hide in plain sight they mix from the beginning you cannot see but it's there many people remain unaware of their African ancestry you never told me we are black but today those African roots are becoming more visible blacks are here now and they are demanding that their rights be recognized Mexico and Peru the black grandma in the closet black in Latin America [Music] [Music] when you think of Mexico what comes to mind endless sunshine white sandy beaches the Mayan and Aztec ruins and Peru Machu Picchu the great Inca people five thousand varieties of potato how many of us realize that far more slaves came to Mexico and Peru together then came to the United States in the entire history of the slave trade I've come here to search for the lost history of black people in Mexico and Peru [Music] the charming town of clackett all pan was founded by the Spanish in the 16th century but it boomed in the 18th century when it became a major trading center for sugar cotton cattle and horses all commodities produced by slaves Indians and mestizos [Applause] [Music] [Music] today clock atop and is known for its fandango's music and dance that combines Spanish indigenous and African traditions fandango's are a fitting metaphor for the African roots of Mexican culture [Music] Fandango those girls are great now the boys dance and just girls when they always say that the first power 4 is you know like watch the girls every one of [Music] Rafael Figueroa an ethanol musicologist grew up here he's an expert on this music which he's heard since childhood Fandango it really makes up for Hispanic and African mainly even though it's Hispanic instruments but they are played in a really percussive way and they are playing against each other the result of a big party rhythm Hollywood all random fights everything yes [Music] what could be more Mexican than la Bamba I remember singing the chorus along with Richie Valens on the radio but I didn't know that the song was sung here as early as 1683 by Angolan and Congolese slaves liked the fancy footwork called Zappa Te'o la Bamba is another example of Mexican cultures complex African origins now blended into a rich brown ethnic mix but since so many black slaves came to Mexico why doesn't anyone around here look especially black they mix from the beginning that's why you cannot see them but it's there so the blackness is diluted yes elements are still present we are darker than the rest of the Republic also the way of talk to me we have a specific accent really yeah can you do it from if you say olavo ice-cream here you would drop the tea so it's allowed or you drop the final s of some words but it's really common among the people from African I've noticed some people would say boy Anthea and everyone's this I thought what's wrong with you [Laughter] [Music] about an hour and a half from the fandango's festive atmosphere since the sambar port of Veracruz one of the main points of entry of Latin American slavery starting in 1535 virtually all of the commodities arriving in Mexico including African slaves were unloaded here it was called a key of New Spain the port of San Juan de Ulua Judith Hernandez studies the archeology of Veracruz and sagrario Cruz querétaro is a professor of anthropology at the University of Veracruz both are helping me imagine the arrival of hundreds of thousands of slaves through this very port how long did it take to get to Veracruz from the ports in Africa two months that's a long time to be in a steambath and in the 16th and early 17th centuries one out of every two slaves bound for the Americas disembarked in Mexico in fact in the year 1553 Viceroy Lewisville ESCO asked King Charles of Spain to curtail the trade fearing an uprising and with good reason until 1650 the number of blacks and mulattoes was roughly equal to the number of white people living here raised which they tie their ships the port needn't have a pier or dogs the ships arrived directly here what would happen when the slaves arrived they would be checked medically paid surgeons to review the blacks and the checkup consisted of licking the beard sounds nasty why the sweat conserved sold so if he was salty that meant they had good blood pressure mm-hmm how much did the slaves cost - 400 no let me compare okay house costs 400 pizzas oh wow so a slave in a house it's a lot it was [Music] this is what the slaves would have seen first after surviving the treacherous Middle Passage here they encountered a new country a new language and a new life as someone else's property these walls are covered with African blood penis they were forced to construct these gorgeous building after the indigenous population increase because ill they were forced to dive into the ocean and get these stones because they are made of coral I say coral yes for us and many of them died in this process there's a history of dead so this is the fingerprint of black history in Mexico just right here death an invisibility [Music] professor sagrario Cruz has invited me to lunch promising me two significant clues to help me solve the mystery of Mexico's missing black population this is my family while I chose some pictures okay to show you and this is a very old picture and this is my grandpa with his sons the banditos yes and this is the wedding of my parents oh look how pretty your mama but he is the dark man oh right so your family's poor black it's part black