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A Chapter In U.S. History Often Ignored: The Flight Of Runaway Slaves To Mexico
February 28, 20217:00 AM ET
In a forgotten cemetery on the edge of Texas in the Rio Grande delta, Olga Webber-Vasques says she's proud of her family's legacy even if she only just learned the full story.
Turns out her great-great-grandparents, who are buried here, were agents in the little-known underground railroad that led through South Texas to Mexico during the 1800s. Thousands of enslaved people fled plantations to make their way to the Rio Grande, which became a river of deliverance.
"I don't know why there wasn't anything that we would've known as we were growing up. It amazes me to learn the underground deal, I had no idea at all," says Webber-Vasques, 70, who recently learned the story of her forebearer, John Ferdinand Webber, from her daughter-in-law who has researched family history.
"I'm very proud to be a Webber," she says.
The flight of runaway slaves to Mexico is a chapter of history that is often overlooked or ignored. As the U.S. Treasury ponders putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill to commemorate her role in the northbound underground railroad, there is new attention to this southbound route.
More:
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/28/971325620/a-chapter-in-u-s-history-often-ignored-the-flight-of-runaway-slaves-to-mexico
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A Chapter In U.S. History Often Ignored: The Flight Of Runaway Slaves To Mexico (Original Post)
Judi Lynn
Feb 2021
OP
Karadeniz
(23,283 posts)1. Yet another historical point that wasn't in my curriculum!
RussBLib
(9,633 posts)2. Not trying to hijack the thread
But how about this one: systematic lynching and killing of Mexicans by whites from the 1830's to the 1930's.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-16/el-paso-massacre-timeline-of-anti-latino-violence-in-united-states
....another thing I never learned in school, even in Texas history class!!
Sometimes, we white people really suck.
littlemissmartypants
(24,926 posts)3. Thanks, Judi Lynn. ❤ nt