Lecture on “Free People of Color in Colonial Mexico”

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Staff Report

Ocean County College’s Global Education Committee has invited Dr. Norah L. A. Gharala to campus on Thursday, April 18, to give a lecture titled “Free People of Color in Colonial Mexico.” The presentation begins at 11 a.m. in Room 115 of the Tech Lecture Hall (Bldg 25).

The event is free and open to the public.

Gharala’s lecture will answer questions such as: What did race mean in colonial Mexico? What did it mean to be a free person of African descent? How did colonial officials and institutions incorporate and treat Afromexicans? What kinds of characteristics can we discern about Afromexican communities from the records of their tax payments and registration?

She will also discuss a recent bulletin released by the Mexican government that states that about two million people self-identify as Afromexican, a category that will appear on the 2020 census for the first time since independence.

Gharala is an Assistant Professor of World History at Georgian Court University. Her first monograph, “Taxing Blackness: Free Afromexican Tribute in Bourbon New Spain,” was published in February of 2019 by the University of Alabama Press. She is also the author of articles in The Americas and Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies. Dr. Gharala’s work contributes to the fields of gender history, global history, and Africana and Latin American Studies.

The OCC Global Education Committee fosters a college climate of global citizenry and sponsors events that heighten student, campus, and community understanding of the interconnectedness of diverse cultures and nations.

For more information, contact Jason Ghibesi at [email protected] at 732-255-0400, ext. 2220.