Earlier in the primary season a Hillary Clinton advisor on minority politics conducted a poll that allegedly supported the notion that Latinos would never vote for a black man, ie. Barack Obama. That meme was knocked out by some of the louder voices of the Latino blogosphere, including Alisa Valdes Rodrigues, Nezua over at The Unapologetic Mexican, and yours truly.

Yet, as you can see by my post, one of the things I got out of the whole conversation about blacks vs. latinos is how little US Americans know about their own history. Not as in the text book history, the official stories about presidents cutting down cherry trees and things like that. I am talking about the more personal, more human aspect of the stories, epics, tragedies and comedies that have shaped the social character of this country.

Enter the most AMAZING online resource that deals exactly with the history (and stories) of black migration to and from the United States, In Motion, The African American Experience Migration Experience. This from their mission:

Most societies in human history have a migration narrative in their stories of origin. All communities in American society trace their origins in the United States to one or more migration experiences. America, after all, is "a nation of immigrants."

But until recently, people of African descent have not been counted as part of America's migratory tradition. The transatlantic slave trade has created an enduring image of black men and women as transported commodities, and is usually considered the most defining element in the construction of the African Diaspora, but it is centuries of additional movements that have given shape to the nation we know today. This is the story that has not been told.

The New York Public Library, thanks to the Schomburg Library and Museum is one of the most important repositories of Africana in the United States if not the world. Arthur Schomburg, the man who bequeathed his collection, by the way, happened to be an Afro-Puerto Rican man. Just as the man that is in the photo gracing this post --and the reason for its title.

You see, that is my great uncle, Vicente Prats Sabater. You can find part of his story at Divide and Conquer, Obama and the Latino Vote. As I say in that post, I stumbled upon this picture by pure chance. I have no photos of my elders and yet while doing research for that post, Vicente appeared to me through the New York Public Library's database.

And, so, there you have it. My great uncle's picture is not just a testimony and celebration of my blackness. He is now part of your American history.

Ahem ... You're welcome.

[Image Credit : Passport photo of Vicente Prats Sabater found at New York Public Library's In Motion digital collection for Caribbean Immigration : the New Wave gallery.