Vicente Guerrero, Mexico’s first Black president, was a pivotal figure in the country’s history. Born around 1782–1783 in Tixtla, Mexico, to Juan Pedro Guerrero, a free Afro-Mexican freight business manager who initially supported Spanish colonial rule and even disowned his son temporarily for joining the independence movement, and María Guadalupe Rodríguez Saldaña (Guadalupe Saldaña), an Indigenous woman who taught him local languages and customs, Guerrero rose from humble, uneducated beginnings to become a national hero. He joined the Mexican War of Independence in 1810 under José María Morelos, continued the fight after Morelos’s execution, allied with Agustín de Iturbide to secure independence from Spain in 1821, and later served as Mexico’s second president in 1829. In that brief term, he abolished slavery nationwide through the Guerrero Decree, promoted equality and land reform, and made Mexico a refuge for escaped enslaved people.

The Los Angeles Pobladores, or “townspeople,” were a group of 44 settlers and four soldiers from Mexico who established the famed city in 1781 in what is now California. The settlers came from various Spanish castes, with over half of the group being of African descent. Governor of Las Californias, a Spanish-owned region, Felipe de Neve called on 11 families to help build the new city in the region by recruiting them from Sonora and Sinaloa, Mexico. According to a census record taken at the time, there were two persons of African ancestry, eight Spanish and Black persons, and nine American Indians. There was also one Spanish and Indian person, with the rest being Spaniards. According to the efforts of historian William M. Mason, the actual racial makeup of the pobladores was perhaps more racially balanced than not. Mason wrote that of the 44, only two were White, while 26 had some manner of African ancestry and that 16 of the group were “mestizos” or mixed Spanish and Indian people. SOURCE: Face2FaceAfrica https://face2faceafrica.com/article/los-angeles-pobladores #Mexico #LosAngeles #California #Mexican #AfroLatino #AfricanHistory #BlackHistory #TheAHNShow #Spain #AfricanDescent #Spanish

🇹🇹Trinidad and Tobago remove a statue of Christopher Columbus According to Port-of-Spain Corporation the statue was removed on August 6th 2025. This follows extensive discussions and technical assessment. The process commenced at approximately 10pm in Independence Square in the capital city. Special shout out to the Rastaman (pictured) who had the task of taking down the Columbus statue. ❤️💛💚✊🏾 The statue will now be placed in National Museum and Art Gallery. The controversial statue has had red paint thrown over it, had its hands removed and even had a bag placed over its head - as a growing number of citizens in the twin-island nation believe Columbus should not be glorified. Earlier this year, Trinidad and Tobago also removed three Columbus ships from its Coat of Arms and replaced them with an image of the iconic Steelpan - an instrument invented in Trinidad and Tobago. 🇹🇹 ✊🏾🌎 📸: Port of Spain City Corporation #ChristopherColumbus #Trinidadandtobago #caribbean #decolonization #Caribbeanhistory #rastafari