AFRO SPAIN: The African Diaspora in Spain

This week we're in Spain! Did you know that for 800 years Spain was under Arab/African rule? In this video we'll learn about Ziryab, the Afro-Iraqi musician who had a huge cultural impact in Spain, as well as Juan de Pareja, the slave-turned-artist who studied under the extraordinary Spanish painter, Diego Velazquez. We discuss Spain's role in the scramble for Africa, and look at the African diaspora in Spain today. Watch to find out more!
Music: Tenamoras by O'Neil Beats
Illustration by: Jimena Isabel Merchán. Find her on Instagram at: @jimenaimm
For more info visit:
Instagram: @freedomismineofficial
Facebook: Freedom Is Mine Official
Website: www.freedomismineofficial.com
Email: [e-mail]

[@lancebeamon9729]

This is such a fascinating channel that you are running here. The wealth of information that is covered here is awesome. I'm truly delighted to have stumbled upon this exceptional channel of yours. By all means, please keep up the good work. 👍🏽👍🏽❤🖤💚

[@zmezgar2387]

she left a lot out. alot that may have changed your opinion on history.smh

[@radrook2153]

The Spaniards did not prohibit enslaved people from learning to read or write. Neither did they separate families. They also provided a way for an enslaved person to work and buy their freedom. Thee were also laws that protected the enslaved persons from abuse. That is why Afro Latinos don't share the intense bitterness that is so common in the USA among African Americans.

[@ramonantoniodejuanbennett6239]

As an Afro-Latino, I can confirm this!

[@bperez8656]

They also did not abide by the north west European “one drop rule” where mixing with any other race no longer made you of your own race. The south and western parts of Spain, were Africans ruled at some point going back as far as 200BC? And I think the Spanish crown had to contend with that long history and actually allowed people of African descent to “mix” their way into freedom. Meaning, social and racial classes & mobility were tied in a way in which they were not in north Western Europe. You often see a lot of lighter skinned afro Spanish and Afro Latino people with darker skinned grandparents or great grandparents than them. But in 2022 you also see the reverse because no one cares anymore

[@Lucky-pm5uz]

@@bperez8656 You are very wrong. Ask the Africans who live in Spain and are discriminated I suggest this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2G4l2imoJKAeJY

[@MJ-hg1mk]

Respectfully, The differences narrated between English Chattel slavery vs. the slavery practiced by Spaniards & Portuguese is correct - as far as it goes...Using only this general truth to draw the conclusion that Afro-Latinos don't have the same animus towards their former slave masters as African Americans, is a stretch. Saying this one difference is the cause is to discount the multiple related & contributing social, political and educational practices, norms and policies that followed after each country in the Americas abolished legalized slavery...One big difference is the way the U.S. used codified government policies to maintain "the color wall" after abolition. All reflected by the One Drop Rule. From census methodology to overt systematic and publicly sanctioned skin color based discrimination in every phase of life & death...Latin American countries all took slightly different paths for themselves. One very common similarity was (and still is in some countries), to not count or classify citizens by skin color or race in their censuses. Mexico is one large example. Their 2020 census was the 1st time they offered a category for Afro - Mexicans to self identify... Govts. & Corporations don't count what they don't want to talk about...This type of willful, official blindness allowed Latin American leaders (usually of major Castilian descent) and people to say, "we don't have racism" for more than 100 years...And no one could effectively check this rhetoric, as there was no way to systematically track. Wilfully blind, deaf and dumb...Further, Afro-Latino history was ignored and virtually non-existent in schools & the minds of everyday people...These are some of the other reasons why some Afro - Latinos don't claim the Afro in themselves... All one need do is look around Latin America to see who overwhelmingly has and does hold wealth, political power, media supremacy & "better" jobs. Even the "clean" jobs that do not require college training. I.E. airports & govt. offices...The U.S. with it's British influence, might be the most officially sanctioned, systematically racist culture in the Americas. For other (Latin) Americans to say, "we aren't as bad" as the U.S. is no prize...European colonization of all of the Americas is founded on massive thievery, lies, manufactured hate, and genocide. From Canada to Argentina. Because of the Internet, Millions of Afro-Latinos are just beginning to understand the totality of their own history.

[@perico400]

By the way, slavery, which is an execrable practice, but there was a big difference between American and Spanish slavery, in Spain it was considered a person and it could buy freedom while the United States was one thing.

[@tysonl.taylor-gerstner1558]

I find it quite obvious in Spain, Portugal and Italy, and even France in the south of these countries. But especialliy in Spain, and some people despite their pale color might be offended if you call them white, intermarriage plays a role in the dissipation, and colonization of the new world as well.

