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08 October 2026 14 October 2026
This event began 10/08/2025 and repeats every year forever
I want to honor the legend of Jonas Caballo. Who fought against the USA in the Seminole wars in Florida, fought again the White and non Black indigenous citizens or residents in the USA in the trail of tears, fought the borderland groups on either side of the USA /Mexico border to find a home for his people, that still exist in northern mexico , today.
One of my favorite ancestors.
Columbus day is the second monday in october, so indigenous peoples day has to be the same day, but the second monday in october is one day from october 8th to october 14th , every year.
His descendants are considered indigenous tribe
https://www.milenio.com/estados/declaran-pueblo-indigena-tribu-negros-mascogos
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The Negro Mascogos Tribe is declared an indigenous people The governor of Coahuila emphasized that this is important primarily because they deserve it and it is a commitment that Mexico has made regarding human rights. Ana Ponce Saltillo, Coahuila / 09.05.2017 14:57:24 Governor Rubén Moreira Valdez issued the decree declaring the Negro Mascogos Tribe an Indigenous People of Coahuila. In the community of "Nacimiento de los Negros Mascogos" in Múzquiz, the governor met with this tribe and representatives from different levels of government to make the appointment. He emphasized that it is important primarily because they deserve it, and because it is a commitment Mexico has made regarding human rights and to providing dignified conditions for Afro-descendant peoples. [OBJECT] "Normally, people think about the states of Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Veracruz, where there are Afro-descendant settlements, but the north is rarely mentioned, and today we have to feel proud of that," he said. "Today, the history of the Mascogo people, as well as the Kickapoo, the Chinese emigration, and the caravaners, is already in our textbooks, in the third-grade textbook," he added. Moreira Valdez said he hopes that after this decree, people will be able to access benefits from the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples and considered that this is the fight that must be started, since the Mascogo deserve to receive the resources that the country allocates to indigenous tribes. "It's not a concession, it's not a matter of whether you want it or not. It's there in their budgets. And they've delayed this allocation for one reason or another. But I hope that with this decree, for the 2018 budget, the Mascogos will be included among those communities that receive resources, because they deserve them, that's true," he specified. "But also because Coahuila contributes much more to the budget than it receives. Of what we contribute, we should be receiving 40 percent, 30 percent of what we contribute. If we have access to those resources, we will surely improve in this regard," he emphasized.
Some thoughts on the Mascagos
https://letraslibres.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/convivio-zaid-mex.pdf
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Mascogos by Gabriel Zaid The Mascogos arrived in Mexico fleeing from American slavery. The current inhabitants have lost some typically black features, but they adhere to their traditional festivals, songs, clothing, and dishes with a certain affirmative militancy of their identity. A few Black people arrived in Mexico with Hernán Cortés. They continued arriving from the Antilles, and almost three centuries later (in 1810), there were 10,000 Black people and 624,000 Afro-mestizo people, compared to 15,000 Europeans, 3.7 million Indigenous people, and 1.8 million other mestizos, for a total of 6.1 million inhabitants. In Coahuila, the total did not reach 17,000 in 1803 (Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, The Black Population of Mexico. Ethnohistorical Study, 3rd ed., revised and expanded, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1989, pp. 19 and 233). Mexico had a president of Black, Indigenous, and Spanish descent: Vicente Guerrero (almost two centuries before Barack Obama assumed the presidency of the United States). Not only that: President Guerrero decreed the abolition of slavery in 1829 (decades before the United States Congress did so in 1865). During that 36-year period, seeking refuge in Mexico was an opportunity to escape slavery or persecution. Refugees arrived illegally. But in 1852, John Horse (leader of the Black Mascogos, who was of Black, Indigenous, and Spanish descent, like President Guerrero) and Wild Cat (leader of the Seminoles) obtained permission from President Mariano Arista to settle in El Nacimiento, Coahuila, near the border, in exchange for defending it from Apache and Comanche raids. In that