and it's something that was omitted until I was 19 years old how did you find out that you were part black because I traveled to Cuba and when I am right there they started talking about the African heritage and the culture I suddenly realized my family was black because look like my grandpa look like my father look like and when I started tasting the food I said oh my god is the food my grandma prepares at home I recommend you to taste the mocha mocha yes sounds African and we have the same recipe in Puerto Rico it's for food in Ghana fufu right fufu is like having a bowling ball right yeah I mean Cuba's called mofongo here we have fried yucca I love fried you it's like a big French fries right these was originally prepared by his legs because they needed carbohydrate yeah they had to work all day in the Sun right mmm this is some good food how did it make you feel suddenly to discover it was like like if you will be this you will discover to your adopted when you came back and told your family did they tell you you like you where local up there drinking too much of ramen I asked my grandpa why you never told me we are black and he called my Hannah Tony sweetie we are not black we are more Amos algorithm of course he was aware that he was a black man but he rejected that identity and I think this happens in most families that you hide the black grandma in the closet the black grandma in the closet me yeah in America traditionally we had one drop of black blood your blood if the one drop rule were applied in Mexico all of these people would be black right the onset of the slave trade and rumors of black grandmothers in a Mexican family's closet today what happened in between from the market and Veracruz African slaves were taken to work in mines sugar cane fields and wealthy homes but they didn't accept their faiths passively by the early 17th century at least 10% had run away forming independent settlements called palenque's [Music] the most famous runaway in rebel leader was a man named yunga the founder of this town which is located a few hours inland from Veracruz [Music] Herman who is younger a hero more than anything a black slave supposedly he was a slave of the Spanish who broke the chains he fruits himself from oppression that the Spanish had over him and he also liberates of the slaves what's my girlfriend said that's why they called young guy the first free town in the Americas oh man give me five Gustavo you're the man you're a genius you could be a professor in 1570 fifty years before the mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock Gasper yunga had several other men and women not only ran away from slavery but spent thirty years hiding out in the mountains around Veracruz attacking the Spanish and guerrilla raids and defending their community the Spanish never could subdue them finally in 1609 the Spanish admitted defeat and offered younga his own independent town in exchange for peace youngest settlement became what some scholars believe to be the very first town founded by free black people in all of the Americas are most of the people around here black well most people and completely black but we are more deenis cultures they combined together in from others so what are you what are you because we live Brown you more I know you Marino or know when you Indian Steve I am black you're very beautiful negra hernan cortes the famous Spanish conquistador arrived in Veracruz in 1519 then he headed to Mexico City which the Aztecs called ten knocked it lands one of his fellow conquista doors was a free black man named Juan Garrido I'm following in his footsteps Cortes was dazzled by the city's overall beauty by its irrigation system but especially by its gold he brutally conquered it today Mexico City is constructed on top of ancient tena tip land with over 21 million residents it's the largest city in the Western Hemisphere I've come here to find treasures - but these are housed in the National Museum of Mexico so what are you taking me to see we're going to see the custom paintings the containers by the end of the 17th century interracial relationships were on the rise the Catholic Church allowed marriage between all groups the law granted freedom to the children of black slaves and indigenous women white men increasingly impregnated black women they always begin with Spanish and Indian that it makes mestizo mestizo and Spanish caste Issa st sir the third one is caste sand Spanish makes Spanish Maria ELISA Velasquez is a professor of history and anthropology these eighteenth-century Casta paintings were painted to show Europeans the diversity of the people here these 16 images are a sort of an anthropological cookbook showing the results of mixing the genes of black people brown people and white people what about me which one in the 16th it will be here look let me see the little kid that's the mulatto the beautiful brown baby like me what would Barack Obama be okay Beyonce she would be mulatto what would tiger would be I love with African descent blood and also indigenous blood these people were crazy yes they need pseudo scientific reasons to explain why some cultures will be inferior and you have to make them slaves and they found it they found it 16 shades of blindness yes but why were your white people more willing to sleep of black people in my white people why well because the culture of the Spanish church