Trisend 10 yield. That is one reason why carl jacobys exciting new book, the strange career of William Ellis, the texas slave who became a mexican millionaire he. He is a professor at Columbia University in new york where he lives with his wife and son. His books from the role of the environment in shaping human power relations to the challenges he representing the profound violence experience by north americas indigenous peoples. In the strange career of William Ellis, jacoby brings to life the story of an elusive figure known variously as w. H. Ellis and guillermo ellis. The book strips away layers of mystery surrounding, ellis, revealing a long ignored history of slavery, emancipation, racial mixing and segregation in the u. S. Mexico border lands. The study casts. Sharp relief intimate entertaining link acrossnational boundaries that mexico and United States inseparable elements of a shared north American History. Please join me in welcoming karl jacoby. [applause] good morning, everyone. What michael and i thought we with do, i would give a very brief overview about the book. I wanted to read a short excerpt for you. Well have very short conversation up here. Then we wanted to get some questions from the audience. I hope that sounds okay with everyone . Good. For me, im a historian. As michael mentioned i teach at Columbia University. It is pleasure to get outside of the classroom and be at a book festival like this one because i think about history as literature. I think it really can be told in a very creative sort of way and i think about the book that i wrote here. Although it is technically is a history, i like to think about it as a nonfiction novel. I think what historians were forced to tell a true story. We need to think about both those terms. We need to think about what makes it true. We think about the story aspects of history, narrative aspects that have appeal and draw history in to the lessons were trying to impart from the past. In terms of my book, the subtitle gives away the plot to the book, it is called the texas slave who became a mexican millionaire. It is about William Henry ellis born in a small town not too far from here, victoria, texas, some of you may know. He eventually moved to san antonio. He has an office here on military plaza in san antonio. Along the way, then he moves to new york city. Along the way he endsp changing himself from William Henry ellis to this character known as guillermo enrique, who everyone thinks as incredibly wealthy mexican from mexico city in new york city he lives on central park west, which if you know new york city is one of the main prestigious avenues overlooking central park as the name would imply. He has an office on wall street next to jpmorgan, the preeminent investment banker from the particular time period. He is really in the seat of power during that time period. I like to think about him as real life great gatsby. He is from small town anywhere usa and comes to new york and reinvents himself. He is a selfmade man in two senses. He is selfmade man, went from rags, born into slavery and able to become quite wealthy and live in most prestigious addresses in new york city. He is also selfmade he recreates the image of himself during this time from someone seen as africanamerican but to most as a mexican. This is this in many respect as story about passing, racial masquerade. This was a Standard Development of most novels on the harvard renaissance. Michael who is a expert on the harlem renaissance, from the larson about the issue of passing or James Weldon Johnsons novel, autobiography of an excolored man. This is a common theme in a lost fix from the early 20th century fiction. It was curious to me, why do historians there, are is almost no histories about racial passing. I thought why is there no history about this when fiction writers talk about it so much. I tried to research it, now i know why. The paradox about doing a history like this is that youre trying to write the life story of someone who is trying to hide his life story. So it is not like george washington, you collect all the papers, there is a big library and you can find everything. This was a Treasure Hunt or detective story in terms of finding out all of the background about him. And this is why i think that its much more common that people have dealt with the issue of passing in novels because as a novelist you can invent all the details and fill all the missing pieces using your imagination. Of course as an historian im not allowed to do that and it took me as a result 10 years to write this book because i had to do so much searching around to find tiny scraps of evidence to put them into the story im sharing with you. One of the key parts in terms of making the book reality for me was tracking down some of William Ellis family members. I was able to do this, both family members who were from victoria and moved to san antonio, as part of the great migration who moved west to los angeles. Other parts of his family which had gone down and moved to mexico. One of the ending part of the book. The final coda of the book these two branches of the family lost in touch with one another. Very common story that the border ends up dividing families and families can get out of touch. When i finally contacted them i was able to put the two halves of the family back together. The coda of the book, transborder, transnational where two parts of the family been out of touch for 75 years come back and get reacquainted with one another. What i wanted to do just to read you an excerpt from the opening of the book and just sate the scene for you a little bit. This scene would take place in 1909 and it takes place on a luxury train a luxury pullman train that is going from mexico city to new york city. These two great met metropolisef north america. The opening it talks about what happens when you cross the border from mexico into texas. This was a very key moment on the train because because in the whole question