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Axios Latino is the newsletter that summarizes the key news for Latino communities throughout the hemisphere every Tuesday and Thursday.
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1. The topic to highlight: A heroine no longer so unknown
Silvia Hector Webber had an important role in the system called Underground Railroad, networks with which enslaved people in the United States managed to escape from their chains to other parts of that country and also fleeing to Mexico.
Now the woman's descendants are working to make her story more widely known, like that of Harriet Tubman and other "railroad" activists.
Why it matters:
Webber operated in Texas, one of the states that sparked the US Civil War with its attempts to secede so it could remain a slaveholder.
Today, that state is one of many that have passed laws limiting discussions of slavery and teaching about it in schools.
Webber's descendants say sharing more information about her is a way to fight attempts to cover up that history of the slave system.
This information also contributes to knowing more about the underground railroad to Mexico, since there is usually more talk about those who escaped slavery by going to the north of the United States and not so much about the people who, being in places like Texas or Louisiana, had greater chance of being free by crossing instead to the south.
Mexico abolished slavery in 1813, during its struggle for independence;
The US abolished it in 1865.
News Boost:
Last weekend, descendant relatives of Webber announced the discovery of unpublished papers showing that Silvia Webber and her mother, Sarah, were subjected to slavery when they lived in the Spanish colony province of West Florida (which shortly later became Baton Rouge, Louisiana).
Silvia was 8 years old at that time.
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios, based on photos from the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley Digital Library
Among the papers are also the so-called
freedom papers
, or emancipation documents, with which Webber later obtained his freedom.
That document indicates that about 800 acres (300 hectares) of land had to be given in exchange for her and three of her children no longer being enslaved.
The documents help form the biography of Webber, who was the first free black woman in what is now Austin, Texas.
Until now it was only known in general terms that she was part of the Underground Railroad.
The papers are on display at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, part of the University of Texas at Austin, in an exhibition about what was required of enslaved people in order to regain their freedom.
The exhibition will be open until June.
Details:
Webber's descendants recently created a nonprofit organization to preserve the story of the woman, who was known in the region as Aunt Puss, or Aunt
Cat
.
The group is raising money to learn more about this woman who risked her life to help others seek freedom, and to maintain a cemetery in South Texas that includes the remains of Webber and her relatives.
"We are not going to stay silent: we are going to make sure that this story and others like it come to light," Omar
OJ
Treviño, a descendant of Webber, told Axios Latino.
Up close:
Silvia Hector Webber was married to John Webber, a white man.
He paid for emancipation papers for the wife and the couple's first three children using land in Webberville, Texas, which is now part of Austin.
The couple operated a ranch and built a ferry landing on their property, with which they helped those escaping slavery situations move along the Colorado River toward Mexico, according to historian Maria Esther Hammack.
They then moved further south from Texas, to what is now the Rio Grande Valley, where they again helped people cross the Rio Grande into Mexican territory.
The historian has also found that the Webbers ultimately had 11 children and persevered with their ranch and doing business in Texas, even though that state had cohabitation restrictions that isolated interracial couples, as well as local "Jim Crow" for use in public spaces.
Beyond:
Much of Webber's accomplishments would have remained unknown had it not been for Hammack, who found Webber's emancipation papers and has been researching the topic for years.
Hammack said he came across Webber's story when looking for people who were part of the Underground Railroad to Mexico in a role similar to that of Harriet Tubman.
"If we had not already seen the importance of people like Harriet Tubman, the importance they had in more people being free, perhaps I would never have discovered how important Silvia was also," Hammack told Axios Latino.
2. More Latino homeowners
The proportion of Hispanic, black and Asian Americans who own a home has increased in the last decade, despite problems such as rising interest rates, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). by its acronym in English, or the American Association of Realtors).
Why it matters:
Homeownership is "Americans' greatest financial asset," says Jessica Lautz, the association's deputy chief economist and vice president for research.
"We know that the typical homeowner has an average wealth of almost $400,000, compared to the typical renter who has just over $10,000," Lautz adds.
Details:
The real estate association's report, released Tuesday, shows that people of Asian descent and Latino families had the largest increases in homeownership rates from 2012 to 2022. In contrast, Black people in the U.S. The US had an increase but very minimal.
