Current Date: 08 Aug, 2025
{{entry.title}}

Underground Railroad to Mexico freed thousands of slaves in 1829

Slavery was abolished in Mexico in 1829. Slaves were escaping to Mexico, and slaveholders in the US were aware of this. The US attempted to get Mexico to sign a fugitive slave treaty, which would have required Mexico to send back escaped slaves to the US. But, Mexico refused, arguing that slaves were free as soon as they set foot on Mexican soil.

The antebellum South’s enslaved population had a route to liberation thanks to the Underground Railroad. Many of slaves, however, managed to escape by traveling to Mexico in the south.

During a journey to northern Mexico, historian Alice Baumgartner, an assistant professor at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Science, came upon this piece of American history.

She was a PhD student at Oxford University at the time, working on a thesis about border violence in the late 1800s. Throughout her study, she came across several intriguing letters and legal documents. They talked about American slave owners going to Mexico to capture escaped slaves.

During an eight-year odyssey that began with a chance discovery, Baumgartner wrote her first book, South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War.

In addition to historical repositories on both sides of the US-Mexico border, Baumgartner discovered documentation from 1819 in Mexico City. Transcripts of interviews municipal officials conducted with former slaves who had been the targets of attempted kidnappings by their former owners were among them.

“That was really a gold mine,” Baumgartner said of the records.

She also found correspondence between officials in northern Mexican towns who claimed to have seen Americans claiming to be looking for cattle that had gone missing. Authorities believed they were actually seeking for runaway slaves.

Slavery was outlawed in Mexico in 1837, several years before its northern neighbor. As soon as they set foot on Mexican land, enslaved persons had access to freedom under the laws of the country. In accordance with the US’s Fugitive Slave Act, Mexico authorities similarly refused to send runaways back.

Mexicans ended slavery long before Americans did: Many viewpoints

According to Baumgartner, the work is an example of a trend among American historians. a Civil War. In hopes of understanding the borderlands better, they are currently exploring for sources outside of the United States.

It may take a bit more effort to locate non-American materials, such as going to Mexico and studying Spanish, but doing so exposes historians to various viewpoints and tales.

If she had remained in Canada, she thinks she would never have discovered this tale.

The Texas state archives certainly mention slaves fleeing to Mexico, but they frequently add that conditions there were so terrible that the people returned to Texas, according to Baumgartner.

Baumgartner discovered a more complicated history by looking at sources from both nations.

The situation in Mexico was not so severe that slaves sought for new bonds. It wasn’t quite a utopia, though. In that country, enslaved people experienced racism, discrimination, and indentured servitude.

Mexicans welcomed them as neighbors, coworkers, and even family through marriage, giving them allies at the same time.

According to her, “We frequently think about mass migration into the United States, first from Mexico and now from Central America, as solely moving in one direction and the United States being this beacon for people to come to.” “I believe it is crucial to remember that, for certain people, it was the opposite in the 19th century. Mexico was the destination that offered a kind of freedom that the United States didn’t.”

Leveraging uncertainty to create teachable moments

South to Freedom originally started as a master’s thesis on a different topic, but Baumgartner recognized the issue’s potential and changed directions. It’s a good illustration of how dynamic history is.

Finding new insights into our past is a part of studying history.

No project I’ve ever worked on has gone as predicted, according to Baumgartner. This one, in my opinion, could have gone in a lot of intriguing directions.

For the student, the lecturer sees this as a learning opportunity: Don’t give up if something unexpectedly challenges your assumptions. Accept the uncertainty.

Similar Stories
Keith Sapsford: The Story of 14-Year-Old Stowaway

Keith Sapsford: The Story of 14-Year-Old Stowaway

The final image of 14-year-old Australian Keith Sapsford, who aspired to travel the world. In February 1970, he sneaked into the wheel-well of a plane flying from Sydney to Tokyo. It opened mid-air & fell out. When a photographer was testing a new lens, he captured this moment on film and was surprised when it developed.

Nathan's Famous Doctor Stunt

Nathan's Famous Doctor Stunt

When Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs first opened in 1916, the owner hired people to dress as doctors and eat hot dogs outside his shop, to convince people his hot dogs were healthy.

What exactly was the US's 'Ghost Army' during WWII?

What exactly was the US's 'Ghost Army' during WWII?

During WW2, there was a special unit of men dubbed the ‘Ghost Army’. The unit was made of artists, creative and engineers and their job was to create deception about the enemy. From inflatable tanks to phony convoys to scripted conversations in bars intended to spread disinformation, they used all possible tricks to fool the enemy.

Medals of Friendship: The Enduring Olympic Story of 1936

Medals of Friendship: The Enduring Olympic Story of 1936

At the 1936 Summer Olympics, two Japanese pole vaulters named Sueo Oe and Shuhei Nishida tied for second, but they declined to compete against each other. As a result, Nishida was awarded the silver medal and Oe won a bronze medal. Upon returning to Japan, the athletes had their medals cut in half and spliced together to create new "friendship medals," which were half silver and half bronze.

A Brief History of the PlayStation Gaming Console

A Brief History of the PlayStation Gaming Console

Sony's PlayStation was never meant to be an actual product. Instead, it was intended to be a CD-ROM console that would support Nintendo games. However, when Nintendo backed out of the deal at the last minute, Sony went ahead and launched what soon became one of the most successful gaming consoles of all time.

Ea-Nasir: world's oldest written customer complaint

Ea-Nasir: world's oldest written customer complaint

This clay tablet, written in cuneiform, is the oldest known written customer complaint about the delivery of poor quality copper ingots. Originally from ancient Babylon, the tablet dates back to 1750 BCE, and it was written by a customer named Nanni to a merchant named Ea-Nasir. It is currently housed in the British Museum.