Examines the history of 17^th-century Black colonial Mexico through the experiences of Africans and their descendants. Bennett uses ecclesiastical and inquisitorial records to argue that Catholicism created a certain type of private life for enslaved Africans and free Black people. The work argues that Afro-Mexicans formed community and kinship structures through marriage and interracial relationships. This book engages in the studies of African diaspora and Latin American history.