[@irulanfoucher2183]

This is my story...My mother's family traces to Andalucia and I'm VERY proud! Viva Espana!

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

What a wonderful family history! 😍

[@ciscosong110]

I really enjoyed your video, as I am half Spanish and half Trinidadian it was an eye opener thank you.

[@matthewmann8969]

Yeah Sub Saharan African, North African, And Middle Eastern DNA, genetics, ancestry, lineage, heritage, haplogroups, clusters, and markers could all be found in many Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, Greeks, And Anatolians and some French

[@torrezno1990]

And russians

[@tierax8992]

And completely embarrassed Africa exploited their own people

[@marialawson75]

My favorite question to get asked is what does your birth certificate say is your race. Born in 🇪🇸 there is no race on my birth certificate.

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Yes, very true! People always seem to want to categorise each other!

[@buddhablessings3595]

Whiiite

[@catherinef.7809]

Thank you sooo much for this video. It's helped me with my university assignment which is about Africans in Spain.

[@uvuvwevwevweonyetenyevweug8247]

Soy negro y vivo en españa amo españa

[@nextgenownage]

Keep up the good work 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇩

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Thank you so much! 🥰✊🏽

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Did you learn something new? Help me to continue making black history content! - INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/freedomismineofficial/ - AFRO SPAIN T-SHIRT: www.freedomismineofficial.com/product-category/t-shirts/african-diaspora-t-shirts/ - AFRO SPAIN EBOOK: payhip.com/FreedomIsMine - DONATE: www.paypal.com/paypalme/freedomismine

[@tyracole1998]

I love your channel I learn as much

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Thank you, I appreciate it!

[@carmenhomer1965]

Me too

[@afroespana8875]

Thank You for this. Just as an update, last month we could complete for the first time ever a survey that allowed us to identify ourselves as African-Spanish and to share our experiences with the Ministry of Equality, led by Rita Bosaho.

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Wow amazing, thank you so much for the update!

[@zmezgar2387]

So you know for a fact that you are just african/? Not sefardic at all?

[@zmezgar2387]

sefardic jew i mean. they converted flew to africa and the americas and all the islands many becoming slaves because of who they were.

[@luis9446]

Better to be black in Spain than in Italy, believe me. I am Argentinian and here it is somewhat hard for a black too (because of many slangs) but not as much as Italy.

[@luis9446]

@Victoria Gomez yes and not only with blacks. No point in denying it.

[@bperez8656]

I hear it depends where in Italy though Sicily is the most African part of Europe I read

[@chrixiane]

another great video, thumbs up

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Thank you, I really appreciate it!

[@reneedennis2011]

Thanks for this video 🙂!

[@r.austin3323]

To add to this... After the concession of Granada by The Moors in 1492, which coincides with Columbus sailing to the Americas. Raises some significant questions about how quickly Spain and Portugal were able to become world powers. Suggesting that they they were able to take over a network that was already in place. What happened to the Moors after the concession..? Well, after 800yrs. Many were so integrated in Al Andalus they stayed. Many others returned to Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Further more (Moor) others were dispersed through out Europe to other Moorish strongholds.

[@Mr.BeefwithChixken]

Do u know if the moors explored the west

[@r.austin3323]

@Mr. EmptyExtendos Yes they did. That was the point I was making with what I said. It's no coincidence that Spain and Portugal sailed the oceans and became so powerful so quickly. They had been under Moorish rule and influence for close to 800 yrs. by 1492. The Moors had a global empire.

[@Mr.BeefwithChixken]

@@r.austin3323 yes I wanted to clarify. It seems that a considerable amount of naval accomplishments were awarded to the wrong people in history.

[@r.austin3323]

@Mr. EmptyExtendos Not necessarily the wrong people as they "inherited/took over" since they were the progeny of the Moors and many of them were still Moors. The erasure and hiding of that history began with the "Spanish" take over and followed through to the "Inquisition" all backed by the Catholic Church. A big historical rewrite in the 1800's was the nail in the coffin (so to speak).

[@MrSwilson13]

Black people in Spain, I am writing a debut novel set in Spain and would love a short trailer for my project filmed in Spain. I need a series of people speaking to camera saying a small verse I wrote for my book. I need mainly black 20-somethings. Any one interested give me shout. Thank you for being abroad and sharing your experiences!

[@childofGodsKingdom]

Just subbed. Can we get some content on the culinary aspects as well? African dishes with Spaniard mix. That would be great. Thx!

