Image Up Advertising & Design

40 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | NOVEMBER 2020 Check with your club contact to confirm meeting place, date, and time. The Underground Railroad to Mexico Just like the Underground Railroad North that helped southern fugitive slaves escape to freedom during slavery, there was a shorter southern path to freedom that has only been known to historians. Scholars in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas, along with preservation advocates, are currently working to piece together the story of a network that helped thousands of Slaves escape from Texas to Mexico. This Underground Railroad is starting to enter the public's consciousness as the United States becomes more diverse. More people are showing greater interest in studying slavery, says Roseann Bacha-Garza, a historian and program manager for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The Eli Jackson Methodist Church and cemetery located on a 5,500-acre ranch in San Juan, Texas, was operated by Nathaniel and Matilda Jackson, a biracial couple, who historians say were "conductors" of the Underground Railroad to Mexico. Nathaniel Jackson, a white southerner, purchased the freedom of Matilda Hicks, a Black slave who was his childhood sweetheart. Jackson married Hicks and moved from Alabama to Texas before the U.S. Civil War. There, along the Rio Grande, they met another biracial couple – John Ferdinand Webber, a white man from Vermont, and Silvia Hector, who was Black and a former slave who helped them find homes for run-away slaves escaping to Mexico. In 2010, the U.S. National Park Service outlined a route from Natchitoches, Louisiana, through Texas to Monclova, Mexico, that was considered a rough path of the Underground Railroad south to Mexico. President George W. Bush signed a bill six years prior designating El Camino Real de los Tejas as a National Historic Trail. Spanish, Mexican, French, Black, and Native-American travelers used this trail to Mexico. The route was 2,500 miles of rough terrain from northwestern Louisiana through eastern Texas to Mexico. Mexico abolished slavery in 1829, a generation before the United States. Researchers estimate more than 10,000 people escaped bondage to Mexico. Once in Mexico, they adopted Spanish names, married into Mexican families, and migrated deeper into Mexico – disappearing from the records and history. Our next Zoom meeting is Monday, Nov. 2. For more information, please contact Betty Ann James at (951) 572-5538 or email: infotoaacc@gmail.com. ~ Regina Thomas African American Cultural Club Italian American Club Ciao Amici Miei (Hello my friends.) The purpose of the Italian American Club is to provide members with the opportunity to share cultural experiences, history, traditions, language, food "Oh, especially the food!" and fun being Americans of Italian ancestry. The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented us from getting together in meetings at this time, but hopefully that restriction will be eased as Riverside County progresses through the open guidelines process. Once we get the approval to meet in person, we will notify everyone of the date, time, and place. We have been approved to be in The Courts Multipurpose Room on the second Thursday of each month. Hopefully will continue to be at The Courts as before. We are looking forward to seeing all of you again in person. Stay safe and healthy, and please follow all the guidelines put in place for our safety. Addio Fina Incontriamo Al Nuovo (Goodbye until we meet again.) ~ Barbara Dipoma and Jerry Monahan, (951) 212-8898 Above: Eli Jackson Methodist Church in San Juan, TX Left: El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Photo from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

• Cover