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Image / Mule at construction site, San Basilio de Palenque, ca. 1978

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Title
Mule at construction site, San Basilio de Palenque, ca. 1978
Creator
Cross, Richard, 1950-1983
Date Created and/or Issued
1978
Publication Information
California State University, Northridge
Contributing Institution
California State University, Northridge
Collection
Richard Cross Photographs (Bradley Center)
Rights Information
Use of images from the collections of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center is strictly prohibited by law without prior written consent from the copyright holders. The responsibility for the use of these materials rests exclusively with the user.
The Bradley Center may assist in obtaining copyright/licensing permission to use images from the Richard Cross collection. http://www.csun.edu/bradley-center/contact
Description
A mule with a saddle on stands at a construction where water pipes are being installed. Some people are working at the site and some are resting on the side of the street. The water in the aqueduct, whose work was started jointly in 1975 by the department of Bolívar and the community of Palenque, arrived in 1978. Until then the creek was the village's drinking supply and the place to do laundry and bathing. San Basilio de Palenque, located 31 miles from Cartagena, is considered the first community to officially free enslaved people of the Americas because, on August 23, 1691, the Spanish King Charles II signed a royal charter recognizing the freedom of the communities in the María Mountains. Local authorities, however, did not sign a treaty with the communities of free slaves until January of 1714 acknowledging their freedom and ordering the establishment of the town of Palenque San Basilio Magno. People in San Basilio de Palenque speak a Spanish-based creole language known as Palenquero. According to public records, in 1975 the village had 2,400 residents (mostly farmers or day laborers) and 388 houses. Colombian anthropologist Nina S. de Friedemann had been studying the Afro-Colombian community of San Basilio de Palenque for the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and Richard Cross joined her to do work as a visual anthropologist in June 1975. This image illustrates Cross's anthropological categories: Social Change.
Una mula con una silla de montar se encuentra en una construcción donde se están instalando tuberías de agua. Algunas personas trabajan en el sitio y otras descansan al costado de la calle. El agua en el acueducto, cuyo trabajo se inició conjuntamente en 1975 por el departamento de Bolívar y la comunidad de Palenque, llegó en 1978. Hasta entonces, el arroyo era el suministro de agua potable del pueblo y el lugar para lavar la ropa y bañarse. San Basilio del Palenque, ubicada a 31 millas de Cartagena, considera la primera comunidad en liberar oficialmente a personas esclavizadas de América porque, el 23 de agosto de 1691, el rey español Carlos II firmó una cédula real que reconoce la libertad de las comunidades de personas fugitivas en las montañas de María. Sin embargo, las autoridades locales no firmaron un tratado con estas communidades sino hasta enero de 1714, reconociendo su libertad y ordenando el establecimiento del poblado Palenque San Basilio Magno. La gente en San Basilio del Palenque habla una lengua criolla con base en español conocido como palenquero. Según los registros públicos locales, en 1975 el pueblo tenía 2,400 residentes (en su mayoría agricultores o jornaleros) y 388 casas. La antropóloga colombiana Nina S. de Friedemann había estado estudiando la comunidad afrocolombiana de San Basilio del Palenque desde 1973 para el Instituto Colombiano de Antropología y Richard Cross se unió a ella para trabajar como antropólogo visual en junio de 1975. Esta imagen ilustra la categoría antropológicas de Cross: Cambio Social.
Type
image
Format
Photographs
image/jpeg
Black-and-white negatives
Extent
35 mm
Identifier
99.01.RCr.N35.B6.130.8A
http://digital-collections.csun.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p17169coll1/id/11592
Subject
Construction workers
Water-supply
Water--Distribution
Place
San Basilio del Palenque (Colombia)
Relation
99.01.RCr.N35.B6.130.8A.tif
Richard Cross Photographs
California State University Northridge. University Library. Special Collections & Archives. Tom & Ethel Bradley Center

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