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Title
Woman and a man loading a mule with milk containers, 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 woman and a man are loading two milk metal containers onto a mule. The milking tasks was generally the work of men, who would finish work in the pastures generally at seven thirty in the morning. The milk was then put in pitchers and loaded on donkeys to be transported to the village where the women were in charge of selling it to the truck that picked it up for cheese factories and other products in Cartagena. 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: Inventory of male-female work roles.
Una mujer y un hombre están cargando dos recipientes de metal de leche en una mula. Las tareas de ordeño eran generalmente el trabajo de hombres, quienes terminarían el trabajo en los pastos generalmente a las siete y media de la mañana. Luego, la leche se puso en jarras y se cargó en burros para ser transportada a la aldea donde las mujeres se encargaban de venderla al camión que la recogía para las fábricas de queso y otros productos en Cartagena. San Basilio de Palenque, ubicada a 50 kilómetros de Cartagena, es considerada la primera comunidad en liberar oficialmente a las personas esclavizadas en las Américas pues el 23 de agosto de 1691, el rey español Carlos II firmó una cédula real que reconocó la libertad de las comunidades libres en las montañas de María. Las autoridades locales, sin embargo, no firmaron un tratado con las comunidades de personas esclavizadas sino hasta enero de 1714 reconociendo su libertad y ordenando el establecimiento de la ciudad de Palenque San Basilio Magno. La gente en San Basilio de Palenque habla un idioma criollo basado en el 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 de Palenque desde 1973 para el Instituto Colombiano de Antropología y Richard Cross se unió a su equipo para trabajar como antropólogo visual en junio de 1975. Esta imagen ilustra la categoría antropológica de Cross: Inventario de roles de trabajo entre hombres y mujeres.
Type
image
Format
Photographs
image/jpeg
Black-and-white negatives
Extent
35 mm
Identifier
99.01.RCr.N35.B6.120.21
http://digital-collections.csun.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p17169coll1/id/11932
Subject
Dairy workers
Milk trade
Milk containers
Delivery of goods
Mules--Transportation
Blacks--Colombia--San Basilio del Palenque
Place
San Basilio del Palenque (Colombia)
Relation
99.01.RCr.N35.B6.120.21.tif
Richard Cross Photographs
California State University Northridge. University Library. Special Collections & Archives. Tom & Ethel Bradley Center

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