The Hidden History of Indigenous Slavery with Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez, founder and president/executive director of Native Bound Unbound: Archive of Indigenous Slavery, for a powerful conversation on the hidden history of Indigenous slavery in the Americas. We discuss the mission of Native Bound Unbound, the history of Indigenous captivity and enslavement, and why this history has been buried for so long. Dr. Rael-Gálvez helps explain how Indigenous slavery operated across the Americas, how it shaped New Mexico specifically, and why the history of Genízaros is central to understanding captivity, survival, identity, and colonial violence in the Southwest. This conversation also gets into the difficult questions: What happens when families discover they descend from enslaved Indigenous people? How do we talk about Indigenous ancestry without romanticizing it? And how do communities confront histories of both survival and complicity? This is a conversation about memory, history, identity, and truth. It is about recovering the stories of Indigenous people whose lives were recorded in archives but often erased from public memory. Guest: Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez Project: Native Bound Unbound: Archive of Indigenous Slavery https://nativeboundunbound.org/ Topics covered: Indigenous slavery in the Americas Native Bound Unbound Genízaro history New Mexico history Indigenous captivity Colonialism and slavery Family memory and identity Archival recovery Indigenous survival and resistance Support the work: Patreon:   / u40108333   Instagram: @7thgenpodcast TikTok: @mercilesssavagez YouTube: Dr. B Teaches Email: [email protected] Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear this history.