[@Elreypablo]

You’ll see a decent amount of black people in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. I saw some in south as well but it’s more so Barcelona and Valencia. Valencia had a lot of Asians too

[@ricardcorralesoto]

this people are yoy seen are inmigrants of few years ago

[@רועילוי-ט6ו]

You have African people all over Europe

[@Archduke.William.21]

🤮

[@moviegirl8648]

@@Archduke.William.21 🤢🖕🤮🖕😡🤬 Racist troll!

[@Dart3r]

Love your content!!!

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Thank you so much Darrian! 🥰

[@fitfacade]

New subbies I love this page

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Thank you so much sis!

[@celtiberian07]

This is pretty cool I am also partly of a minority that lived in Spain gitanos that I am learning allot about history from digging . I knew of the black conqusidors

[@ashleyvillegas1440]

Where can I find more information about the conference held in Spain? I can't find anything

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Hi there, follow Afro Conscienca on Instagram, they have festival dates coming up in August and September this year I believe and they now how a dedicated centre of their own.

[@scarletweb2106]

So amazing!

[@manakamohammed2469]

I learned truth history of Moors

[@biancanedea4361]

As A White Girl, I Love Your Video And Your Country UK❤

[@everythingliyarael3192]

My dad grandfather is from Spain, they carry the last names Gonzales I am trying to find out more info

[@zmezgar2387]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpikqIF-o7-noKs

[@zmezgar2387]

this might help your search. the link below. its a docu on what you are speaking of. most of us "ez"s are of sefardic background.

[@gmssamakyaahlahhopeful144]

Crypto Jew

[@StrongSmartBlackMan]

Hmm blacks in the americas and in Spain and Portugal are very similar hmm do you see the connection?

[@TheSamuelbest12]

This was a great video, I'm spaniard and explained everything all so well (you should also had talked about Eleno De Cespedes, a biracial trans man who was a famous doctor in the middle ages, something that Twitter would call "woke" but it actually happened centuries ago)

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Thank you so much Samuel, I'm so glad you enjoyed the video!

[@tinajfakhrid]

Thanks for teaching me about him, Samuel.

[@stanleywalden6177]

This is very interesting to learn more African and Spanish history. More surprising to learned African and Muslim occupied that Spanish nation.

[@dimitrescucrncevic9746]

The thing is Race as we know it today, didn’t exist in the Ancient world nor during the Medieval ages. Many of the Southern “Europeans” traded with and mixed with Arab and Africans populations. Greece, Italy, Spain, Etc… these countries were exposed to other people groups outside of their own ethnic groups.

[@gmssamakyaahlahhopeful144]

Race is a social construct of the 17th century. Before that, race was determined by your forefathers

[@MrCeora]

Very, very good history that you're sharing. May I suggest "The Golden Age of The Moors" by Dr. Ivan Van Sertima. This Guyanese scholar has compiled in this work will reveal information and pictures that document African Moors long history with Spain. "Out of all our studies, history is best qualified to reward all research" - Malcolm X

[@Melle06aa]

Al-Andalus🥰

[@tttyuhbbb9823]

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@jorgeferreira5596]

Beautiful sista

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Thank you!

[@perico400]

They would be more careful to try to copy the American racist model in another country like Spain, which for centuries also suffered from Muslim races to be sold in Africa as slaves.

[@keonarmstrong8692]

@Freedom Is Mine Official Have you ever heard of African Ancestry, a DNA testing company founded in 2003 by Dr. Rick Kittles mainly for black people to find their roots in Africa and is also usable for other people to discover their heritage? I took my paternal DNA test and my results came back as sharing paternal Genetic Ancestry with people in Spain today, so I think I have an Afro-Spanish family.

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

I had not heard of the company but thank you for sharing! That's incredible that you have been able to trace your heritage to Spain!

[@zmezgar2387]

look up on here. Yah yah el negro, King David pt 1 and 2 by either of them something like that its by benayah israel. lemme know how that goes.

[@zmezgar2387]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpikqIF-o7-noKs

[@zmezgar2387]

there is always a missing piece. you are a sefardic jew my friend. i put the link for a video that might help you with your comment.

[@El_Cid_Campeador]

Islamic slavery trade in North africa last 1400 years.

[@tavaineclarkerealitytv]

African European nubia diaspora

[@africanpsc]

Hi thanks from Afro- Portuguese CEO www,Africa pic.com we salute you for the excellent work. And are very interested in having your work of course with your permission publish in our websites. Please contact us on [e-mail]

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Hi there, thank you for your message! I could not open the link to your website but you can email me at [e-mail] 🤗

[@pinkhustlefirstlady444]

I did my ancestry and found out I’m part Spaniard

[@sikirakofficial1827]

Tolong Bahan Orang Papua (Black People) from Papua Indonesia

[@NanaKyidomhene]

The Moors were not Muslims. Please get it right.

