that they kidnapped from these tribes to villagers.[2]

Contemporary scholars believe that the objective of Spanish rule of New Mexico (and all other northern lands) was the full exploitation of the native population and resources. As Frank McNitt writes,

Governors were a greedy and rapacious lot whose single-minded interest was to wring as much personal wealth from the province as their terms allowed. They exploited Indian labor for transport, sold Indian slaves in New Spain, and sold Indian products ... and other goods manufactured by Indian slave labor.[4]

Although the slaves were protected by the Laws of the Indies,[5] many of them complained of mistreatment. Although they were baptized, they sometimes left the church if they could escape from the Spanish. After the missionaries complained about mistreatment of the Indians to the governor, officials established a policy to settle the baptized Indians on land grants on the periphery of Spanish settlements. They generally supported slavery, believing the "redeemed" captives were better off after being educated and converted to Christianity.[6] These settlements became buffer communities for larger Spanish towns in the event of attack by the enemy tribes surrounding the province.[7]

The settlements of Tomé and Belén just south of Albuquerque, were described by as follows in 1778:

In all the Spanish towns of New Mexico there exists a class of Indians called genizaros. These are made up of captive Comanches, Apaches, etc. who were taken as youngsters and raised among us, and who have married in the province ... They are forced to live among the Spaniards, without lands or other means to subsist except the bow and arrow which serves them when they go into the back country to hunt deer for food ... They are fine soldiers, very warlike ... Expecting the genizaros to work for daily wages is a folly because of the abuses they have experienced, especially from the alcaldes mayores in the past ... In two places, Belen and Tome, some sixty families of genizaros have congregated.[8]

By the Mexican and early American period (1821–1880), almost all of the Genízaros were of Navajo ancestry. During negotiations with the United States military, Navajo spokesmen raised the issue of Navajos being held as servants in Spanish/Mexican households. When asked how many Navajos were among the Mexicans, they responded: "over half the tribe".[9] Most of the captives never returned to the Navajo nation but remained as the lower classes in the Hispanic villages.[9] Members of different tribes intermarried in these communities.

Mexican rule[]

After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico enacted the Treaty of Córdoba, which decreed that indigenous tribes within its borders were citizens of Mexico. Officially, the newly independent Mexican government proclaimed a policy of social equality for all ethnic groups, and the genízaros were officially considered equals to their vecino (villagers of mainly mixed racial background) and Pueblo neighbors.[10] This never was completely put into practice. The Mexican slave trade continued to flourish. The average price for a boy slave was $100, while girls brought $150 to $200.[11] Girls demanded a higher price because they were thought to be excellent house keepers and they were frequently used as sex slaves.

New Mexico territory[]

See also: Slavery among Native Americans in the United States

After New Mexico territory passed to American rule following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican–American War in 1848, the issue of slavery in the new territory became a major issue, with the Whigs wanting to keep Mexico's ban on slavery and the Democrats wanting to introduce it. In the Compromise of 1850, it was decided that New Mexico Territory would be able to choose its own stance on slavery by popular sovereignty. In 1859, New Mexico passed the Act for the Protection of Slave Property. This was partially because Territorial Governor William Carr Lane and Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court Grafton Baker owned black slaves.[12] Many local citizens had seen the issue in different terms; soon after the Treaty had been signed, a group of prominent New Mexicans went on record in opposition to slavery, in their petition to congress to change the military government to a temporary territorial form. They were likely motivated by their desire for self-government, and the fact that the slave state of Texas claimed much of New Mexico east of the Rio Grande, and that many believed that it was planning to invade again as it had in 1841 and 1843.[13][14] However, black slaves never numbered more than a dozen during these years.[1]

On June 19, 1862, Congress prohibited slavery in all US territories. New Mexico citizens petitioned the US Senate for compensation for 600 Indian slaves that were going to be set free.[15] The Senate denied their request and sent federal agents to abolish slavery. However, when Special Indian Agent J.K. Graves visited in June 1866, he found that slavery was still widespread, and many of the federal agents had slaves. In his report, he estimated that there were 400 slaves in Santa Fe alone.[16] On March 2, 1867, Congress passed the Peonage Act of 1867, which specifically targeted New Mexican slavery.

