Episode 2: Fugitive Slaves in Mexico

The Field Notebook

Episode 2 is about fugitive American slaves in Mexico, specifically those who crossed over the border from Texas to Mexico. The podcast briefly covers the history of slavery in Texas, the factors surrounding migration across the border, and the lives of fugitive slaves after arriving in Mexico.

Bibliography

Cornell, Sarah E. “Citizens of Nowhere: Fugitive Slaves and Free African Americans in Mexico, 1833–1857.” Journal of American History, Volume 100, Issue 2 (September 2013): 351–374 https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jat253

Rodriguez, Alberto “Fugitive Slaves and Free Blacks in South Texas.” Further Studies in Rio Grande Valley History, volume 7(2006): 95-110 https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/regionalhist/article/1006/&path_info=Further_studies_in_Rio_Grande_Valley_history.pdf#page=104

Campbell, Randolph. An Empire for Slavery : The Peculiar Institution in Texas, 1821-1865. Louisiana State University Press, 1989.

Lundberg, John R. The Texas Lowcountry : Slavery and Freedom on the Gulf Coast, 1822-1895. Texas A&M University Press, 2024.

Rierson, Sandra L. “Fugitive Slaves and Undocumented Immigrants: Testing the Boundaries of Our Federalism.” University of Miami Law Review 74, no. 3(2020) 598-710

Kelley, Sean. "”Mexico in His Head": Slavery and the Texas-Mexico Border, 1810-1860." Journal of Social History 37, no. 3 (2004): 709-723. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jsh.2004.0010.

Valdés, Dennis N. “The Decline of Slavery in Mexico.” The Americas 44, no. 2 (1987): 167–94. https://doi.org/10.2307/1007289.

Texas Secession Declaration, February 23, 1861 https://digital.sfasu.edu/digital/collection/EastTexRC/id/3841

Deeds, Susan M. The Course of Mexican History. Oxford University Press Academic US, 2017

Pinsker, Matthew. “After 1850: Reassessing the impact of the fugitive slave law.” in Fugitive Slaves And Spaces Of Freedom In North America, edited by Damian Alan Pargas. University of Florida 2018