AfroCuban filmmaker premieres "Roots of My Heart" on 1912 Massacre -JTCQ

AfroCubaWeb Newsletter #9, 1/22/01

AfroCuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando will be touring the US from March 15th 
through May 2001 to premiere 
the Spanish language version of her latest film, "Raices de Mi Corazon" ("Roots 
of My Heart"). This video 
deals for the first time ever with the 1912 massacre of over 6,000 members of 
the Independents of Color, 
a black political party formed by the veterans of the Cuban Wars of 
Independence.  The tour starts on 
March 15th in Dallas, Texas. Dates are available starting March 20th.

Gloria Rolando will also bring her other videos: Oggun, Eyes of the Rainbow 
(with Assata Shakur), My 
Foosteps in Baragua, and el Alacran (descriptions at 
http://afrocubaweb.net/gloriarolando.htm)

Summary of "Las Raíces de mi Corazón" - "Roots of my Heart"
 presented by Images of the Caribean, a video group
 (video color, in Spanish, 50 minutes)
 English subtitles are forthcoming but may not be ready for the tour.

Merecedes, a Cuban woman from Havana, begins to decipher her family secrets 
through the photo of her 
great-grandparents, María Victoria y José Julián. Between reality and the world 
of her dreams, she will 
learn about the ties this couple -- especially her great-grandfather -- had 
with the Independents of Color, a 
political party formed in 1908. The struggle of these black men and women to 
create a space for 
themselves in Cuban society at the beginning of the 20th century had a tragic 
outcome: the massacre of 
1912. Many families suffered, but history imposed a silence, the same silence 
that surrounds Mercedes' 
great-grandparents. 

Background

The Independents of Color was the first black political party in the hemisphere 
outside Haiti. Formed in 
1908, it was made up largely of veterans of the Mambi Army, the Cuban Army of 
Liberation that defeated 
the Spanish in two Wars of Liberation (1868-1878 and 1895 - 1898). Recent 
research in Cuba has 
established that this army was overwhelmingly made up of Cubans of African 
descent: it was one of the 
largest slave revolts in the hemisphere. When the Mambises had all but ejected 
the Spaniards from Cuba in 
1898, the plantocracy allied themselves with the US to bring about the Spanish 
American War and gain 
back control of the island. The Mambi veterans responded by forming the 
Independents of Color to obtain 
their rightful share. 

"Raices de mi corazon" ("Roots of my heart") is the first treatment on film of 
a history that has largely been 
ignored ever since 1912 imposed its realities. See our web site for more 
information and for photos that 
are part of the rarely seen historical stock used in the film: 
http://afrocubaweb.net/gloriarolando.htm

Anyone interested in having Gloria give a talk and show her films, please 
contact 
cristina@afrocubaweb.net.

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