Mexico abolished slavery in 1829. Enslaved people were escaping to Mexico. The U.S. tried to get Mexico to sign a fugitive slave treaty to return escapees but Mexico refused to sign such a treaty, insisting that enslaved people were free once they set foot on Mexican soil.
Did you know that Juneteenth is also celebrated in a part of Mexico? Nacimiento Mexico was once home to thousands who escaped slavery in the US. As many as 10,000 slaves followed a clandestine Southern Underground Railroad to Mexico.
To date, many Black Mexicans from the Texas area retrace a portion of the same route their African American ancestors followed in 1850 when they escaped slavery.
Descendants of slaves who escaped across the southern border observe Texas’s emancipation holiday with their own unique traditions in the village of Nacimiento.
Slave hunters would patrol the southern border for escapees, led by the Texas Rangers but the Mexican army would be there waiting for them (the slave hunters) to turn them away.
