An interview with my friend Maria Elisa Velasquez, Professor of History at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico. We talk about the African presence in Mexico. Velasquez is one of Mexico's premier experts on this subject. She's written a number of books on this topic and also helps to leads UNESCO's Slave Route research team.

AfroMex

An Interview with Gerardo (Lalo) Licon, professor at the University of Wisconsin. He teaches Latin American History and focused on the Pachucos as the topic of his dissertation at The University of Southern California where he received his Ph.D in History. Lalo Licon is one of the leading scholars on this topic and was a regular contributor for my radio program Xicanismo, which aired on KBOO Community Radio several years back.

From 1910 – 1955 a brand new counter culture emerged in the United States and in Mexico that was a pivotal stage in the development of Chicano and American history. Some remember the Zoot Suiters of the 1940′s. In Los Angeles major incidents occurred in Mexican communities that might stick out in people’s mind such as  the Sleepy Lagoon Case where Mexican youth were brought to trial on trumped up charges and eventually acquitted or the so called Zoot Suit Riots where Mexican, African American and even some Asian youth were the targets of racial violence. These were important historical times, but only represent a portion of the overall history that relates to the Pachucos. They existed well before the Zoot Suit that they made so popular and they lived in areas all throughout the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico.

ChucoJournal