rural town in the municipality of Múzquiz, located in the valley where the Sabinas River rises, President José Joaquín Herrera had granted the same permission to the Kickapoo two years earlier. Some call the Mascogos Black Seminoles; however, they are not Seminoles, although the two ethnic groups were once neighbors and eventually interbred. The Mascogos are Black people who arrived, the Seminoles, Indians who were there and welcomed the Mascogos. The Mascogos were slaves, the Seminoles were not. The Mascogos performed forced labor on sugarcane, cotton, and rice plantations, while the Seminoles were small farmers. The Mascogos were fleeing their owners, who wanted them recaptured alive for the plantations; the Seminoles were fleeing settlers, who wanted them dead to ensure the dispossession of their lands ("The best Indian is a dead Indian"). It is unknown how many Mascogos arrived in Mexico, perhaps half a thousand. Today there are about three hundred. According to census data compiled by pueblosamerica.com (search for Mascogos on this site), in 2020 there were 270 Mascogos, with a 2% illiteracy rate, seven years of schooling, piped water, electricity, a television, and a refrigerator. There are also Mascogos in Texas and Oklahoma. According to Belem Concepción Muñiz Estrada (August 24, 2023, by phone in Saltillo), there is a floating population of Mascogos that varies greatly depending on whether they go to work in other locations or return. She conducted interviews in El Nacimiento in 2014 and wrote the book cited below, as well as the article "The Black Mascogos of Múzquiz, Coahuila, and Their Self-Sustaining Community" (online), where she points out, among other things, the support the Mascogos receive from the Coahuila government for reforesting walnut trees. They speak Spanish, English, and (the older ones) Mascogo. They have gradually dissolved as an ethnic group through marriage. In the videos, you can see that the older ones speak English, the younger ones, Spanish; and that typically Black skin, face, and hair are not predominant. However, they cling to their traditional songs, clothing, and dishes, with a certain militant affiliation with their identity, which attracts tourists. Like Black people in the United States, they have celebrated Juneteenth, Juneteenth Day, since 1866. In 2021, President Biden declared it a national holiday. The Mascogo sing in English (not Spanish or Mascogo), in a choir, a cappella (without musical instruments), clapping their hands to mark the rhythm. Their songs are indeed spiritual. A few books in Spanish have the word Mascogos in the title; about twenty in English have Black Seminoles. On YouTube, there are about twenty videos in Spanish (under mascogos) and fifty in English (Black Seminoles). There are Wikipedia pages in Spanish, English, and Arabic under Mascogos, and also (in a dozen languages) under Black Seminoles. E. F. Nava López transcribes the Coahuila recording of "A Religious Song of the Black Mascogos" (Annals of Anthropology, July-December 2016) in Mascogo, English, and Spanish, with musical score. The lyrics are the beginning of the Christian Creed. Song lyrics, transcribed from English and translated into Spanish: PACKING MY SUITCASE I'm packing my suitcase. I'm getting ready to leave. Lord: I'm packing my suitcase. I'm getting ready to leave. My mother has gone, and she was ready to leave. My mother has gone, and she was ready to leave. Lord: I'm packing my suitcase, I'm getting ready to leave. My father has gone, and he was ready to leave. and he was ready to leave. My sister has gone, and she was ready to leave. My sister has gone, and she was ready to leave. Lord: I'm packing my suitcase, I'm getting ready to leave. Source: Belem Concepción Muñiz Estrada et al., Negros mascogos. An Odyssey to Birth, Saltillo: Universidad Autonomous de Coahuila, 2020, p. 111. The song was transcribed and translated by Paulina del Moral. The complete book is online. HIS NAME His name is malasta. I don't know. His name is malasta. I don't know. His name is malasta. I don't know. NEW YEAR The year has passed. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Very happy, happy New Year. Very happy, happy New Year. THE GOOD PATH Oh, please tell me how long it's been since I took the path of God. Oh, please tell me how long it's been since I took the path of God, and I won't turn back until Judgment Day. Source: Mascogo Songs, in English, documentary video by Karla Rivera Téllez, Ministry of Culture of the Government of Coahuila, 2020. Available on YouTube. There is a Mascogo Cookbook from Coahuila, 2nd ed., National Council for Culture and the Arts, Indigenous and Popular Cuisine Collection #51, 2014, compiled by Paulina del Moral and Alicia Siller V. ~ GABRIEL ZAID is a poet and essayist. His most recent book is Translated Poems (El Colegio Nacional, 2022).
