Women's History Month: BLACK LATIN AMERICA

Women's History Month is an annual declared month celebrated during March in the United States, corresponding with International Women's Day on March 8. However, on this blog, I will spend the month of March celebrating the black women I admire in Latin America. In March 2011, in my post Celebrating Latinas I celebrated the likes of the following:

Monica Carrillo of Perú, head of a black Peruvian civil rights organization Lundú.

Piedad Cordoba, Colombia's first black senator.

María Chinquiquirá, a slave women who won her freedom by outsmarting her slave master in an Ecuadorian courtroom.

Adelina Ballumbrosio, Perú, mother of the late great master of Afro-Peruvian music Amador Ballumbrosio.

Toña Negra, México, singer known for her interpretation of boleros, sones, and rumbas.

Victoria Santa Cruz, Perú, composer, choreographer and daughter of the greatest exponent of Afro-Peruvian culture Nicomedes Santa Cruz. 

Lucresia, Spain (by way of Cuba), singer who mixes of traditional Cuban music with, salsa, jazz, and boleros.

María Elena Moyano, Perú, community organizer and activist who courageously stood up in the face of death to protest violence and abuse against women.
 
 

Celebrating Latinas: Women's History Month

Monica Carrillo (Perú)
Multi-talented singer, educator, hip-hop artists, leader of the Peruvian civil rights organization, Lundú, serving as advocate for young Black youth.

 

Piedad Cordoba (Colombia)
Colombia's first Black senator has been a strong legislative advocate against discrimination based on race, gender, and sexual orientation. Córdoba evolved into one of the most notorious figures of the Latin American feminist movement in Colombia.

María Chinquiquirá (Ecuador) 

Enslaved in Guayaquil, Ecuador in the 1700’s and was the first slave in Ecuador to win her freedom. She was enslaved by Presbyter Afonso Cepeda de Arizcum Elizondo. Maria Chiquinquira “entered a legal battle” for her and her daughter’s freedom in May 1794 and changed the course of her history and for thousands of black women in Ecuador. 

Adelina Ballumbrosio (Perú)

This is the widow of the late, great godfather of Afro-Peruvian music and dance, Amador Ballumbrosio. It's with her family where I stay when I'm in Perú. She is like a mother to me and refers to me as hijo (son). My money is no good in her house as I also get two square meals per day.

 Dolores Huerta (California)

Co-founded the United Farm Workers Union with César Chávez. She (Mexican ancestry) worked to improve social and economic conditions for farm workers and to fight discrimination. To further her cause, she created the Agricultural Workers Association (AWA) in 1960.

 Sonia Sotomayor (New York)
The first Latina Supreme Court Justice (Puerto Rican ancestry) grew up in a South Bronx housing project, across the Harlem River from where I grew up.

Victoria Santa Cruz (Perú)

Composer, choreographer and daughter of the greatest exponent of Afro-Peruvian culture Nicomedes Santa Cruz.

Toña Negra (México)

Afro-Mexican singer known for her interpretation of boleros, sones, rumbas and songs. She also sang for the Sonora Matancera. The alley where she was born in the old barrio of "La Huaca" in the city of Veracruz, México, carries her name. After her death the municipality of Veracruz has erected a statue of Toña la Negra.

Lucila Campos (Perú)

One of the original members of the world's famous dance troupe, Perú Negro (Black Peru) also became a solo artist of Afro-Peruvian music. She is one of my favorite singers.

  

 

 

Lucresia (Spain)

 This Cuban born Jazz singer now living in Barcelona, Spain has included a mix of traditional Cuban music with, salsa, and boleros. She has recorded nine CDs and has had phenomenal success in Spain and throughout Europe,

 María Elena Moyano (Perú)

Community organizer and activist who was assassinated by the maoist Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) insurgent movement. She courageously stood up in the face of death to protest violence and abuse against women.

Strong, Gifted, Black Peruvian Woman

Mónica Carrillo Zegarra

With the month of March being Women's History Month, and with all of my trips  to Perú and explorations into Black Peruvian history and culture, I think of several women whom I admire and respect:

1. Adelina Ballumbrosio, wife of the late great Amador Ballumbrosio, the godfather of Afro-Peruvian music and dance who always gives me food and a place to stay every time I'm in Perú. 
2. Victoria Santa Cruz, composer, choreographer and daughter of the greatest exponent of Afro-Peruvian culture Nicomedes Santa Cruz.
3. Susana Baca, the internationally acclaimed singer of Afro-Peruvian music who is also Perú's Minister of Culture.

However, the woman I want to highlight will certainly go down in history as one of Perú's greatest civil rights leaders as her work, while still in her 30s, has given her international recognition. She is Monica “Oru” Carrillo, who has become a role model and an advocate working to empower Perú's Black community, particularly the young, and is striving for Perú's rich African heritage to be included as part of the Peruvian national identity. I first learned of Monica from watching the Documentary Series, Black in Latin America, which was aired on PBS. 