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Thanks for the feedback Nana and for watching

[@Jerahmeelli415]

Lol yea we are... some are Jews too. Great video sis! Don’t let the know nothings get you down!

[@martillodelajusticia7211]

@@Jerahmeelli415 were the berbers muslim during 700 and 1400?

[@zmezgar2387]

@@Jerahmeelli415 so what does Moor/s mean? Is it black? like for Moro? legit question. Because I keep hearing Muslim Moors and Jewish Moor etc. So I need to understand what does that term mean period. Please and thank you.

[@anthonybidemi1759]

Yo soy negro en espana pero se racista puede que porque soy ciudadano

[@El_Cid_Campeador]

Solo hay una raza, la raza humana.

[@kingdeculion8019]

Miguel Cervantes is a black man own created Spanish language

[@paikuhansensei815]

The andalus iberian muslims were not black, they were mediterranean 😂😂😂😂

[@torrezno1990]

They were black

[@paikuhansensei815]

@@torrezno1990 where are you from? Not even moroccans and algerians are blacks let alone the muslims from medieval iberian peninsula (spain and portugal) and Sicily(south Italy). In north Morocco and Algeria people are olive skinned, even some blonde and redhead people with fair skin are among them, but in average they are olive skinned mediterraneans not that different from south europeans. Do you know Zinedine Zidane? karim Bemzema? Nordin Amrabet?Salma Bennani? Even French Montana😂 Research about them. All of them maghrebians.

[@torahjew8501]

You dumb ass where is your proof that she bring facts African people come in all different shades of brown. Dark skin light skin

[@mistermagoo8685]

@@torahjew8501 🤦🏻‍♂️ no dude www.britannica.com/topic/Moor-people read this

[@lyapereira3486]

@@torrezno1990 They are not black lol

[@kikebautista2110]

For god sake, stop the none sense of 800 years of muslim ruling in Spain. In three centuries more than half of the peninsula was already reconquest. Only the tiny kingdom of Granada last 800 years. There was no inmigration, armies mostly came, not people. 95 % of the people that lived in the peninsula before the invasion was the same after the invasion. That why the african genotype or moore in Spain is roughly 4% and mainly in the south.

[@kikebautista2110]

@@Cobalt1520 Indeed. Its fustrating. But the truth must be told no matter what. ;)

[@dannymalbronx]

Funny they have a Bi-racial lady doing this video. Now this is taken from the book James Mitchner book Iberia the Moors were White Berbers. The Moors crossed over from Africa on April 27, 711, and before the end of that year had captured Córdoba, where they remained till June 29, 1236. They thus occupied the city for half a millennium, making it their resplendent capital, but except for the Great Mosque and a fortress called the Alcázar, it is easier to find Roman ruins than Islamic, and this is true throughout Spain; Moors were in the peninsula from 711 to 1492, but in city after city, like Toledo and Salamanca, one finds little to remind him that these centers were once Islamic; and when a building has been preserved, it has usually been so well masked by later architects that it goes undetected. A word as to nomenclature. The warrior tribes that invaded Spain from North Africa were united in only one thing: they were followers of Muhammad and his religion Islam. Insofar as their beliefs were concerned, it is proper to describe these men as Islamic. Unfortunately, the adjective derived from Islam has never come into popular use for identifying an individual follower; we rarely say, ‘He is an Islamite.’ Instead, we use the word Muslim, philologically derived from the same root as Islam (one who submits), so that the adjective Muslim is identical with Islamic. The noun Muslim identifies a follower of Islam, and it is proper to describe the invaders as Muslims. Tribally, they were composed of such varied sources as Berbers of the Atlas Mountains, who comprised the vast majority of the early invaders, and men from former Roman colonies reaching from Morocco to Egypt. They were a mixed lot. The designation Moor is an imprecise word of no scientific meaning; its derivation is not religious, nor geographic, nor ethnic. Some experts claim that it comes from the Greek word for black or dark; others say it is derived from some African word meaning black, but few of the original Moors were Negroes. Historically it has come to mean ‘any member of the North African groups who invaded Spain, including the Arabs.’ I shall be using the word in that sense. Who were the Arabs? Technically they were members of that incandescent and superior group which spread out from the Arabian desert and with matchless speed overran surrounding cultures. Muhammad’s Hegira took place in 622; he died in 632; the flood tide of the faithful did not reach Spain till 711, a delay of nearly eighty years. In that time the Arab leadership had been thinly dispersed, and it is unlikely that many pure Arabs crossed over into Spain, although it has always been popular to assume that they did. Spaniards prefer to speak of this experience as ‘the Arab occupation,’ as if the Muslims who surged across the Straits of Gibraltar had been mainly Arabs, but we know that in the first foraging party, which captured most of southern Spain within a few weeks and got all the way to Toledo, there were no Arabs at all. There were, however, small Arab cadres in most of the succeeding armies and Arab leadership in the government, but to extend this to ‘the triumph of Arab culture’ is meaningless, for there were few Arabs and less culture; the salient innovations in architecture, art, literature, and philosophy were imported mainly from long-established cultural centers to the north of Arabia. It is, however, accurate to speak of an Islamic culture and to speak of it with a certain amount of awe, for at its heyday in Spain it must have been impressive. It reached Spain in later waves after the Berbers and the other mountain folk had conquered the peninsula. Finally, we know that when the fanatical fundamentalists of Islam, the Almoravids, conquered southern Spain in 1086, only to be supplanted in 1146 by the even more fanatical Almohads, there were no Arabs whatever in their ranks. Both groups were composed principally of mountain wild men recently converted to Islam and of the opinion that Arab leadership, what there was of it, had gone soft and was ignoring the true teaching of Muhammad. Of any thousand Islamic invaders chosen at random through the centuries, I suppose not more than three or four could have been Arabs, but Spanish writers have felt that in surrendering to Arab superiority there was an honor, but in losing to Berber inferiority there was ignominy. To be accurate we should content ourselves with saying, ‘The Muslims brought Islam to Spain,’ but that begs the question of who the Muslims were and where they came from. It has, therefore, become the custom to say, ‘The Moors occupied Spain,’ and this locution applies to everyone, whether from Morocco on the west or the Balkans on the east, and includes people from three continents, Africa, Asia, Europe, and all complexions of skin. The word blackamoor was invented to describe Negroes; the great bulk of the Moors must have been white men tanned by the sun, like Arabs.

