“Mixed Marriages and Crossing of The Color Barrier: Two Paths Towards Miscegination Among Black and Mulatto Population, (1674-1796)”

Abstract

This article deals with two main hypotheses. First, it tries to make evident the wide preference toward the mixed marriages among the population of African ancestry during the period 1652 to 1796 in Cholula, Puebla. In the second place, we pretend to demonstrate that the offspring of such mixed couples had great possibilities for getting assigned under one or several socio-racial categories. This situation allowed the individual to search for those denominations which they could profit from, like being considered as a Mestizo or included in the Indian community. On the other hand, these circumstances permitted the free population of African ancestry to more easily change their socio-racial identity while climbing the social ladder.The variations in the marriage patterns among the slaves and their descents have been followed by several methods, while the crossing of the color barrier was analyzed from the point of view of genealogy reconstitution. The behavior of both indicators makes it possible for us to conclude that this population tried to melt with other groups in order to be legally assimilated with the Mestizos, the Indians and, in some cases, to reach a certain mobility allowing them to be considered as, Spaniards. This phenomena was possible thanks to the multiethnic context in which the slaves were inserted in Cholula. The economic units of production (haciendas and obrajes) thus had an overwhelming Indian labor, a Spanish elite and a growing Mestizo group.