allow the marriage between all the ethnic groups and also the Spanish people have an era touch more open to the mixture because of the Arabic presence in Spain for Spain for 800 years of whatever so it was kind of easy to have these mixtures and I think that's a different story from the United States by 1810 Boldin by the American Revolution and the French Revolution Mexican sought their own independence but it would take time so the War of Independence 1810 1821 yes the Revolution was started by a priest named father Hidalgo he called for the abolition of all castes saying Indians mulatos and other castes all will be known as Americans after he was killed his cause was taken up in succession by two generals a priest named Jose Maria Morelos and Vicente Guerrero in fact both were afro-descendant two black people were generals in the war of independence yes this is like George Washington being black yes after Murillo's was killed by the Spanish in 1815 the Negro Guerrero as his enemies mockingly called him saw the war to its conclusion with the help of many black Mexicans in one story Guerrero's father beseech him to surrender to the Spanish in front of his men he answered you are my father but the country comes first la patria s primero is now a famous phrase throughout Mexico yes and in fact in 1830 Guerrero stopped slavery by writing the law in the Constitution thirty-three years before Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation yes also an important thing about Guerrero is that he was the second president in Mexico so you had your Barack Obama in 1830 that's right so once again Mexico the United States [Music] imagine if George Washington and John Adams had been African Americans would we have needed a civil rights movement when Guerrero who was a mulatto abolish slavery he also eliminated racial categories from birth marriage and death certificates today there are states and towns all over Mexico named after Morelos and Guerrero Morelos is even on the 50 peso bill but many Mexicans don't even know that they were black men or that they owe their independence to these two men a visible African descent after almost a century of denying its multicultural and multi-residential policy of whitening Mexico began to embrace a new national identity in 1925 the philosopher Jose Vasconcelos published an electrifying essay called the cosmic race arguing that Mexico's mixed-race heritage made it superior and unique almost overnight Mexico's mestizaje culture became a popular Brown pride movement but if everyone was brown now what had happened to Mexico's black roots the blackest part of Mexico today is called the Costa Chica it's on the Pacific coast on the opposite side of the country from Veracruz south of Acapulco and north of Puerto Escondido the land is swampy and the towns are extremely poor [Music] [Music] the Costa Chica has remained Mexico's blackest region for centuries because it was so isolated there wasn't even a highway to get here until the 1950s [Music] born in Trinidad father Glynn Jamaat has been ministering to congregations in the Costa Chica for the past 25 years part of father Glenn's mission has been to raise black consciousness even founding an annual conference of black towns I wanted to learn from him how the Mexicans who can't pass his Brown or cosmic relate to their blackness and their heritage of slavery the first occasion when I said a mosque a grown man came and he said who are you and I said I'm the priest and for about 10 minutes he went on you not a priest you couldn't be please have never seen a black piece we black people only work the land we load trucks and whatever you can't be the hit man exactly and he was really talking about himself everything is against an African Mexican seeing himself as someone who can lift his head and take his place in mexican society as an equal a racial controversy in 2005 brought mexico unwanted international attention the mexican government issued a commemorative stamp featuring the popular black cartoon character memin pinguin most Mexicans love this character but African Americans were incensed calling it a racist throwback Jesse Jackson even flew to Mexico City to complain about it personally to President Vicente Fox the stamp became an instant collector's item and the comic book was reissued from its first printing the government never apologized and has never recalled the stamp Memon penguin we were sitting in bossy looking looks like Mexicans who very intelligent people their reaction was you cannot judge him by racist standards of the end of the century because it was based on the 1940s so there's nothing wrong about you sort of pinch ourselves you will is something wrong with me is he free you're my brother and you see the extent to which people have really bought into a system which is ism is is based do you think in your experience they'll have a Barack Obama in this generation I don't think so there's so much that has to be done before black Mexicans have access to education political participation social acceptance and these things must be in place before you begin to produce leaders I would also say that I have seen changes there I know here young people saying the more assertive fashion so in a way why it is because of the kind of visibility we've been able to generate and all things that have spun off from that [Music] this place it looks like Harlem