[@FreedomIsMineOfficial]

Wow that's a lot of information, thank you for sharing! And yes, as a bi-racial women I am very proud of my African heritage and it was a joy to make this video.

[@dannymalbronx]

@@FreedomIsMineOfficial YOU HAVE FLAWLESS SKIN NO SCARS, NO POCKMARKS, NO PITTED OUT MARKS, I'M JEALOUS !!!! YOU NEVER HAD ACNE IN YOUR LIFE

[@latribedejudah777]

The moors are black Do not confuse their mix descendants With the moors of antiquity Every one in Europe knows this Ps.. Arabs are not white The ydna of the berbers are a black And they are related to the Habersham And somalians... All black Sub Saharan blacks E1b1b1a- Somalians E1b1b1b- Berbers called Moors E1b1b1c- Habersha All black natives of Africa The berbers are a black ethnic group Remember the 1 drop rule

[@dannymalbronx]

​@@latribedejudah777 Keep dreaming the white berbers invaded Spain and their blood is in Spaniards DNA test. They have painting of Moors in Spain and it doesn't show them black. Some of the white berbers learn Arabic . Hence some of the Moorish building have Arabic writings on it. Notice none of the Moorish building have any African language attached to it.Like these African languages weren't decipher on Moorish buildings. Balanta Hassaniya Arabic Jola-Fonyi Mandinka Mandjak Mankanya Noon Pulaar Serer Soninke My people are from Canary Island sand the first people there were Guanches, and the Guanches, are related to the white berbers.I know my people's history. Stop your Afrocentric nonsense !!!! Get a life loser

[@johnp760]

I wouldnt say the Berbers were White. Caucasoid yes but darker then a European most Berbers are a brown color similar to Ancient Egyptians or Arabians. In the Sahara they can be quite dark. Berbers are quite diverse from indigineous brown Berber to more sub Saharan looking to more Mediterranean or even fair around coastal region. Black Moors were mainly from the African Almoravid and Almohad time periods thats why they were depicted as dark skinned or negroid during this time period.

[@kingdeculion8019]

Spain is black nations because we are originally Spaniard and spanish

[@FablestoLearn]

STFU, its a european nation.

[@agustindeiturbide8051]

You mean an Arab nation

[@agustindeiturbide8051]

@@FablestoLearn these people wanna claim everything but Africa

[@FablestoLearn]

@@agustindeiturbide8051 so true, they want others achievement but their own, cause nobody cares on them

[@agustindeiturbide8051]

@@FablestoLearn first they claim the Romans and Viking and Aztecs and the olmecs were black

[@torrezno1990]

España es católica. Si no eres católico no eres español.

[@bperez8656]

Quien dice eso?

[@TheRubenpucelano]

Ja, ja, ja. La de estupideces que hay que oir