  • "Along Came Mariana" an episode of Death Valley Days, set in 1857, concerns a young woman sold into peonage by her father in settlement of a debt.[17][18]

Human trafficking[]

Today, some have argued that New Mexico has had slavery in the form of human trafficking. In cooperation with New Mexico attorney general, Life Link has created the 505 Get Free initiative, which promotes a hotline to report trafficking.[19] Santa Fe, New Mexico has also supported the initiative, both with funding and requirements for advertising the hotline.[20] The Border Violence Unit has special training to combat human trafficking in the state.[21] In 2015, New Mexico received a $1.5 million grant to combat human trafficking.[22] On July 29, 2016, the city of Albuquerque held the New Mexico World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, which included speakers, entertainers and participation of SOLD: The Human Trafficking Experience.[23]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b New Mexico Territory Slave Code (1859–1867) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Archibald 1978.
  3. ^ Daughters, Anton. "'Grave Offenses Worthy of Great Punishment': The Enslavement of Juan Suñi, 1659." Journal of the Southwest 54:3 pp.437-452 (Autumn 2012)
  4. ^ McNitt, Frank. Navajo Wars: Military Campaigns, Slave Raids, and Reprisals. Albuquerque: U of NM Press, 1972, p. 13
  5. ^ Gutierrez 1991.
  6. ^ Gallegos 2010.
  7. ^ Gallegos 1992.
  8. ^ Morfi 9999.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Brugge 1968.
  10. ^ Rael-Galvéz 2002.
  11. ^ VanLeer, Twila (21 February 1995), "Chief Watched Way of Life Vanish", Deseret News
  12. ^ Randall M. Miller, John David Smith. Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery. p. 803.
  13. ^ Roberts, Calvin A. Roberts ; Susan A. (2006). New Mexico (Rev. ed.). Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press. pp. 108–109. ISBN 978-0-826340030.
  14. ^ Gonzalez-Berry, [ed. by] Erlinda (2000). The contested homeland : a Chicano history of New Mexico (1st ed.). Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press. p. 100. ISBN 0826321984.
  15. ^ Mary Ellen Snodgrass. The Civil War Era and Reconstruction: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural and Economic History. p. 556.
  16. ^ Andrés Reséndez. The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  17. ^ "Along Came Mariana". imdb.com. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  18. ^ Aurora Hunt (April 1, 2000). Kirby Benedict, Frontier Federal Judge (Paperback ed.). Beard Books. p. 268. ISBN 1893122808. The case of Mariana Jaramillo v. Jose de la Cruz Romero was first heard before the justice of peace in the First District, then appealed to the district and finally to the supreme court in January, 1857.
  19. ^ http://www.505getfree.org/how-we-help/
  20. ^ Santa Fe Resolution 2013-42
  21. ^ Border Violence Unit
  22. ^ $1.5 Million Grant Awarded to Combat Human Trafficking in New Mexico; DOJ Grant Will Expand Ongoing Efforts by the Attorney General
  23. ^ NEW MEXICO'S 2016 WORLD DAY AGAINST TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS

Further reading[]

