Black History: The Culture Before 1619

Week 1

In this four part series, Dr. Keisha (our DEI Consultant) will take us around the world to learn more about Black lives, experiences, and cultures before 1619 (the start of “Black history” as we know it). Hear Dr. Keisha speak more on the subject in this video.

Juan Garrido, West African

In 1513, Juan Garrido was the first Black person in America, and the first Afro-Spanish Conquistador to explore North America (i.e. Florida). Born on the west coast of Africa in 1487, he later moved to Lisbon, Portugal of his own volition as a free man. Juan lived in Spain for seven years, before he joined the earliest conquistadors to venture to the New World.

In 1538, Garrido provided testimony on his 30 years of service as a conquistador:

I, Juan Garrido, black in color, resident of this city [Mexico], appear before Your Mercy and state that I am in need of providing evidence to the perpetuity of the king, a report on how I served Your Majesty in the conquest and pacification of this New Spain, from the time when the Marqués del Valle [Cortés] entered it; and in his company I was present at all the invasions and conquests and pacifications which were carried out, always with the said Marqués, all of which I did at my own expense without being given either salary or allotment of natives or anything else. As I am married and a resident of this city, where I have always lived; and also as I went with the Marqués del Valle to discover the islands which are in that part of the southern sea [the Pacific] where there was much hunger and privation; and also as I went to discover and pacify the islands of San Juan de Buriquén de Puerto Rico; and also as I went on the pacification and conquest of the island of Cuba with the adelantado Diego Velázquez; in all these ways for thirty years have I served and continue to serve Your Majesty--for these reasons stated above do I petition Your Mercy. And also because I was the first to have the inspiration to sow maize here in New Spain and to see if it took; I did this and experimented at my own expense.

He spent his final years as a Spanish subject back in Mexico City, where he died in 1547.