Transcript: The Pueblo Revolt

NARRATION: Searching the archives of New Mexico, we came upon marriage documents for Linda’s sixth great-grandmother-a woman named Maria de Apodaca.

Maria married a Spanish settler in 1703.

We assumed that she was of Spanish descent as well, but when we tried to find the names of her parents, we hit a wall…

HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.: And if you look at the marriage document, you’ll see something quite interesting. Maria’s mother is listed as Juana de Apodaca. Her name is highlighted right there.

LINDA CHAVEZ: Um-hum.

GATES: But there’s no father.

CHAVEZ: Ah.

GATES: And we couldn’t find any reference to him anywhere. Maria’s background was a total mystery.

CHAVEZ: Huh. Isn’t that interesting?

NARRATION: Could Maria’s father have been Native American? Was that why we couldn’t find his name on her marriage records?

We found a clue in the 300-year old journal of a Spaniard named Diego de Vargas.

Vargas was a key figure in what is known as the “Pueblo Revolt”-a bloody uprising in 1680 by Native Americans who were angered over Spanish efforts to suppress their religion.

RICK HENDRICKS: Basically, all over the North they rose up. They really were focusing on killing the priest, desecrating the churches. They were trying to get rid of most of the trappings of Spanish culture.

NARRATION: The revolt cost thousands of lives and left ruins like this all over the territory.

To the Pueblos, it was a tremendous victory. For twelve years, the Spanish were banished from New Mexico.

Then Diego de Vargas returned.

HENDRICKS: When Vargas came in 1692, he and a group of soldiers said, “Guess what, we’re back. We need you to swear allegiance to the king.”

NARRATION: Vargas and his soldiers were followed by a wave of colonists.

Soon, the territory was completely under Spanish control once again.

But to our surprise, Vargas’ journals contained quite a bit of information about some of Linda’s ancestors who were living in New Mexico before the Spanish returned.

GATES: You see, there were Spaniards who had stayed behind during the Pueblo Revolt either by choice or because they had been taken prisoner. And Vargas freed them. And if they had had children with the Indians he baptized them to purify them. And he was passionate about it. He himself served as Godfather for many of these saved…

CHAVEZ: Um-hum.

GATES: As it were, children.

GATES: And he kept meticulous records about the children he found. Among the many names in Vargas’ journals, one especially caught our eyes: “Juana de Apodaca.” She is Linda Chavez’s seventh great-grandmother!

Vargas listed Juana as a captive-meaning that she lived among the Pueblo people throughout their revolt. And during this time, gave birth to a daughter named Maria.

Which led to an inescapable conclusion.

GATES: Linda, this is a list of the captives that Vargas freed. Can you read the name there?

CHAVEZ: Juana. Okay. So it’s Juana.

GATES: That’s Juana. She’s…

CHAVEZ: Oh. So the father was an Indian.

GATES: That’s your great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather.

CHAVEZ: Wow. That is really cool. So all those Chavezes and Armijos trying to marry each other to keep out the Indian blood, they...the, uh, the train had already left the station.

GATES: That ship had sailed, baby.

CHAVEZ: That was really good.

NARRATION: Looking over Vargas’ journals, I was reminded again of how much these colonial societies--even from the earliest times--were determined to police the boundaries of race.