:Vocalo.org

Like most Mexicans the term "mestizo" adequately defines Sindy's family; a mixture of Spanish and Indigenous ancestry. But she starts to re-examine her roots, specially on her father's side of the family, upon visiting the exhibit "The African Presence in Mexico". Her father's reaction is uncomfortable, "I'm not, how would you say, flattered that I may have African ancestry, but I can't deny my race." His comment hits home on the unusual position of the forgotten "third-root" of the Mexican people. The suppression of an African identity might have at first been progressive but it also came at the cost of denying the contributions of African-descended people.

As a Washington Post article commented on one of the pictures exhibited, "would this young woman have defined herself as black? And if she didn't, who are we to "rediscover" it in her?"

Cesareo Moreno of the National Museum of Mexican Art talks about an exhibit that seeks to highlight the forgotten contribution and influence of Africans in Mexico. As co-curator of "The African Presence in Mexico", Moreno reflects on what the discovery of the so-called "third root" means for Mexican identity.

"The African Presence in Mexico" opened in 2006 and since then has traveled across the United States and Mexico. It will return to Chicago in August 2010 to the DuSable Museum of African American History.

Tell Me Your Story crew member Abdullah Noor recorded these interviews with participants at Interfaith Youth Core's 2009 Conference, Leadership for a Religiously Diverse World, as a part of his work with IFYC and Vocalo.org. Check it out!

Tell Me Your Story crew member Daniella Adler recorded this interview with a participant at Interfaith Youth Core's 2009 Conference, Leadership for a Religiously Diverse World, as a part of her work with IFYC and Vocalo.org. Check it out!