for me this looks like Africa of Mexico great we speak Spanish but we believe in the resurrected Christ I mean the Spanish culture the European culture is also a mask because of that it's difficult to say we are only blacks what are we a mix mix a mix Eduardo Zapata is a journalist a native Costa chicken and an example of the new generation father Glyn mentioned a generation proud of their black identity one of these people gathered to celebrate him not one of them was retaining the paste he makes many of the people here feel proud throughout all of America from Argentina to Mexico the Toro de patata dance celebrates the bull which is part of most Latin American cultures but when it's danced in afro Latino communities the bull adds a special significance his valor becomes a metaphor for freedom from slavery [Music] are you described as a black person and they grow here in Mexico of course when you're little and nobody questions it would you leave here when you go to Mexico City to study you go to Acapulco you go to the US did you realize you're different but you're Mexican but you have something does not the same as all Mexicans did you discover that you're black do black people suffer discrimination here in Mexico si yes we are a racist society if you're in the cities do you stop you ask you for your ID card they make you sing the national anthem they could accuse you of coming from Cuba to destabilize things it isn't said but in every Mexican family there is a black person and do you know what the city folk say they say he was born black but we love him anyway tell me about them in penguin is this do you think it's racist or not no no okay no you go out into the streets and mask people and they're not worried it's just a character they don't identify with him he's still just in stories it's kind of like laughing at yourself if you take it with humor and wit Jesse Jackson come here to see the sensei yes Jesse Jackson should have worried about all the blacks that go to work there aren't treated like people they're treated like third-class people because he's not interested in black people who are living he's interested in my name being Wing politics political for NATO - precision on Iago Michael Orkin three perilous adeimantus el amor eres el mejor en la noche makovica la sombra a big hole or no me portal okay listen este hombre three support Israel Reyes a teacher in the Costa chicken town of Quaqua is waging a campaign to promote afro Mexican pride he hosts a radio show simmer on the voice of the Afro mestizos which broadcast bi-weekly throughout the Costa Chica he's trying to force the country to recognize the rights of its black citizens the first step is being included in the censors to make it known that there are black people in Mexico and those black people didn't get stuck in colonial times and they are ingesting history books in the times of slavery blacks are here now right and now today and they are demanding that their rights be recognized do you think your effort will be successful to change the census we started process in which we had talks with government authorities at the last minute they inform us that is not possible thing to the question on the sensors but we are pushing forward a pilot sensors for the black population in Mexico how will it benefit the black community if they could say afro Blanco indigenous the benefits would be public policies for these populations better living conditions education health housing access to federal programs if we don't start we will never know how many blacks that are in Mexico leave me good luck I think it's very very important we're being visited today by a very well-known professor professor gates professor what do you hope the results of your work in the Costa Chica will be I hope that it makes Americans more aware of Mexico's complex racial past Mexico's black past didn't just disappear it's still here and in two forms it's an essential part of the history culture and DNA of the country but for some it's written on their faces the visible remnant of all that didn't melt in the mestizo melting pot that we call Mexico Mexico is a victim of its own success it had a noble idea it abolished slavery in 1830 33 years before the United States did but it had a romantic idea that if it eliminated racial categories it would eliminate racism but that was really a form of racism itself you can't be great if you try to suppress a huge aspect of your history and a huge part of the identity of your people if it looks like a duck quacks like a duck is a duck I was introduced to afro Peru through the voice of Susana Baca I was searching for a last-minute Christmas present and I found a CD called the soul of black Peru [Music] now I have to confess before that day I didn't even know that there was a black Peru and I certainly didn't think Peru had soul at least this kind of soul for me Peru was the great Inca civilizations Machu Picchu the Andes and yet 300 years ago the capitol of Lima was considered a black city to find out what happened to all those black people I'm starting with the only one I've ever heard of [Music] Susana Baca was born and raised in a seaside town outside Lima today she's an international music star but she's devoted years to researching afro-peruvian music traditions I began with my mother I asked her to tell me things about her life after that I interview my auntie's