Cuba's Black Female Slave Rebel

 Carlota Lucumí

Thank you AfroLatinidad for sharing ...

We African-Americans know about Nat Turner and Denmark Vessey, but their spirit was alive throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, such as Gaspar Yanga of Mexico, Benko Biohó of Colombia, and Alonso de Illescas of Ecuador, just to name a few.

Carlota Lucumí was also known as La Negra Carlota (Black Carlota). Carlota was born in the Yoruba tribe of West Africa before being captured by slave traders and sent to the island of Cuba. 

On Cuba's sugar mill plantation of Triumvirato in the City of Matanzas, now known as the hub of Afro-Peruvian culture, Carlota was known as one of the leaders of a slave rebellion on November 5, 1843.  

According to scholars, Carlota played a role in the rebellion by spreading it from the plantation where she worked to a neighboring plantation (Acaná) by garnering the support of masses of slaves and reached a total of five plantations by the end of the revolt. 

Other slaves knew her at the time for her violent attack on the overseer's daughter, which was brought up throughout many of the slave testimonies collected after the rebellion. 

Several Cuban scholars have categorized her as a martyr. Carlota's memory has also been utilized throughout history by the Cuban government as Carlota and the uprising at Triunvirato plantation are honored as part of the UNESCO Slave Route Project through a sculpture at the Triunvirato plantation, which has since been turned into a memorial and museum. 

As much as the Boers or the Americans hate to admit it. Carlota's name was later given to Cuba's 1980's operation "Black Carlota" in Southern Africa, which culminated in the defeat of the South African army in pitch battle. This lead to the negotiations that removed Apartheid