Vicente Guerrero: the Americas' first Black president

Vicente Guerrero: the Americas' first Black president

While the United States did not have a Black president until the 2008 election of Barack Obama (the nation's 44th chief executive), Mexico elected a Black hero of its independence struggle, Vincente Guerrero, as its second president. Born near Acapulco to an African father and an indigenous mother, Guerrero would play a key role in Mexico's war to expel the Spanish. In 1810, Guerrero joined the fight to oust Spanish forces from Mexico, first by rallying insurgents in the south-western highlands and eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel as he began making major territorial gains. In 1815, he became the commander-in-chief of the rebel army. Through a combination of military prowess and patriotic zeal, he was able to convince the commander of the Spanish forces to join his cause for an liberated Mexico, and by 1821 Mexico had its independence.

By 1829, Guerro's popularity catapulted him to the Mexican presidency. As president, Guerrero supported public schools, science and the arts, taxed the rich and ended the death penalty. Nearly 40 years before the Emancipation Proclamation, Guerrero ended slavery in Mexico (much to the chagrin of its increasingly separatist province, Texas). Sadly, these progressive reforms provoked a backlash among the Mexican conservative elite, and after less than a year in office, he was driven from the presidency and executed in 1831. Guerrero is still remembered as a national hero, and several towns and the state of Guerrero are named after him.