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
On her wedding day, a bride sits among a group of women, man and children in San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia. From a very early age, children of the same age group, both male and female, stay and play together in a group (or cuagro), and name female and male leaders. Later, it is traditional that people will marry a person of the same cuagro. After the wedding, each group headed by the newlyweds makes a pilgrimage through the homes of relatives, first to the house of the parents of the bride; then to those of the groom, grandparents, and uncles. San Basilio de Palenque, located 31 miles from Cartagena, is considered the first community to officially free enslaved people in the Americas. On August 23, 1691, the Spanish King Charles II signed a royal charter recognizing the freedom 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 local 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 since 1973 for the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and Richard Cross joined her team as a visual anthropologist in June 1975. This image illustrates Cross’ anthropological category: Social organization. El día de su boda, una novia se sienta entre un grupo de mujeres, hombres y niños en San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia. Desde una edad muy temprana, los niños del mismo grupo de edad, tanto hombres como mujeres, se quedan y juegan juntos en un grupo (o cuagro), y nombran líderes femeninos y masculinos. Más tarde, es tradicional que la gente se case con una persona del mismo cuagro. Después de la boda, cada grupo encabezado por los recién casados
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