# The Aztecs in Their Own Words

What did the Aztecs say about themselves when they were speaking their own language and writing for their own people? In such sources, the picture of them that emerges is profoundly different than Spanish colonial sources. Camilla Townsend, Jay I. Kislak Chair for the Study of the History and Cultures of the Early Americas, explores this topic in the annual Kislak Lecture at the Library of Congress. Townsend is Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University and the author of “Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs” and “Indigenous Life After the Conquest: The De la Cruz Family Papers of Colonial Mexico.”

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2025
- Runtime: 1 h 4 min
- By: Butterfield, Kevin
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/video-10724/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/video-10724?play=1)