Indian Slavery, Colonial Violence, and the Southwest

This episode is a personal and historical reflection on Indian slavery in the Southwest, especially in New Mexico and Colorado, where many of my ancestors are from.

While recovering from back surgery, I began digging deeper into my genealogy and uncovered something deeply painful: one of my ancestors was kidnapped and sold. That discovery led me further into the hidden history of Indigenous captivity, forced labor, colonial violence, and the systems that reshaped Native life in the Southwest.

In this podcast, I discuss the history of Indian slavery in New Mexico, the meaning and limits of the colonial label genízaro, the Spanish caste system, the kidnapping of Indigenous people, and the brutal treatment of Indigenous women under colonial rule. I also reflect on my own shock at how much I still did not know, and why I feel called to keep learning, keep digging, and keep sharing this history.

This is not the final word on the subject. It is the beginning of a deeper conversation.

Too many people were never taught that Indigenous people in the Southwest were captured, sold, baptized, renamed, forced into labor, and folded into colonial society through violence. Too many families are still carrying the afterlife of that trauma without fully knowing the story behind it.

I believe learning this history helps us better understand Indigenous pain, survival, resistance, and the long shadow of colonialism across generations.

I’ll be returning to this topic in future episodes.

If this conversation resonates with you, leave a comment and share your thoughts.

#IndianSlavery #IndigenousHistory #NewMexico #NativeAmericanHistory #Southwest #Genizaro #ColonialViolence #Decolonization #DrBTeaches