emerged what race are the passengers . Because mexico had no jim crow, it had no segregation. Texas of course in 1909 had segregation virtually all aspects of life to keep the so call races separate from one another. So one of questions come up they would have to reshuffle the passengers when they crossed the border. So the, it means that the border then as now has this he question where issues about identity are really becoming salient in everyday life because you have to figure out who is this person and where am i going to categorize them because of this process traveling a few feet from one side of the border to the other. A few other details to make the excerpt make sense, the train duty through the border at negras, on the other side would be the town of eagle pass, texas. The train itself is called aztec limited this is deluxe train that came from mexico city. With that should be enough to get you through this. Let me read a short excerpt for you. For the passengers aboard the aztec limited crossing the border was a once routine yet momentous. After the train journeyed athe bridge spanning the rio grande and pulled into the onestory depot on the eastern edge of eagle pass agents of the recentlycreated u. S. Department of commerce and labor, dressed in regulation dark blue uniforms with brass buttons climbed aboard to inspect the passengers and their luggage. Agents evinced no interest in narcotics like heroin or marijuana or cocaine, all legal in 1909, sought imported delicacies in era of high tariffs and no federal income tax, the federal government raised bulk of revenues on luxuries such as lace, jewels, watches and cigars. Next in a measure spoke volumes as the, sorry, next in a measure that spoke volumes as to the border as role in establishing personal identity as well as national territory, these aim agents compiled a report of inspection on all incoming passengers detailing each arrivals name, place of birth, occupation an final destination. The United States would not require passports until 1914. Rather than focusing on reading ones documents this procedure hinged on reading ones person. Determine the truth of an individuals stated identity, language, dress, physical traits and other clues. On ordinary passenger trains agents exercised vigilance against chinese or japanese laborers, who in an effort to evade United States restrictions on laborers, often disguised themselves as mexicans. As well as immigrants considered anarchists, poppers or possession of loathsome or dangerous diseases. On a luxury train like the aztec limited catering to well to do businessmen and upper class tourists agents more often than not took individuals declaration of identity at face value. On the morning of march 14th, 1909, a tall man with penetrating brown ice and carefully groomed moustache, attired in the latest fashion, top hat, tailored threepiece suit, gold watch chain, jeweled fob across a powerful barrel chest caught eye of authorities on the eagle pass. The passenger began his journey from mexico city in a firstclass pullman. Once he crossedded border of the United States a new question what arose what race was he . Despite his elegant appearance his skin had somewhat swatter think to in, unlike mexico the texas of 1909 had segregation laws everything from schools, restaurants, libraries, graveyards, hotels to railroad cards. When asked the newcomer insisted he was mexican entrepreneur on his way back to office on wall street after negotiating the purchase of several rubber plantations in his homeland. His name he offered was guillermo enrique. Which for those with foreign pronunciations, could be translated into english as William Henry ellis. As an ethnic mexican he was legally white and not subject to texass segregation statutes. A few of the train caught wind of vague halfwhispered rumors circulating along the border for all his obvious wealth and sophistication he might not be the well to do mexican he claimed to be. Could his complex be a product not of spanish background but covert africanamerican one . Dismissing assertions, he refused conductors attempt to locate him to the negro coach after the aztec limited to u. S. Soil. Only once the train crew summoned local sheriff charged with enforcing texass segregation statutes did he begrudgingly he would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars necessary to sue the railroad of humiliation to ride in the jim he crow car. Who was guilherme enrique . Many found themselves asking at turn of the century this dapper, an anything mat tick figure was in and out of the eras noteworthy events. Scandalous trials, unexpected disappearances, diplomatic controversies, most linked one way or another to latin america. It did confine himself to 1909 Border Crossing in the eagles pass. Commentators offered a kaleidoscope of the possibilities. New york world observed that he has a looks and dash of a spaniard and speaks several languages. Denver as evening post asserted that he was a wealthy mexican. In fact without a doubt the wealthiest resident of the city of mexico. Others said he was hawaiian blood or cuban gentleman of high degree. Editors of the Kansas City Star however cautioned that stories of hawaiian ancestry were not to be credited. One correspondent to the Baltimore Sun discounted rumors he was cuban, mexican, who knows what other latin american, traction. Concluded what the new york sun said, where he came from no one seems to know. [applause] thank you, karl. You mentioned a moment ago that youve been tracking down the story of William Ellis for the past 10 years or so. But i understand that he has been on your mind for much longer than that. Can you tell us how you first came across this figure . Sure. So i was, i dont even know, i dont even want to count the number of years now but way back when i was in graduate school i was looking at some records on, from u. S. Consuls in northern mexico. This is something one of you my professors advised me to do. All