and after that I traveled through Peru especially along the coastline were they are Peruvians etc sentimientos afro per 100 entonces Diego I almost reached the border with Ecuador searching for music poetry vs. susana told me that she didn't even realize that she was black and that this might make her different from her classmates until she was in high school even he was terrible something happened and that was very ugly I'm very sad for me no II think when they told us in school that the teacher was going to come to choose the girls who dance very well I thought well I'm going to be chosen because I dance in Tokyo she only chose the white girls the Indian girls and the black girls did not belong to the dance group what in your environment gave you the strength to overcome racism like that familia our family gather on son days I will go to where they were playing music to the ankles playing guitar the auntie's singing and there I was in the middle that was my salvation [Music] and then happily when I won the Grammy away they said because of her the world knows about us this was so beautiful for me to hear [Music] [Laughter] the world goes about suzanne Ibaka but like me it probably doesn't know very much about the estimated two million other afro Peruvians who live here I want to find out who they are where they come from how they've contributed to this country and how they're treated how is their history different than that of Afro Mexicans my guide is Carlos agüero a native of Peru and a professor of history in Latin American Studies at the University of Oregon the street we are in is part of the neighborhood called my lambo milan bo was a name given to the slave market where slaves were brought after they arrived in Keaau the port west of Lima the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro brought the first slaves to Peru in 1527 legend says that upon seeing the first Africans some of the Native Americans began to rub their skin trying to remove their blackness as the Spanish ravished Peru's gold silver and emeralds the diseases they carried decimated the indigenous people just as in Mexico to replace them first on sugar plantations and then in the silver mines the Spanish imported at least a hundred thousand African slaves and within a hundred years Peru became the richest region in the new world and it's height how black was Lima between 30 and 40 percent black and many people considered Lima a black city because you know they were surrendered by Boggs wherever they went surrounded by blacks black people were especially conspicuous in the city of Lima where they were day slaves skilled craftsmen who contracted their own jobs and gave a portion of their income to their masters with the surplus they could buy things including overtime their own freedom they were water carriers there were street vendors they were domestic servants they also became artisans one of the largest religious processions in all of Latin America was inspired by the artistry of an unnamed Angolan slave painted in the 17th century this image of Christ is called el senor de los Milagros the Lord of the miracles oh my god it's beautiful yeah there was an earthquake in 17th century the whole area was destroyed except the wall where the Christ was painted this was achieved it - a miracle I think it's a miracle it's a miracle that the brother painted it in the first place and in fact it survived not one but several earthquakes and so they started worshipping this image and it became a cult mostly among the peruvian population but then gradually it expanded and then today during the month of October they take a copy on to a procession followed by hundreds of thousands of people hundreds of thousands huh so that's it paint in front a slave from Angola it's pretty amazing pretty amazing [Music] another famous painter left a documentary view of black life in Lima over a hundred years later how beautiful I'm so nervous it's the first time it's very exciting it's your first time seeing the original it's the first time I've held an original painting by Pancho phir aaja Fierro a free black man painted images known to every Peruvian school child [Music] Maribel era Lucia is showing me his rare original paintings he has left us the most important images of the 19th century he shows us a society in a way that we could probably not see in documents this is a funeral the deceased a man this is the widow she's crying we're the pallbearers black it is a custom in Peru it is highly criticized nowadays but it continues to be the right thing to do since slavery up to today there's a been black oh my this is like a picnic it is very beautiful isn't it this is a typical desert and it is in the hands of after women those slaves you cannot tell the slaves from those who were not slaves because they all took part in the same customs they were nearly the same clothes well what do we have here in three races Indian black white this scene is fantastic it shows us three women the one that takes center stage is the Afro woman it was an anthropologist he was in the street all the time he painted as he looked at what was going on around him these pictures changed the way you understand colonial society in Peru yes definitely because when we think about slaves we always think about plantation slaves chained at their feet constantly beaten up but Pancho Fierro gives us a lot to regain