Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811). He was a middle-class criollo (a Spaniard born in the New World). In 1803 he became head of the parish of Dolores in the present central state of Guanajuato. His intellectual and political curiosity led him to become involved in the tertulias, or literary societies familiar with Enlightenment ideas in early 19th century Mexico, which were to become precursors to the fight for independence. At one of those gatherings a conspiracy to rebel in December of 1810 was planned, but it had to be carried out on September 16, 1810 after the plot was uncovered. Hidalgo’s fight for independence was short-lived. He fell in a royalist ambush and was defrocked, tried, and executed in the Northern city of Chihuahua in July of 1811. As an early martyr of Mexico’s fight for independence he is considered Padre de la Patria or Father of the Nation and is depicted as a heroic figure in this 1910 Independence Centennial music score.
![José María Morelos y Pavón (1765-1815). He was born into a poor family and most likely had Indian and African blood on his mother's side. He was a student of Hidalgo and joined rebel forces shortly after the Grito de Dolores and assumed the insurgent leadership after the execution of Hidalgo.
In 1813 Morelos convened the Chilpancingo National Assembly where he proclaimed Mexico’s independent from Spain. He was captured in November of 1815 and executed a month later after facing a military court and an Inquisition trial.
He is depicted here in the 1943 movie poster as the heroic Rayo del sur or Southern Thunderbolt.
Photo: El Rayo del Sur. [Movie poster, 1943].
Stanford Manuscript Collection: M0945, Box 6](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gby57qzaubodqvrtr6eb67wf/bafkreidolp5patyohg4aco3x3ztbk4kijjw3tnbnzwj57tjc6wqm2tz3be)
José María Morelos y Pavón (1765-1815). He was born into a poor family and most likely had Indian and African blood on his mother's side. He was a student of Hidalgo and joined rebel forces shortly after the Grito de Dolores and assumed the insurgent leadership after the execution of Hidalgo. In 1813 Morelos convened the Chilpancingo National Assembly where he proclaimed Mexico’s independent from Spain. He was captured in November of 1815 and executed a month later after facing a military court and an Inquisition trial. He is depicted here in the 1943 movie poster as the heroic Rayo del sur or Southern Thunderbolt. Photo: El Rayo del Sur. [Movie poster, 1943]. Stanford Manuscript Collection: M0945, Box 6
#MiguelHidalgo & #JoseMariaMorelos, the 2 rebel clerics who led the fight for #MexicanIndependence from Spain. Images from 2010 @stanfordulibraries.bsky.social exhibit. More here tinyurl.com/2kt4mxmu & here tinyurl.com/4jypvut5. @adiazcayeros.bsky.social @spantoja.bsky.social