of a sudden i discovered this event that happened in 1895 which was hundreds of africanamerican sharecroppers from alabama and georgia were relocating to northern mexico along the border near durango. This is very interesting. Whenever we talk about immigration between the u. S. And mexico we talk about mexicans coming to the United States. We dont think why americans would go to mexico. If youre thinking about the 1890s, this is one year before plessy ferguson, separate but equal ruling before the supreme court, and presence of jim crow, there is lots of reasons why africanamericans would actually find mexico a potentially attractive place to be. So i got very interesting thinking about this hidden other migration we dont think this about. I got interested once looking through the records figuring out who was behind this. Who realized with the new train system between the u. S. And mexico that it didnt necessarily only need to go from north to south. It could actually go from south to north. It was a very mysterious figure that got me interested in trying to figure out who is this person who had a very interesting vision of the border and what the relationship between the u. S. And mexico could be. Today were located downtown at the main branch of the San Antonio Public Library not far from where ellis lived and worked. Since you spent so much time emersing yourself in 19th and early 20th century san antonio life as you researched the book, take us back there for a moment. What was this place like then . Thats a great question. Really, one thing that is really fascinating that san antonio was, is hub of trade across the border into mexico connected particularly to monterey. I dont think it is at all accidental that William Ellis ends up moving here. There are a couple things that are happening. So he gross up in victoria. You cant pass as it were in your hometown. Everyone knows you, know your family. So you need to go Someplace New where youre unknown and the closest big city to victoria is san antonio. There is a train built in the 1880s that allows you to relocate to san antonio. Once youre here, there is large, 1 3 mexicans at that time period. There is a Large Community he can blend into and no one knows who he is. But it is not accidental. Not only the closest big town, it is also the town most connected with mexico. So throughout his life William Ellis is always at places very much on the frontier between on relationships between the u. S. And mexico. He is born in victoria, where the southern plantation belt ends and the northern mexican sort of cattle ranching frontier begins. Those two places really overlap in very small portion of texas, the heart of it being victoria. Here in san antonio hes at the heart of where, there is transport earth trade. So he was in military plaza and all of those buildings around military plaza would have been traders who were involved in mexico and a lot of those buildings would have been their storehouses where theyre storing thing like cotton, cattle hides and Everything Else for trade back and forth mexico. People also know military plaza some ways where sort of seat of san antonios great food comes from because every evening they would actually come out and have mexican food and sell that there in military plaza. Later in his life when William Ellis moves to new york that seems like an odd thing to do but wall street is completely fascinated with mexico during this time period. That almost everything that is happening the United States economy is one way or another connected to mexico. This is the early 1900s is a period of electrification, so you need copper. Where does copper come from . Copper comes from mexico. Creation of automobile and where does oil for rubber come from . It comes from mexico. The rise of junk food as it were, chocolate and chikle, it comes from mexico. By being in new york city he is once again at the relationship between mexico and the United States is at its most articulated format. Slave narratives are quite obviously foundational to the africanamerican literary tradition and the theme of racial passing as you mentioned a moment ago plays a central role in the emergence what we call africanamerican literature. Including fiction and nonfiction about characters who pass not as white but as latino you mentioned in the book Langston Hughes and you mentioned James Weldon Johnson and, you also mentioned noah larson. We might think of the work as jesse redman faw set to tried to present as latino in fiction. Is there any information that ellis was familiar with tales of literature or tales of passing . Thats a great question. That is a fascinating question. I have to believe he was although at the same time the tricky evident part of the book he is living in new york city during the harlem renaissance, right . I feel that on some level hes participating in that though he has to be very careful how much he gets involved in it because he is trying to hide certain aspects of his background. But it is, that is one of those sort of fascinating unprovable things. One of the themes i talk about in the book as a notion of him as a trickster which comes from africanamerican folklore. I have to believe these trickster stories which were really central to folklore from slavery and its aftermath in some ways i think informed his perspective on the world. That is sort of a leap of faith im making trying to contextualize his cultural background. As i read your book, he struck me as character that could be easily in the work of James Weldon Johnson because he deploys some of the strategies johnson himself in his autobiography confesses to deploying when he would occasionally pass as cuban. What were ellis strategies for passing . You touched on some of them but i wonder if you could spell this out a little bit more. That is fascinating. We talk about passing as seen know type. That he is relatively lightskinned that allows him to say he is mexican. If you look at the cover on the p