the past vader pasado do they mean slavery in lima was more relaxed more flexible I think Pancho fira wanted to show us the happiness that the afro population could have 25% of the slaves in Peru lived in Lima during the colonial period and would have had this more relaxed experience of slavery so slavery in Peru was similar in this sense to slavery in Mexico but very different than slavery in the United States but was this truly the experience of the typical slave in Peru to find out I asked professor a Guerra to take me to a husana for those working in the fields suffered really harsh conditions I was even hard to feed their own children their best shot yeah I've been free was to run away and from the 16th through the 20th centuries Hacienda started the coast the Hacienda San Jose is two hours south of Lima it probably housed about 800 slaves hundreds more than the average Hacienda the more than 300 years old didn't damaged by a recent earthquake a lot of evidence still survives of the harshness of Plantation slavery every ass in the place to punish slaves they were branded whipped sometimes left there without any food punishment was a mechanism to force order and social control just imagine a riot or a rebellion of the slaves as in Mexico and about at the same time revolutionaries in Peru found thousands of plantation slaves ready to abandon their fields and join the war of independence lured by promises of freedom and equality simone Bulevar has to win the contest hands down for the most statues in the western hemisphere a venezuelan aristocrat with a special talent for leading revolutions kolavari did six latin-american countries from the spanish in 1821 together with general jose de San martín he freed Peru but unlike their Mexican counterparts Bolivar and san martín didn't keep their promises to end slavery after independence slave owners themselves they passed laws granting freedom only when slaves reached certain ages first it was 18 then it was 21 and finally it was 50 not for another 33 years in 1854 would another leader Ramon Castilla ultimately free the remaining afro-peruvian slaves after abolition not a lot changed just as in the former Confederate States after the Civil War most of the former slaves became sharecroppers on the very same land they had always worked 150 years later there's still many people living in the same places doing the same work that their slave ancestors did you know I've never been this close to cotton before first time could you show me how to pick cotton so the cotton comes off clean without the straw without the little leaves I got a lot of leaves so I'm bad what time do you start picking cotton every day from 4:00 a.m. in the morning until 6:00 p.m. in the evening can I ask you how much you are paid fourteen soleus a day well five dollars a day it's hard work it's hard but we have to do it because of the fact that we I need we have to do it how old were you when you started picking cotton when you learned how to pick cotton I was seven do you think your children will pick on no we don't want that for them it's hard work thank you and take this cotton ball as a souvenir cotton from cinta yeah this get rid of this I got my cutting that's right these workers live in the black town of el carmen most of the town's inhabitants are descended from the slaves of the Hacienda San Jose still suffering from extreme poverty only 27% of the afro-peruvian people even finished high school and only 2% get a college education in recent years this historically black community has reinvented itself as the authentic heartbeat of afro-peruvian music [Music] [Music] the balan bro ce o--'s are like the Jackson 5 of afro-peruvian music except there's 15 of them their late patriarch Amador Bal Umbro Co helped to lead the revival of afro-peruvian music in the 1960s today there's a party going [Music] why is it important to you to preserve the traditions of the afro-peruvian community especially today in the world of hip-hop and reggae we have an ancestral heritage of African music that goes back 350 years they see us in quaint annual we are a family with roots and we still preserve the black presence the day we play another type of music that will feature than giant posters and we look really good that will be the day that we're making black culture disappear in this place do you feel like you're fighting racism that you're standing for black power racism is everywhere the blacks are labeled as being those who work in the doorways of hotels or in a restaurant or this black guy dances really well that's what he's good for he's not very intelligent I think that music gives you the strength to fight for what you're saying [Applause] despite the kind of pervasive racism the Chabot describes last year the Peruvian government made an unprecedented public apology to its black citizens weeks then an historical apology to afro-peruvian people for the abuse exclusion and discrimination perpetrated against them since the colonial era until the present while the government statement doesn't mention slavery explicitly Peru is the only Latin American country to have apologized to its black citizens for historic racial discrimination starting in the colonial period which is when slavery started I wonder how black activist groups feel about this unprecedented act it's not an old to say sorry no we need to translate it in public