Should Black Americans Celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

As Cinco de Mayo rolls around each year, many Black Americans find themselves asking: Is this our holiday, too? Should we celebrate? Or is it just another commodified tradition that doesn’t reflect us?

While the day commemorates a specific Mexican victory — the Battle of Puebla in 1862 — the deeper history reveals unexpected ties between Black Americans and Mexico, including military alliances, cultural bonds, and shared resistance to white supremacy and colonial rule.

The Real Story of Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo honors Mexico’s unlikely victory against the French Empire in the Battle of Puebla. Led by General Ignacio Zaragoza, Mexican forces — including Indigenous fighters and local militias — pushed back against a better-armed French military.

Though not a major holiday in Mexico outside of Puebla, the battle represented a broader fight against foreign control — and that made it symbolically powerful, especially in the Americas, where colonial domination was still widespread.

Enter Juan Caballo — The Black Freedom Fighter

One lesser-known figure tied to the legacy of Black resistance in Mexico is Juan Caballo, also known as John Horse — a Black Seminole who fought for freedom on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border.

Born into slavery in Florida, John Horse (Juan Caballo in Spanish) escaped bondage and became a military leader and negotiator. He led Black Seminoles to Mexico in the 1850s after U.S. forces broke promises of land and freedom. In Mexico, he and his people settled in Coahuila, where they were welcomed and given land in exchange for defending the border.

Juan Caballo and his followers established Black towns in northern Mexico, including El Nacimiento, which still exists today. These Afro-Mexican communities are direct kin to Black Americans — the descendants of those who fled slavery and chose freedom south of the border.

These towns weren’t just survival communities — they were cultural hubs. They carried Black American customs, language, and military training into Mexico, blending with local traditions while retaining their distinct identity.

Black Americans Fighting with Mexico

Black Americans have a long history of collaboration with Mexico in moments of resistance:

During the U.S.–Mexico War (1846–1848), some Black soldiers deserted the U.S. Army to fight for Mexico, recognizing that American expansion meant more slavery. Mexico abolished slavery in 1829, long before the U.S. — making it a beacon for Black fugitives from the South. During the French Intervention in the 1860s, Mexico’s refusal to be colonized resonated deeply with Black Americans watching from a country that had just ended its own Civil War.

Cultural Kinship Across Borders

From food and music to spiritual traditions and shared revolutionary ideals, Black Americans and Mexicans have long found cultural common ground. We are distinct — and that distinction should always be respected — but that doesn’t mean our histories haven’t overlapped in ways that matter.

Black Americans have fought alongside Haitian revolutionaries, resisted with Maroons in Jamaica, and, yes, settled, thrived, and bled in Mexico. We have collaborated across the diaspora — sometimes to our benefit, sometimes to our detriment — but always with a desire for survival and liberation.

So, Should We Celebrate?

Cinco de Mayo doesn’t have to be our holiday — but we can honor it with clarity, dignity, and historical context. Not with sombreros and tequila shots, but with remembrance and respect.

If you choose to celebrate, do so with an understanding of what the battle meant, who stood on the front lines, and the ancestors — like Juan Caballo — who connected our communities in meaningful ways.

Our people have always shown up in global movements for freedom. Mexico is no exception. And while we remain a distinct people with our own legacy, we’ve earned the right to acknowledge — and even celebrate — our role in stories that transcend borders.