Oru, as she is also known, is the leader of Lundú. The name, Lundú, originates from a traditional African dance in the Kongo region of Western Africa, which means “successor.”  This organization helps young Afro-Peruvians overcome racism and sexism using the arts, advocacy, education, civic engagement, and economic and educational opportunities. It's outreach to black youth involves life skills, sexual education, black pride workshops, and empowerment against violence, abuse, forced sex, and unwanted pregnancies. I personally have a10-year-old goddaughter in Perú, and often try to  say and do things to contribute to her self esteem. I've been trying to get her involved in Lundú because the girls who are involved have developed a healthy dose of self esteem, which is one of the greatest gifts anyone can receive.
 
Monica's parents are from El Carmen in Chincha, Perú, which is the hub of Afro-Peruvian culture. She grew up living a hard life in Lima, the nation's capital, and being Afro-Peruvian of female persuasion, made life even harder. She was only 11 years old when her and her sister, age 12,  were riding a bus when someone spit on them shouting, Negras conchetumadre (f... you nig...). No one on the bus attempted to defend those children, and no offered to help them get cleaned up. As an adult she spoke of a day when she left her house and counted12 insults that she received in just 20 minutes. The people who make these insults, she says, don't run away because they feel that they are in the right. It's machísimo thing.

Instead of her breaking down and letting her self worth deteriorate, she grew into an activist, feminist, college graduate, having also studied at Oxford. She is a hip-hop artist, writer, poet, singer, musician, journalist, and educator. She mixes poetry, Afro-beat, soul, hip-hop, and Afro Peruvian music to highlight contributions made by black Peruvians to combat racism and sexism. Her music has been featured internationally, particularly on Europe's MTV.

I was so thrilled when Moncia, whom I've been in communication with on social media for two years, called me from 148th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem, NY, just three blocks from where I lived when I was in the second and third grades. She was visiting Harlem to do a presentation at the Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture, which is right across the street from where I went to elementary school. She and I plan to meet in person upon my return to Perú later this year. 

I won't say to you Happy Women's History Month, because in reality, Women's History Month is every month!

Afro-Latinas Underrepresented in Latino Film

Celebrating Afro-Latina Documentarians for Black History Month

Reposted from SydneysBuzz 

by Vanessa Erazo
February 20, 2013 1:00 PM

Actors of color contend with stereotypes and typecasting on a daily basis. In Hollywood, even in the ‘post-racial era’ an actor’s ethnicity can severely limit the types of roles they are considered for. A Latino actor often has no choice but to audition for roles as a gardener, maid, or janitor and be asked to fake an accent. It’s not much better for blacks.

Despite the success of black actors in mainstream blockbusters and African-Americans having won Oscars in all the major acting categories, it is still rare to have an all-black cast or to see a black actor in a leading role in Hollywood. Most of the roles offered in mainstream movies to a person of color are that of the token minority. Either that or you play a criminal, thug, gangbanger, or sometimes a reformed criminal trying to change your life around.

What if you happen to be Latino and black? Well, things get even more complicated. Early last year mun2, an English-language television network targeting U.S.-born Latinos, took on this very issue in a short web documentary called Black and Latino. Actors, musicians, and journalists like Christina Milian, Tatyana Ali, and Judy Reyes take on the question, “What does it mean to be black and Latino in the U.S.?”
Watch the full doc here.

Black and Latino features interviews with Latino actors Laz Alonso (Avatar, Jumping the Broom), Tatyana Ali (Fresh Prince of Bel Air), Gina Torres (Suits, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) and Judy Reyes (Scrubs), musicians Christina Milian ("Dip it Low") and Kat DeLuna ("Whine Up"), and journalist Soledad O'Brien (CNN), among many others.

Afro-Latino actors are a conundrum for casting directors who are looking for a more ‘typical’ Latino look (read as light-skinned and Mexican). They end up booking more African-American roles because they don’t fit the stereotype of what Latinos look like. In Black and Latino actress Gina Torres explains, “When I became an actress I quickly realized that the world liked their Latinas to look Italian, not like me. So I wasn't going up for Latina parts. I was going up for African-American parts.”

Beyond the acting world Afro-Latinos contend with a host of issues. They have to fight for acceptance within the Latino community and sometimes even within their own family (lighter skin is often considered more desirable amongst Latinos). And to further complicate things many Latinos are unaware of or even deny their African roots. But outside of the Hollywood system, in the indie film world, there are Latinos who have embraced their African heritage and focused their cameras on Afro-Latinos. LatinoBuzz talked to some Afro-Latina filmmakers who have decided to tell their own stories. Who needs Hollywood anyway? Here are three documentaries that are currently in production.