policies to afro-peruvian people I believe that it could be the most racist country in Latin America Monica Carrillo runs loon do the Center for afro-peruvian Studies and advancement loon do campaigns against the kind of racism the black people here encounter every day there is a character Denise Negro mama mama in Peru bein no mama is no mother is mama is like a stupid so the name of the character is negro mama and she paints his face white his wife for example that's oh my god that's Alan egg roll mama stupid black man black blob is like monkey and he walk like monkey - it's terrible this is negative mama no all the time he is stealing or he is trying to rape a woman this is like minstrel shows yeah yeah yeah I can't believe it disgusting is disgusting but dundun organized protests against negro mama two months ago and it was removed from the air but he backs one week ago it came back when she came back why did it come back yeah because they say that we are attacking the free speech they accuse you of censorship yes but now we are trying to organize international campaign with institutions in the United States of course design Mia yes it was a fierce time in the Peruvian history that a rational discussion was zombie and about afro-descendant people too but at the same time people spit on my face yes no there are people try to promise this a roll over yeah right now yeah these kind of situations you can feel Imperial you can feel every day but in this context maybe we are living a more dramatical problem I've seen some racist things on television in my lifetime alfalfa and buckwheat from our gang Amos and Andrew corset top of the heap but I have never seen anything that's racist Aslan Egremont Michonne each week in primetime here in Peru black Peruvians themselves are criticizing racist stereotypes in popular culture yet back in Mexico that kind of criticism still comes largely from outsiders attention yesterday I saw LED negra mama for the first time do you think it's important to get it off the air do I think that in a free country the fight is not whether you're against it or not because if they get it off the air they are going to give it more importance but if people don't pay attention to it don't give it value then gradually it is going to start disappearance cha-cha Campos and I have traveled similar paths albeit in different countries with the same age we've been influenced by the same authors and we both spent our careers as professors how is Peru different for a black person today than it was when you and I were students I think it has changed significantly because before we were totally invisible now we are visible and I after many years I believe it is not an issue of finding Africa it is an issue about finding Peru at its depth it's about finding integration you vocally align taken assume the future black says multiculturalism in Peru that's right I believe that the black organizations have to worry more about other aspects than waste energy on the fight against discrimination and racism the fight for development and culture is a bigger fight that in the long run brings better results would not have been able to take on the presidency if you hadn't been above the issue of color because if you are obsessed with color you are the president of the black people I wonder if JJ is right Mexico and Peru and of course the United States are so much richer for their multicultural heritage and without a doubt the entire world is headed towards even more heterogeneity but without acknowledging where each of us has come from what's the foundation upon which a multicultural society rests in both Mexico and Peru black history and culture have been traditionally undervalued and black people continue to be discriminated against denied equal access to the societies that their ancestors did so much to create [Music] afro-latinos have a double identity as citizens and culturally they're both black and Latino chapo val ambrosio invited me to a beautiful celebration his niece's quinceañera [Music] this is the traditional rite of passage for 15 year-olds all throughout Latin America just marvelous to see it done in a black community here in Peru so aware of the kitchen is rituals and self-conscious about it and playing with it it's a multicultural music from Italy music from Mexico salsa music and music from of course afro Peru after her father slips on her first high-heeled shoes she'll dance all night with family and friends the marvelous way in which her community has modified the quinceanera reflects how her ancestors have shaped this country my only hope is that she'll continue to wear her double heritage proudly bat of a Peruvian who also happens to be black [Music] to find out more about how the people of Latin America embraced their African history visit pbs.org to order black in latinamerica on DVD for $29.99 or to pre-order the companion book for 2695 call 1-800 three three six one nine one seven or write to the address on your screen [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] today clock atop and is known for its fandango's music and dance that combines Spanish indigenous and African traditions fandango's are a fitting metaphor for the African roots of Mexican culture [Music] Fandango those girls are great now the boys dance and just girls well they always say that the first time for it to know like watch the girls and one