And more
https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/estados/2016/09/19/mascogos-siempre-listos-para-partir/
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Mascogos. Always ready to leave Mestizaje wiped out the pure Afro-descendant population in Coahuila, who arrived fleeing slavery in the United States. Lucía Vázquez (center) is 85 years old and the last pure Afro-descendant in the community of El Nacimiento, Múzquiz, Coahuila (FRANCISCO RODRÍGUEZ) States | 09/19/2016 | 03:10 | Updated 09/19/2016 08:03 Lucía Vázquez is 85 years old and at times bursts into tears because she's convinced that when she dies, no one will sing to her. She wanders around her house or sits outside with a blank stare, a stare that has been deteriorating for the past two years, just like her hearing. Lucía is the last pure Black woman in the community of El Nacimiento, in the municipality of Múzquiz, in the state of Coahuila, a community of African descent that arrived in Mexico in the 19th century. Lucía is wearing a long white dress. She is sitting in a rocking chair outside her house, on the road that crosses the community of 55 houses, home to about 300 residents, some still descendants of Black Seminoles who arrived in Mexico in 1850. They are called Mascogos, but Lucía reproaches: "Who knows where they got the name Mascogos? Before, they were just Black people." With her, a pure race that settled in the El Nacimiento colony in 1852 will end, when the Mexican government gave 7,022 hectares to them, the Kickapoo tribe, and the Seminole Indians in exchange for protecting the border from the Apache and Comanche raids that were ravaging settlements. It will end because she married a man from Palaú, a town in the coal mining region, with whom she had seven children. “There were no more Black people; they had all left,” Lucía says, as if trying to justify herself. “My children are pure Cuarterones,” she says. With the exception of Lucía, the rest of the Black population in El Nacimiento is the result of a mixture of races. “I married a Mexican, he married a Mexican woman,” they often say, as if they weren't also born in Mexico. For the Mascogo community, the El Nacimiento colony is like a nation within a nation. Just as no one—according to Lucía—told her the story of the arrival of Black people to Mexico, no one has promoted capeyuye, a cappella singing accompanied by applause; most are sung at funerals, Christmas, and New Year's. "Who's going to sing to me? Before, they were little Black people, but I'm the only one left," she laments. A community with history The community of El Nacimiento is located 30 kilometers from the municipal seat in Múzquiz, a mining municipality in Coahuila. At the entrance, there is a sign that reads: Black Mascogos and Seminoles. Francisco Cázares, coordinator of Popular Cultures of Coahuila, explains that the Mascogos arrived with the Kickapoos and in a kind of alliance with the Seminole indigenous group. He mentions that they fled persecution by the United States government and slavery in the mid-19th century, and that it was not until the agrarian redistribution that they were granted the territory as an ejido. In the United States, they are recognized as Black Seminoles. When they arrived in Coahuila, they began to be called Mascogos, apparently because of the Muskogee language they spoke. “They came from Florida. There are versions that say the Mascogos were slaves of the Seminoles, because at that time, Native Americans had the right to own slaves. Other versions—including the main one—explain that they formed military allies, hence the name Black Seminoles,” explains Cázares Ugarte. She says they are considered runaway slaves, that is, rebel slaves who escaped from slave-owning regions. Yolanda Elizondo, president of the Friends of the Culture of Múzquiz, Coahuila A.C. Trust, has another version. She says that the Black Seminoles lived with the Seminole Indians as a formal group, who united when the United States government decided to send all the tribes to a large reservation in Oklahoma. She claims they were free Black people and that on their way to Mexico, they were joined by runaway slaves. “There were Black Seminoles in Florida, but not as slaves; they accepted these Black slaves and naturally they mingled,” she explains. Some historians explain that the term “cimarrón” referred to groups of African descendants who maintained a status of freedom by living in the desert and mountains. In El Nacimiento, when residents are asked what their parents or grandparents told them, the African descendants say little. “I hear comments now that they were slaves, but I don't remember,” says Estela Vázquez Núñez, 77. However, the community holiday is June 19—Juneteenth Day in the United States—the day the slaves of Galveston, Texas, learned they were free. The community of El Nacimiento celebrates in a walnut grove where they prepare the few remaining traditional dishes: soske (corn atole), tetapún (sweet potato bread), pumpkin or piloncillo empanadas baked on steel, and mortar bread, mainly. The women wear long dresses with white beads, an apron, and a headscarf. However, many don't even know why they celebrate. "It's the day of the black child," "it's celebrated when