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Glossary

Afro-mestizos – A term used (often interchangeably with Afro-Mexicans) to identify Mexicans of African ancestry.

Alcalde – Spanish word meaning mayor.

Audiencia – The royal court of justice in Spain and the Spanish Empire, varying greatly in its form and function but
having some administrative as well as judicial capacity.

Bight -- A bend in a coast forming an open bay.

Bron nation – A reference to the Brong or Abron, an Akan-speaking group from what is today Ghana.

Cabildos – A city hall or city council.

Cabildos de nación –  Mutual aid societies that assisted Africans in various aspects of their lives.  

Casta – Denotes lineage, breed or race. Also used to describe mixed-race people and a system of social stratification based on
a person's racial heritage.

Cimmarrones/Maroons – Escaped slaves. It is thought the term “cimarron” originally referred to cattle that roamed in the
hills of Hispaniola. Eventually, it was applied to Indians who had fled from slavery, then to Blacks who did the same. The
English equivalent became maroon, and the French used the word marron.

Confraternities and cofradias – Societies devoted especially to a religious or charitable cause; fraternal organizations. Some
were segregated according to status or ethnicity, others had diverse members including whites and mulattoes.

Conquistadors – Spanish soldiers, leaders and explorers engaged in the conquest of the Americas following the arrival of
Christopher Columbus in the New World in 1492.   

Creole – A person of European descent born in the West Indies or Spanish America; a white person descendant from the
early French or Spanish settlers in the Gulf; a person of mixed French or Spanish and black descent speaking a dialect of
French or Spanish.

Danses des milatresses, or octoroon and quadroon balls – Acceptable social events held primarily in Louisiana that were
created to manage the otherwise taboo interracial relationships between white men and women of color.

Diaspora -- The somewhat voluntary but predominantly involuntary dispersion of people globally; the transatlantic slave
trade.

Encomienda – The system, instituted in 1503, under which a Spanish soldier or colonist was granted a tract of land or a
village together with its Indian inhabitants.

Grand marronage: The act of running away and starting new communities or engaging in armed struggle against the
slave system. A petite marronage was a lesser act of rebellion.

Jarocho – In some Spanish usage means “from Veracruz” while in others means “black person.” Son jarocho is a musical
fusion of indigenous, Spanish, and African musical elements. The "folk music" of Mexico, it emerged during the colonial
period as a mix of Spanish, Indigenous, and African, music and dance. As early as the 16th century, the Spanish
introduced the native indigenous population to stringed instruments such as the violin, harp, and various guitar-types.

Jim Crow – Refers to laws that existed between 1876 and 1965 that mandated racial segregation against Blacks and
sometimes other non-white ethnic racial groups.

Ladino – A Hispanicized African slave; a person of Spanish (¾) and Indian (¼) heritage; someone who is linguistically and
culturally Hispanic and has adopted the culture.

Mestizo -- A person of mixed Spanish and Indian (Native American) heritage.

Middle Passage – The middle leg of the triangular trade in which ships from Europe went to Africa to purchase slaves,
then transported the human cargo to the Caribbean and New World territories for sale, then back to Europe with the
proceeds, usually goods as well as money. Masses of Africans died or committed suicide en route.

Moreno -- A person of brown skin color; a person of Spanish and Indian and African heritage; also used to refer to people
of darker skin.

Mulatto – A person of mixed African (black) and Spanish ancestry.

Palenque – A settlement.
Documenting the Complete African American Experience in Texas                                   www.tbhpp.org