Abstract

Many Hispanic families in Texas, Northern Mexico, and the U.S. Southwest are descendants of Sephardic crypto-Jews and Conversos. Their ancestors colonized the sixteenth century northern frontier kingdoms of the Vice Rregency of New Spain. Living in a hostile environment for five centuries, many families managed to preserve their Sephardic identity and culture through oral traditions and cultural manifestations without the benefit of a written record.

Silent Heritage is the introduction to a twenty-five-year research project outlining the historical trajectory and cultural contributions of the Sephardim who colonized the Spanish North American frontier. The completed manuscript (when released) will also shed light on the contemporary descendants of the Sephardic crypto-Jews and Conversos.

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