Jonathan Schorsch

The Underground World of Secret Jews and Africans Jonathan Schorsch

Spanish colonial society was divided into a caste system based on race and religion. Slaves comprised the lowest caste, leading some to seek power through African magic. Meanwhile, children of Jewish fathers and African women tried to gain social status by embracing Judaism-but in the process they risked retribution from the Spanish Inquisition, whose tribunals zealously prosecuted the perceived threat to the colonies from multicultural witchcraft and from alleged secret Jews.

The Spanish authorities and the Inquisition were aware that the lower castes were in close social and sexual contact with one another, and that many of their subjects were of mixed race. This book explores the question of how free and enslaved Africans and secret Jews interacted in daily life. It focuses on two stories that exemplify the sexual, religious and commercial contacts between the castes; their worldwide underground networks from Europe to Africa, from South American to Asia; and the intertwined religious and magical practices of secret Jews, Africans and others. The Inquisition, with its reliance on denunciation and torture, had only limited control over the daily lives of different castes, from slaves to merchants and highest ranks of nobility.

The two tales also illustrate the perils tied to religious identity and practice in the colonies. One, set in 17th-century Cartagena de Indias, features a biracial surgeon famed for his magic powers. To bargain for his freedom, he denounced his wealthier colleague for secretly practicing Judaism. The colleague was arrested and confessed under torture.

The second story involves Esperanza Rodriguez, a biracial Mexican woman tried by the Inquisition in the 1640s for secretly practicing Judaism. In Seville, Rodriguez had been a slave of a New Christian (converted Jewish) woman, who was connected to the highest strata of Spanish aristocracy and who introduced Rodriguez to Judaism before freeing her. Rodriguez accepted Judaism in order to close the social gap that separated her from her former owner. She mixed with other African people who created their own circle of converted Africans, and she traveled with her family from Seville to Cuba, Mexico and Cartagena. But she was eventually caught by the Inquisition and tortured into confessing her religion.

Many of the New Christians and freed Africans lived adventurous lives, traveled between continents and were connected to worldwide underground circles, which had significant influence in the development of the colonial world. This book tells their story for the first time.