海角大神

The cemetery stands in the middle of a field, squared in by a chain-link fence. Sofia Bravo says her father installed it years ago to keep vandals out and history in.聽

Ms. Bravo was raised along the U.S.-Mexico border in Hidalgo County, Texas. Not until adulthood did she learn the lore of ancestors whose graves, likely here, face the broad sky. Before emancipation, historians say, her Webber family relatives helped enslaved people reach freedom in Mexico.聽

鈥淚 want other Americans to understand what really happened,鈥� says Ms. Bravo, caretaker of the cemetery overseen by her family鈥檚 nonprofit. She didn鈥檛 learn this history in school, she says.

鈥淚鈥檓 glad that now it鈥檚 all, you know, coming out.鈥�

As the Texan preserves her family鈥檚 slice of history, a growing group of researchers is unearthing more. Much is known of the northbound Underground Railroad for freedom-seekers before the Civil War. Less is known about enslaved people鈥檚 journeys south to Mexico, which abolished slavery decades before the United States.

Without many physical artifacts, families have relied on oral histories. Scholars, meanwhile, are tracking clues in other narratives like newspaper archives. More local and national media have taken note in recent years, some sparked by the construction of a Trump-era border wall聽close to historic sites. Those involved in this emerging field say they鈥檙e moved by a legacy of bravery long forgotten in two countries.

The southbound Underground Railroad聽is an 鈥渋mportant part of our transnational borderland history,鈥� says researcher Roseann Bacha-Garza at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

The southern Underground Railroad route聽

One 鈥淗arriet Tubman鈥� on the southbound railroad was Silvia Hector Webber. She was known to be kind and intelligent by other early settlers.聽

Ms. Hector聽Webber married a white man, John Webber, according to family lore. The two raised a family together, although it鈥檚 unclear when they married. Together,聽in the 1830s, the pair聽bought her freedom and that of聽their聽children, in Mexican Texas. Shortly after, when the Republic of Texas reintroduced slavery,聽they聽helped enslaved people seek freedom through her family鈥檚 ferry trading route.聽The Webbers were Ms. Bravo鈥檚 great-great-grandparents.

Southbound routes to freedom in Mexico likely existed from the early 18th century until the U.S. abolished slavery in 1865.

Mexico abolished slavery in 1829 鈥� with exceptions for Anglo Texans in the north 鈥� and denied requests to extradite alleged runaways. On the heels of the Texas Revolution in 1836, the constitution of the newly formed Republic of Texas enshrined slavery into law.聽

As a historian, Alice Baumgartner has added to scholarship showing how 鈥渟lavery was an important component in that decision to revolt against Mexico,鈥� she says. Yet federalism is the cause traditionally cited, similar to older explanations about the Civil War, says the associate professor of history at the University of Southern California.聽

鈥淲e have to ask ourselves: federalism to defend what?鈥� says Dr. Baumgartner. Many white Americans 鈥渨ere very concerned about the anti-slavery legislation that was being passed by Mexico鈥檚 Congress,鈥� she adds. Texas became a slave state in 1845 when it joined the United States. On Juneteenth, Americans mark the late arrival of news here 鈥� delivered on June 19, 1865 鈥� that the Civil War had ended and enslaved people were free.

Mar铆a Hammack, from Mexico, says she never learned the 鈥渞ailroad鈥� history growing up.聽

Hopefully recovering these stories will 鈥渃hallenge anti-Blackness and racism, not only in the United States, but in Mexico as well,鈥� says the assistant professor of African American history at The Ohio State University. She notes that some Mexicans, whose Black ancestors escaped the U.S., have celebrated Juneteenth for over a century, cheering the freedom of their fellows to the north.

Most enslaved people fled north instead of south. Those headed to the northern U.S. or Canada are estimated at upwards of 100,000. By comparison, perhaps up to 10,000 may have reached, or attempted to reach, Mexico, researchers say.

Crossing the rugged Texas desert, it likely helped to have a horse, which some did steal. Mexicans who border-crossed for work might have also offered information to those fleeing. But without a strong abolitionist network down south, the voyage was often solitary, says Mekala Audain, associate professor of history at The College of New Jersey.聽

Most people assume that those escaping had 鈥渁 lot of help along the way,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut for people who escaped to Mexico, it was largely an individual effort.鈥� Some wore horsehair wigs to evade suspicion, and disguised themselves as white people.

Newly discovered history聽

Down on the Rio Grande, Ms. Bacha-Garza is digging as fast as she can. The anthropology lecturer is investigating the former sites of ferry landings that helped freedom-seekers traverse the water. But the shape-shifting of the river over two centuries has made that research hard.聽

Through a university archaeology project, which she manages, Ms. Bacha-Garza researches the history of the Jackson Ranch Church and Martin Jackson Cemetery, also in Hidalgo County. The Jackson family 鈥撀爄ncluding a white husband and an emancipated Black wife 鈥� is also understood to have aided freedom-seekers in Hidalgo County.

How many passed through is unknown. In some cases, she says, people decided to stay at the ranch after being 鈥渨elcomed into their community.鈥� This spring, the National Park Service added the property to its National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program.聽聽

Another Texas-based researcher spends nights and weekends decoding notes from the 1800s. Kyle Ainsworth, a special collections librarian at Stephen F. Austin State University, has managed a database of thousands of archived newspaper clippings related to Texas slavery. That includes runaway-slave ads and law enforcement notices of captures.聽

Attrition is high among his volunteers, he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty heavy stuff.鈥�

One ad from 1861 offers a 鈥渓iberal reward鈥� for two rifle-armed men presumed fleeing to Mexico. An escaped woman named Lucy was marked for having 鈥渟traight Indian hair, and might pass for a Mexican鈥� in 1853. A capture notice of a 鈥渘egro鈥� man called Dan in 1865 published two months after the Confederate surrender 鈥� and three days before Juneteenth.聽

鈥淚 appreciate the people that ran away, and the people that didn鈥檛,鈥� says the researcher. Reflecting on their 鈥渆xtraordinary choices,鈥� he says, 鈥渉elps keep me going.鈥�

New books are expected from Dr. Hammack and Dr. Audain, who says she and colleagues are increasingly peppered with questions by an eager public.

鈥淲e always laugh, and say, 鈥榃e鈥檙e writing as fast as we can!鈥欌�� says the historian.

Back at the Webber Cemetery, beneath the border wall, Ms. Bravo tidies flowers that tipped over in the wind. Some days she comes to mow.

She takes her tasks seriously. After all, she says, 鈥淚鈥檓 very proud to be part of this family history.鈥澛