  • Archibald, Robert (1978). "Acculturation and Assimilation in Colonial New Mexico". New Mexico Historical Review. 53 (3).
  • Bailey, Lynn Robison (1973). Indian Slave Trade in the Southwest. Los Angeles: Westernlore Press. ISBN 978-0870260285.
  • Brooks, James F. (1996). "This Evil Extends Especially to the Feminine Sex ... Negotiating Captivity in the New Mexico Borderlands". Feminist Studies. Williamsburg: University of North Carolina Press. 22 (2): 279–309. doi:10.2307/3178414.
  • Brooks, James F. (2002). Captives and Cousins – Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands. Williamsburg: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0807853825.
  • Brugge, David M. (1968). Navajos in the Catholic Church Records of New Mexico, 1694-1875 (3rd ed.). Window Rock, Arizona: Research Section, Parks and Recreation Dept. Navajo Tribe. ISBN 978-1934691397.
  • Demos, John Putnam (1994). The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0333650103.
  • Ebright, Malcolm (1996). "Breaking New Ground: A Reappraisal of Governors Vélez Cachupín and Mendinueta and their Land Grant Policies". Colonial Latin American Historical Review. 5 (2): 195–230.
  • Ebright, Malcolm; Hendricks, Rick (2006). The Witches of Abiquiú: The Governor, the Priest, the Genízaro Indians and the Devil. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 978-0826320315.
  • Rael-Galvéz, Estévan (2002). Identifying and Capturing Identity: Narratives of American Indian Servitude, Colorado and New Mexico, 1750-1930 (PhD thesis). University of Michigan.
  • Gallegos, B. (1992). Literacy, Education, and Society in New Mexico, 1693-1821. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 978-0826313492.
  • Gallegos, Bernardo (2010). "Dancing the Comanches, The Santo Niño, La Virgen (of Guadalupe) and the Genizaro Indians of New Mexico". In Martin, Kathleen J. (ed.). Indigenous Symbols and Practices in the Catholic Church: Visual Culture, Missionization and Appropriation. Ashgate Publishers. pp. 203–208. ISBN 978-0754666318.
  • Gandert, Miguel; Lamadrid, Enrique; Gutiérrez, Ramón; Lippard, Lucy; Wilson, Chris (2000). Nuevo Mexico Profundo: Rituals of an Indo-Hispanic Homeland. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0890133491.
  • Gonzales, Moises (2014). "The Genizaro Land Grant Settlements of New Mexico". Journal of the Southwest. 56 (4): 583–602. doi:10.1353/jsw.2014.0029.
  • Hackett, Charles W., ed. (1923). Historical Documents Relating to New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya, and Approaches Thereto. 1. collected by Adolph Bandelier & Fanny Bandelier. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institute. p. 395.
  • Horvath, Steven M. (1977). "The Genízaro of Eighteenth-Century New Mexico: A Reexamination". Discovery. School of American Research: 25–40.
  • Horvath, Steven M. (1978). "Indian Slaves for Spanish Horses". The Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly. 14 (4): 5.
  • Lafayette. Statement of Mr. Head of Abiquiú in Regard of the Buying and Selling of Payutahs, 30 April 1852. Doc. no. 2150. Ritch Collection of Papers Pertaining to New Mexico. San Marino, California: Huntington Library.
  • Magnaghi, Russell M. (1994). "The Genízaro Experience in Spanish New Mexico". In Vigil, Ralph; Kaye, Frances; Wunder, John (eds.). Spain and the Plains: Myths and Realities of Spanish Exploration and Settlement on the Great Plains. Niwot: University Press of Colorado. p. 118. ISBN 978-0870813528.
  • Morfi, Juan Agustin (1977) [1783], Account of Disorders in New Mexico in 1778, translated and edited by Marc Simmons, Historical Society of New Mexico, OCLC 3502950
  • Pinart Collection, PE 52:28, Governor Tomás Vélez Cachupín, Decree, Santa Fe, 24 May 1766; PE 55:3, 1790 Census for Abiquiú.
  • Real Academia Española. Diccionario de la lengua Española (in Spanish) (22nd ed.).
  • Twitchell, Ralph Emerson, ed. (2008) [1914]. SANM (Spanish Archives of New Mexico). Series I. Sunstone Press. pp. 85, 183, 494, 780, 1208, 1258. ISBN 978-0865346475.
  • Twitchell, Ralph Emerson, ed. (2008) [1914]. SANM (Spanish Archives of New Mexico). Series II. Sunstone Press. pp. 477, 523, 555, 573. ISBN 978-0865346482.
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