63% of Asian Americans owned a home in 2022, up from 57% in 2012.
Among US Hispanics, a record 51% owned their own home in 2022, up from just over 45% in 2012.
Among black people, the rate went from 42.5% in 2012 to 44% in 2022.
Non-Hispanic white Americans continue to have the highest homeownership rates.
These increased from 69% to 72% by 2022.
Between the lines:
Although interest rates began to rise in 2022, peaking at nearly 8% last year, property rates have continued to rise, according to the NAR.
"It's really important to note that although we see a lower homeownership rate for Latinos and Asian Americans compared to white households, they are gaining ground," Lautz says.
Yes, but:
Black and Latino households continue to experience higher home loan denial rates, Lautz adds.
Current Status:
Geography plays an important role in homeownership for people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Latinos (71%) and black residents (57%) had the highest homeownership rates in two of the poorest states: New Mexico and Mississippi, respectively.
That's because housing there is more affordable and there are programs that help first-time homebuyers, Lautz says.
Asian Americans had the highest rates in Hawaii, Maryland and South Carolina.
3. A health discrimination crisis
A majority of health care workers in the United States say there is racism and discrimination against diverse patients, and many say they have witnessed it firsthand, according to a recent comprehensive survey.
[More than half of health professionals report racism in hospitals and clinics]
Why it matters:
Displays of racism in healthcare settings can harm patients' health.
Witnessing this can also harm the well-being of health workers, which could make it more difficult to recruit and retain staff despite warnings that there would soon be a serious shortage of providers, according to the Commonwealth Fund and the African American Research Collaborative. , the organizations that conducted the survey.
By the numbers:
Survey data show that U.S. healthcare workers who are Latino and Black are more likely to report seeing racial or ethnic discrimination against patients than healthcare workers of Asian descent. Pacific Islanders and non-Hispanic whites.
There is also a generational divide, with 64% of healthcare workers ages 18 to 29 saying they have seen patients suffer discrimination, compared to 25% of workers ages 60 and older.
Nearly half of health care workers (48%) said that medical professionals tend to take it better when white patients advocate for themselves and defend their rights than when black patients do the same.
57% said non-English speaking patients do not always receive the same level of care as English-speaking patients.
Close up:
Commonwealth and the African American Research Collaborative suggest in their report on the survey that health care systems can combat such racism by making it easier for workers and patients to submit anonymous reports;
if they train staff to recognize unfair treatment and introduce more opportunities for patients and workers of diverse demographics to be heard.
In his own words:
"Racism is more serious here because it can be lethal," Henry Fernández, lead author of the report, told Noticias Telemundo.
She added that younger generations are more aware of the issue due to anti-racist movements like Black Lives Matter and therefore may be better prepared to advocate for themselves in these types of medical situations.
4. Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean
1.
The trial against Honduran
Juan Orlando Hernández, who was president from 2014 to 2022, began this Tuesday in a US federal court in New York.
Hernández faces charges of drug trafficking, arms trafficking and accepting bribes while he was in power.
Hernández, who was once treated by US authorities as an ally in dealing with migration flows, faces a possible sentence of life in prison.
He denies the accusations and claims that the witnesses against him are drug dealers trying to frame him.
2.
Cuba had a new round of massive blackouts
on Monday night, extending a problem that has left between 20% and 45% of the island without power for several weeks.
The state electricity company and the country's electrical grid have been unable to cope for a long time due to a lack of maintenance and obsolete infrastructure, in addition to the island's dependence on fuel partially imported due to the embargo.
Similar massive blackouts in 2021 were one of the triggers for major protests that summer.
5. Dog-love, with a wedding
The Peruvian park service opened spaces last week for very doggy and feline couples to say a symbolic "yes."
Details:
The "Michi wedding" and "Matri-Can" event was organized in Lima as part of a vaccination campaign that also included adoption campaigns and workshops on how to responsibly care for various animals.
Thanks for reading us!
We return on Thursday.
And thanks to Carlos Cunha, Eulimar Núñez and Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath for helping review and edit.
If you want to share your experiences with us or send us suggestions and comments, send an email to
axioslatino@axios.com
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What past mass deportation policies show about Trump's immigration plans
Record number of Latinos eligible to vote: “Their power to influence the results is real”