Toward Inclusive Excellence Podcast

In this summer session episode, Toward Inclusive Excellence editor-in-chief Alexia Hudson-Ward sits down with Danielle Terrazas Williams, associate professor of history at the University of Leeds and author of The Capital of Free Women: Race, Legitimacy, and Liberty in Colonial Mexico. Based on her archival research spanning many years and several countries, the title brings forward the stories of free women of African descent in Colonial Mexico and Spanish America. Danielle reviews her exploration of a variety of archives—notarial materials, parish or church records, Mexican national archives—to piece together these Black women’s lives and stories. As Danielle explains, she hopes the title will highlight the long legacy of Black people living in Mexico, therefore disrupting the narrative of Mexicans being primarily of Spanish and Indigenous descent. She discusses the barriers faced when engaging in this course correction, and praises the work of librarians and archivists, particularly those in Mexico who face budgetary and staff challenges.

In addition, Danielle outlines the complex landscape these women navigated in terms of race, religion, economy, and social capital; by employing their own ideals of marriage, denomination, and economic independence, they redefined “legitimacy” in Mexican society. To close, Danielle offers a look ahead to future scholarship, including a book project on the impact of the Society of Jesus on African-descended people in Mexico and research on free Black women in entrepreneurship.

Episode theme music: Black is the Night by Jeris (c) copyright 2014 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. Ft: DJ Vadim (djvadim), NiGiD