of them later [Music] Rafael Figueroa an ethanol musicologist grew up here he's an expert on this music which he's heard since childhood Fandango it really makes a face Hispanic and African mainly even though it's Hispanic instruments but they are played in a really percussive way and they are playing against each other the result of a big party rhythm Hollywood random fights everything [Music] what could be more Mexican than la Bamba I remember singing the chorus along with Richie Valens on the radio as in the arrival of hundreds of thousands of slaves through this very port how long did it take to get to Veracruz from the ports in Africa some records mention two months it's a long time to be in a steam bath right and I found 20% and in the 16th and early 17th centuries one out of every two slaves bound for the Americas disembarked in Mexico in fact in the year 1553 Viceroy Louisville ESCO as King Charles of Spain to curtail the trade fearing an uprising and with good reason until 1650 the number of blacks and mulattoes was roughly equal to the number of white people living here raised which they tie their ships the port needn't have a pier or dogs their ships arrived directly here what would happen when the slaves arrived they would be checked medically surgeons to review the blacks and the checkup consisted of licking the beard sounds nasty the sweat conserved sold so if you were salty that meant they had good blood pressure mm-hmm how much did the slaves cost oh wow so slave in a house it's a lot [Music] this is what the slaves would have seen first after surviving the treacherous Middle Passage here they encountered a new country a new language and a new life as someone else's property these walls are covered with African blood Peters they were forced to construct these gorgeous building after the indigenous population decreased because illness they were forced to dive into the ocean and get these as tombs because they are made of coral I say coral yeah yeah porous and many of them died in this process there's a history of dead and history of so this is the fingerprint of black history in Mexico just right here death and invisibility [Music] professor sagrario Cruz has invited me to lunch promising me two significant clues to help me solve the mystery of Mexico's missing black population this is my family while I show some pictures okay to show you and this is a very old picture and this is my grandpa with his sons the banditos yes this is the wedding of my parents oh look how pretty your mommy but he is the dark man oh right so your family's poor black it's part black and it's something that was omitted until I was 19 years old how did you find out that you were part black because I traveled to Cuba and when I right there they started talking about the African heritage and the culture I suddenly realised my family was black because look like my grandpa looked like my father yeah and when I started tasting the food I said oh my god is the food my grandma prepares at home I recommend you but I didn't know that the song was sung here as early as 1683 by Angolan and Congolese slaves liked the fancy footwork called Zappa Te'o la Bamba is another example of Mexican cultures complex African origins now blended into a rich brown ethnic mix but since so many black slaves came to Mexico why doesn't anyone around here look especially black they mix from the beginning that's why you cannot see but it's there so the blackness is diluted yes African elements are still present we are darker than the rest of the Republic also the way of touching me we have a specific accent really yeah can you do it for you say olavo ice cream here you drop the D so it's allowed or you drop the final s of some words but it's really common among the people from African origin I'll notice some people will say boy Athiya inside everyone is this I thought what's wrong with you [Laughter] [Music] about an hour and a half from the fandango's festive atmosphere since the sambar port of Veracruz one of the main points of entry of Latin American slavery starting in 1535 virtually all of the commodities arriving in Mexico including African slaves were unloaded here it was called a key of New Spain the port of San Juan de Ulua Judith Hernandez studies the archeology of Veracruz and sagrario Cruz querétaro is a professor of anthropology at the University of Veracruz both are helping me a man hide in plain sight they mix from the beginning many people remain unaware of their African ancestry we are black but today those African roots are becoming more visible blacks are here now and they are demanding that their rights be recognized Mexico and Peru the blood grandma in the closet black in Latin America [Music] [Music] when you think of Mexico what comes to mind endless sunshine white sandy beaches the Mayan and Aztec ruins and Peru Machu Picchu the great Inca people five thousand varieties of potato how many of us realize that far more slaves came to Mexico and Peru together then came to the United States in the entire history of the slave trade I've come here to search for the lost history of black people in Mexico and Peru [Music] the charming town of clackett all pan was founded by the Spanish in the 16th century but it boomed in the 18th century when it became a major trading center for sugar cotton cattle and horses all commodities produced by slaves Indians and mestizos