they arrived," "it's celebrated because that's when they were given the land," are some of the comments from the community. "These are groups that have a more open attitude toward issues of racial mixing. They are people with less protection over their race," explains Francisco Cázares, of Popular Cultures. They were rented out as mules. Homero Vásquez is a tall, lanky old man. He sits in a rocking chair outside his house. Hanging from it is a Mexican flag missing the red part. He is the son of Teodoro Vásquez, who told him that Black people came from Florida fleeing the war and slavery. “They were rented out as mules,” he says his father told him. Homero says his father told him that in the 1930s, many people came to the area to farm, and that since then, people began mixing with Mexicans, which is why English is no longer spoken. His mother came from Parral, Chihuahua, at the age of 15. His father told him that there was a severe drought that forced people to leave the colony, and that many went to Brackettville, Texas, where there is a cemetery for Black Seminoles who served in the US Army between 1879 and 1914, in a unit called the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts. “My grandmother there was named Tina Goren, but here she was called Carmen Flores. They used a different name for each reservation,” says Homero, who of his nine children, five live in the United States. Homer takes out of his house a large portrait of John Horse, the great Afro-Seminole leader, son of a Black mother and a Seminole Indian father. According to history, he led the longest and most massive slave escape in the history of the United States. He arrived in Mexico with Gato del Monte, the Seminole chief, and Papikua, the Kickapoo chief. In Mexico, he was awarded the rank of colonel in the Army. Many people left "I'm a mere descendant. My father was a clean Black man," says Ricardo González Núñez, known as Chito, a man who is about to turn 80 and has served more than 20 years as a judge of the ejido. Chito leaves his house slowly, with the top buttons of his shirt undone. "I was putting aloe vera on my bones because they hurt a lot," he says. In his house, there are about ten chickens, roosters, and a peacock. He sits in a rocking chair. Most houses have a backyard where they raise animals. There are no houses joined together. Most people are engaged in agriculture, although no young people are seen in the neighborhood. Chito says that life used to be different. “There was a lot of black people,” he says. He owns goats and sells the milk. “It’s down. There’s no money,” he complains. He produces about 100 liters every three days and sells it in Múzquiz for 1.60 pesos per liter. He studied until fourth grade. He mentions that among the Mascogos, his father left him the tradition of behaving well and respecting others. His mother was a blonde from Chihuahua. Chito was a cowboy in the United States. He remembers that many people left because "they had to make a living." He suffered the segregation of Black people in the United States, when they had to ride in the back of buses. He has four children, two of whom live as slaves in the United States. They work in restaurants. "They're the ones who help us," he says. "We all have children of slaves here. Some come in with permission and stay. There's no life here," he adds. "What did your father tell you about their ancestors?" he is asked. "That they were fleeing slavery. Their grandparents told my father," he replies. "Do you feel Mexican or Mascogo?" "You have to be Mexican. Black, but Mexican," he says. Chito, like his father, also married a woman who was not of Black descent. “I knew her in my life,” she says. I'm packing my suitcase. Margarita González Núñez is 78 years old and also feels the sadness of those songs that are being lost. “Even though I don't understand them, I know they're saying goodbye, that they're singing to the dead,” she says, standing next to her daughter Narcedelia. “Now all that's left is food and clothing,” she laments about the loss of traditions. With Doña Mague is Dulce Robles Herrera, the great-granddaughter of Lucía Vázquez, the last pure Black woman in the community. “Aren't you leaving like the other young people?” Dulce is asked. “No, I don't like it. There [in the United States] are the police. They're alone. I have my family here,” she defends. Dulce says that Abuelita Lucía, as she calls her, starts to cry when she's with her. “She cries a lot because she says no one will sing to her. She wants a Black woman to sing to her,” Dulce comments. In the background of the conversation, Mascogo Soul plays, an album recorded by the last women who knew the capeyuye. Songs like "It's Maybe My Last Time" and "Glory in the Heaven" are featured, melodies with repetitive phrases. The song "I'm Packing Now" is heard, a song about escaping slavery that was often sung on slave plantations: I'm packing my suitcase I'm getting ready to leave I'm packing and I'm ready to leave Lord, I'm packing my suitcase I'm getting ready to leave My mother is gone and she was ready to leave My mother is gone and she was ready to leave…
wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Horse
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