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BREAKING BARRIERS IN SPANISIH
COLONIAL FLORIDA
Kathleen Deagan
Florida Council for History Education Conference
St. Augustine, Florida
August 3, 2019
SO MANY BARRIERS....
Race Language
Economic Family Class Origin
Gender Health
Religion Nationality
Appearance Education
Age
Barriers to opportunity (today and in history) Stereotypes, uninformed assumptions, overt prejudice
1968: YOU’LL NEVER GET A JOB! OR A HUSBAND!
YOU ARE A GIRL!
1970: GRADUATED WITH A B.A. IN ANTHROPOLOGY
....AND COULDN’T GET A JOB!!!
Cosmopolitan Magazine, 1969
THE HELP AND INSPIRATION
OF TEACHERS
FORT MOSE(SANTA TERESA DE GRACIA
REAL DE MOSE)
Breaking barriers to freedom
Charleston ca. 1680
“The Old Plantation”, John Rose (Attrib), late 18th century
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Museum, Williamsburg
Resistance and Escape
First arrivals: 1687 8 men, 3 women
and a 3 year old child
Thomas Jeffries Map of St. Augustine, ca. 1740
Florida Museum of Natural History
22 households37 men
15 women
15 children
Marriages5 men married to enslaved
black women in St.
Augustine
At least 4 men married to
Indian women
Origins in Africa
Arara
Carabali
Congo
Gamba
Ganga
Guinean
Lecumi
Mandingo
Mina
Samba
1759 Census
Benjamin Enzenfelter http://benjamin711.blogspot.com/
African languages
Spanish
English
Native American languages
Soldiers
Farmers
Hunters
Guides
Translators
Watermen
Cowboys
ScoutsCourtesy of the Florida Agricultural Museum
FRANCISCO MENENDEZ: SOLDIER, SLAVE, CORSAIR, EDUCATED MAN
Captured or sold into slavery in the Carolinas
Fled to the Yamasee Indians and fought with
them against the English
Came to Florida with Yamasees, who
betrayed him and sold him as a slave
Regained his freedom through written petitions
Served as the Captain of the Mose militia
Signed on as a corsair on Spanish vessels
preying on the English
Was captured by the English, tortured and re-
enslaved
Escaped again, returned to St. Augustine to
lead Mose militia
To understand Ft. Mose Notions of slavery and race were different
in the Spanish world and the Anglo world
--Slavery was a consequence of a “Just (meaning Christian)War”
--Was not race-based
--Slaves were not property
--Enslaved people had rights to buy freedom, marry, sue their master
s
--Our North American experience of slavery was not typical
of experiences elsewhere
Until 1789, Laws regarding slavery in Spanish colonies were governed
by the 13th century “Siete Partidas” of King Alfonso X of Castile
(who was Moorish)
SPANISH MARRONAGE
A different story for those of African heritage
in American history
“Zambo Chiefs in Ecuador” 1598, Museo de Américas, Madrid
Castas: A “race” and a place for everyone
Not egalitarian...but inclusive... and a way of
breaking the barrier of race
Mother: Free Timucua
Father: Carabali slave
1st husband: Guale Indian
2nd husband. Free mulatto
3rd husband: White creole
Juan, Maria’s father,
remarried a Carabali woman,
Gained his freedom, and in
1750, joined the Mose regiment.
Maria Magdalena Crisóstomo Balthazar
Juan Ribera, Native American Soldier and Vecino
Juan was a Guale Indian, and a Cavalryman
in the Spanish Regiment
A second-generation “urban” Indian
Married a Spanish woman from the Canary Islands
Owned a large 2 story stone house on St. George Street
Was a member of the third order of St. Francis
Nanci Wiggins, Slave, plantation owner and business woman
Enslaved in Senegal and purchased by a
Florida plantation owner
Married her master (a Protestant Englishman)
As a widow, ran a 1,400-acre plantation with cattle,
horses and 14 slaves
Did business in St. Augustine
Juan Triay, Mutinous Indentured Servant
Juan Triay was born in Minorca in 1754,
and came to Florida at 14 as an indentured
farmer in Alexander Turnbull’s New Smyrna
Colony.
Along with 600 other angry people, he
abandoned the harsh conditions there in 1777,
and walked to St. Augustine.
He farmed land just north ot the City, and
married a Minorcan woman. Within 10 years
Juan had four sons, a large farm and two
slaves.
Isavel de los Rios, woman entrepreneur
In 1695 Isavel de los Rios was 54 years oid,
which was elderly for anyone then. She was also
a free woman of color.
We don’t know much about her life, but she must
have broken several race- gender- and age-
related barriers. It was very unusual for a woman
to support herself, let alone an elderly woman
She had a business making and selling very
popular sweet cakes called “rosquetes”. She sold
them- as well as honey- to homes and shops in
the town
Juan Merino, Convict and Blacksmith
Was a convict in Havana, sent to St. Augustine in 1679
to serve out his sentence as convict laborer burning
charcoal
By 1683 he had opened his own forge,
making and repairing weaponry.
He became a lieutenant in the Black militia.
The Governor later wrote that if they had not
gotten “a Black convict from Havana” who
knew something of blacksmithing, the town
would have been in dire necessity
(for every one hundred soldiers in Florida, only twelve could sign their
names and eight could read) The rate was even lower for others. .)
Francisco Pareja, Breaking the language barrier
Friar Pareja came to Florida in 1587 and worked among the
Timucua Indians. He was a linguist, and both learned Timucuan
and taught Spanish – speaking, reading and writing - to the
Timucuans.
He trained Timucua acolytes to help him translate Catholic
catechisms and religious texts into Timucua. Scholars are learning
that many of these works were actually done by the
Timucuans themselves
Thanks to missionaries like Pareja, the Native people of colonial
Florida had a much higher literacy rate than the Europeans.
Breaking Barriers in colonial times and today:
Recognizing opportunities
Working and sometimes sacrificing
to realize potential.
Sadly, sometimes being in the right
place and time...but
that’s never enough alone..
Having help and a teacher.