Full Episode: Mexico & Peru: The Black Grandma in the Closet

This video is another one of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s adventure on discovering African heritage in Latin America. Withing this episode Dr. Gates travels to Mexico and Peru to uncover the history of the country's black ancestry; what is known as "the Black grandmother in the closet ." This quote signifies the hidden black heritage in which the people from these countries originated from. In other words, the people from Mexico and Peru are black descendant. Although history tells us that Mexicans have a black origin, Mexicans and Peruvians branched out to a more Hispanic culture. Now, just because they consider themselves a full Hispanic race it does not necessarily mean that they are in complete denial of their main origin. Furthermore, while their are a few people that know about their ancestry, according to this video most Mexicans and Peruvians are not aware of their African heritage. Also, the majority of the older Mexicans and Peruvians that know about their black back round chooses to not talk about it to the younger generations; they expressed themselves as only "Morenos."

This video also talks about the history of how people in Mexico and Peru became to be who they are today. Back in the slavery days, Mexico and Peru combined came to have far more slaves  then the United States ever had in their entire history of slavery. It started in the early 16 century, the Spaniards found a town in mexico where they began to transport African slaves. This city became a major trading center for commodities such as sugar, cotton, cattle and horses. As time passed more and more people began to populate the area. Eventually the city populated with a number of blacks and Mulattoes equal to the number of whites ultimately leading to the races mixing and combining heritages.

Another historical factor that Dr. Gates investigated in this video was the freedom of the slaves in these countries and their newly found Mexican culture. The historians in the video talk about the two black men who helped free the country from slavery; similar to the United States heroic president George Washington. Also alike our old President G.W, these two men hold a valuable meaning to their country including the appearance of their faces in their money prints.