Gente de razón, “people of reason”, was a phrase used in Spanish territories to distinguish Hispanicized Indigenous peoples from those who were unbaptized or did not adopt Spanish culture and language.👇🏾 The term has roots in Roman legal theory. It regarded how they perceive people's use and understanding of “reason”, which in context means the dominating laws and customs of authority in their colonies.

The Codex Mendoza was commissioned in 1541 by the viceroy of New Spain. It is remarkable for its depiction of Mexica (Aztec) life at the time but it also includes depictions of Indigenous captivity and enslavement. A. Novice priest accompanies the senior priest who goes to war, carrying his bundle.

She can look at one historical record after another and from it, identify the names buried in the records and from these archival excavations, develop a perfect spreadsheet to organize the meaningful data. Native Bound Unbound is so honored to work with Daria Landress. After a successful career as an entrepreneur, running her own business, Daria took the challenging step to return to school. She earned her degree, graduating with distinction from the Univ. of California at Santa Barbara in Socio Cultural Anthropology and a minor in History.

As they were in life, the enslaved are almost always marginalized in other people’s records, including wills, land records and court trials. This is true of a witchcraft trial that took place in 1606 among the first colonists in New Mexico. María de Zamora is the defendant in this witchcraft trial who was accused by her son-in-law, Diego Robledo and Lucía, his 12-year-old bride who was also Zamora's daughter.

Understanding slavery requires revealing how kings & popes created laws and how officials used them or ignored them as it suited circumstance. We will share a chronology in time, but will also post about this legal foundation here, including about the Siete Partidas. 🧵 King Alfonso X ‘El Sabio’ and his court developed the Siete Partidas, a medieval legal code meant to replace the previous Fuero Real code, a fragmented (and often self-contradictory) amalgamation of various municipal and royal laws.

As we work to identify names, places, events and stories that reflect the enslavement of Indigenous people of the Americas, our focus is on primary sources. The work of scholars is also instrumental, not only for identifying sources, but also interpreting them. According to historian Camilla Townsend, "We know with certainty that at least some local Lenape peoples were aware of the presence of the Indian slaves and distressed by it.”

Armond Lara's 'Flying Blue Buffalo'

In 2018, the artist Armond Lara collaborated with Santa Fe gallery, form & concept (@formandconcept) to create Flying Blue Buffalo, a creative installation reflecting the lives of Indigenous captives. Lara was inspired by family history that told of a Diné grandmother that had been kidnapped as a small child and enslaved by a Mexican family. He was also inspired by an 1865 register that lists 149 enslaved Indigenous people held in families in Colorado's San Luis Valley.

(1/8) While it may be rare, the enslaved were sometimes captured twice, once when separated from their family and communities and once when depicted upon an artistic canvas. (2/8) The Prado Museum recently pulled from its storerooms an amazing baroque portrait completed around 1670 in Mexico City.

Indigenous slavery is a critical part of the history of slavery in Canada. The natives are the first to be enslaved on the territory and represent 66% of the enslaved individuals listed.

How was this information compiled? 👇 This is the work of Marcel Trudel (1917-2011), the first to paint a complete history of enslavement in Canada. In 1960, he published "L’esclavage au Canada français" and then the "Dictionnaire des esclaves et de leurs propriétaires au Canada Français" in 1990.

L’histoire de l’asservissement au Canada est étroitement lié à l’histoire de l’asservissement des autochtones. Les autochtones sont les premiers à être asservis sur le territoire et représentent 66% des individus asservis recensés.

Comment ont été recensées ces informations? 👇 Il s’agit du travail de Marcel Trudel (1917-2011), le premier à dépeindre une histoire qui se veut complète de l’asservissement au Canada. Il publie en 1960 "L’esclavage au Canada français" puis le "Dictionnaire des esclaves et de leurs propriétaires au Canada Français" en 1990.

(1/4) Global Indios is a magnificent study which documents more than 100 lawsuits Indigenous enslaved people living in Castile brought to the Spanish courts to secure their freedom between 1530 and 1585. #twitterstorians #slaveryarchive (2/4) Plaintiffs had to prove their indigenousness, these lawsuits reveal the difficulties of determining who was an indio and who was not—especially since it was an all-encompassing construct connoting subservience and ...

(1/5) When handed Antonio de Nebrija’s Spanish Gramática, the first-ever grammar of any modern European language, Queen Isabella supposedly asked the scholar, “What is it for?” “Language,” Nebrija reportedly stated, “is the perfect instrument of empire.” (2/5) Nebrija responded, "que siempre la lengua fue compañera del imperio: y de tal manera lo siguió: que juntamente començaron. crecieron. y florecieron" (Language has always been ...

On this Día de los Muertos / #DayoftheDead, we remember the lives of those who passed through slavery and the descendants they left behind. As a part of our responsibility, we gather the documents, photos, and their stories, but today we whisper their names and center their lives in our hearts and minds.

(1/5) In 1877, Lorenzo Asisara (b. 1819) explained in an interview with field historian Thomas Savage, called "Punishment" what life was like within the Spanish Franciscan mission system from a Native American perspective. (2/5) The Franciscan empire in California was the product of the Spanish colonial project. Catholic priests of the Franciscan order were sent to Christianize the local Native Americans, and ...

(1/5) The stories of the enslaved, both African and Indigenous to the Americas are intricately bound together. (2/5) In 1747, "Indian Will" is identified as an enslaved man "belonging to the estate of George Nicholas Turner." That year, he sued for his freedom in Virginia and this document reveals that he had ...

(1/6) The work of Native Bound Unbound (NBU) is to render the invisible, visible and often this means working to decipher often illegible records. (2/6) This is a sample from the baptismal book in 1778 of a couple baptizing their daughter. João Flávio and Josefa are listed as "Indios do serviço" in service to Francisco Xavier Correia.

(1/9) Welcome to the official Twitter account for Native Bound Unbound! We are creating a digital archive of the Indigenous enslaved across the Americas, name by name, place by place, event by event and story by story. Supported by @MellonFdn; ED @ERaelGalvez (2/9) There is no way to measure the impact of slavery upon the Indigenous people of the Americas. Yet, it is known that many millions of people were captured and bound, each life worth remembering.