Scholar and writer Xanath Caraza, and Frida Larios and Manuel ‘Ché’ León from Indigenous Design Collective have joined us to commemorate these emblematic figures. We asked Indigenous Design Collective to share their thoughts about their creative process during this project inspired by Caraza’s poems.
“The three women, healers, and leaders hold their hands and rise in their indigenous light. On the left: the light of the Cempasúchil flower guiding our ancestors to the underworld gateway. In the middle the Inti: the strength of the Inka sun in our blood. On the right: four linked hearts, a symbol of agreement in Ghanian peoples mourning garments. Together, the three women unite in diversity to form a woven fabric: an unbreakable continuous pattern. We use textile and cultural visual language to illustrate the cultural essence and history of these notable women. LatinX and indigenous women in the US today are root to these same values, we must harvest our crop.” –Indigenous Design Collective, Frida Larios & Manuel (Che) León.
Who was La Mulata de Córdoba? She was an African Mexican healer and midwife from the state of Veracruz, Mexico and born as a free individual around 1780 at a time when many African Mexican people were enslaved. No one is certain about her birth name, and she was known as la Mulata de Córdoba because of her mixed background and for living in the surroundings of the city of Córdoba in the mountains of Veracruz.
Around the time she was born, Mexico or New Spain was still a colony of Spain. Although there were other free African Mexicans, it was not common for all African Mexican people. In that sense, she was fortunate to be free, and most likely her freedom was the cause of envy.
She became quite well-known because of her deep knowledge of Mexican traditional medicine, remedies, the use of medicinal plants and herbs. This is a skill still appreciated nowadays throughout Mexico and especially in rural areas where doctors are scarce.
Another medically related asset she had was as a midwife. We can imagine how well-appreciated she must have been since giving birth at home is even today a challenging event for both the mother, the baby, and the midwife.
In addition to her work with traditional medical practices, she was also known for another distinctive feature, her beauty. Legend says that many men were bewitched by her eyes, hair, and youth.
As her legendary fame grew as a practitioner of traditional medicine and also for her beauty, she was condemned by the Spanish Inquisition when she was about seventeen years old. Some people supported her while others did not. After her arrest, she was taken to the Port of Veracruz. Community members lined the road to see her, la Mulata de Córdoba. She was taken in chains where she was jailed for life in the Fortress of San Juan the Ulúa. There, she was accused of witchcraft. She had also recently refused the advances of an official from the city of Córdoba, which likely influenced her arrest.
One day she disappeared from the Fortress of San Juan the Ulúa. Since her disappearance was an embarrassment for Mexican authorities, a legend that reinforced the idea that she was a bruja, a witch, was made up in connection to her disappearance. This legend says that she asked for a piece of charcoal and drew a window on one of the walls of her cell, and through that window, she also drew the ocean and a galleon ship. Then she asked the guard what was missing. While the guard was thinking about the answer she vanished from her cell and the last time she was seen she was waving at the guard from the galleon ship sailing along with the waves of the ocean. Since the actual guard was missing too, I have my own hypothesis. I like to think that they had begun a romance and fled together. However, what we know is that she was never seen again.
Statue of La Mulata de Córdoba in Veracruz, Mexico by artist Juan Balderas Bello.
Read, listen, and enjoy our homage to La Mulata de Córdoba, “Dressed in Marigolds” by Xánath Caraza.
Salomé Ureña was a poet and educator from the Dominican Republic. She was a 19th century leader, born on October 21, 1850 in the city of Santo Domingo.
She was raised in a well-read and cultured family. Her father, Nicolás Ureña, was himself a well-known writer. He introduced her to the classics of Spanish and French literature and cultivated her love of writing. These are assets that help her develop as a poet, herself.
At the young age of seventeen, Salomé Ureña, or Herminia as her pen name, became a published poet. Her publishing was historically a unique achievement. Also, at this time, many women had to take on a male pen name in order to publish if they were to publish at all. Therefore, her female pen name of Herminia was, from the beginning of her career, unique. Years later, she wrote under her birth name, Salomé Ureña.
Her signature writing style had several attributes, including feminism, nature, and multiculturalism. Her lyrism, female perspective, patriotism and the presence of nature in her poetry became key. In her writing, she celebrated the land, the mountains, plants, the island of Quisqueya, the original, indigenous name for the island of Hispaniola. This is significant because Quisqueya is a Taino indigenous word which means mother of the lands. Ureña wanted to celebrate Taino culture, the original culture of the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean Islands. Importantly as well, African rhythms are present in the lyrism of her poetry, in addition to the influence of European poetry, mainly from Spain and France.
As an educator, Ureña was influenced by her mother, Gregoria Díaz, considerably. Her mother introduced her to education and the importance of the learning process, especially for women, who many times did not have access to formal education. In 1881, Salomé Ureña founded the first institution of higher education for women in the Dominican Republic, another unusual achievement at that time. This institution was an opportunity for education for many women, who, upon graduation, became educators, themselves. This was a very meaningful logro, an achievement not only for Salomé Ureña but also for women in Latin America since education had been in general unattainable for women beforehand and at this time in history.
Salomé Ureña married Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal at the age of thirty. He was instrumental in the foundation of Ureña’s institution of higher education in the Dominican Republic, as well.
Making Salomé Ureña a leading 19th-century figure, her love of education and literature was central. She died on March 6, 1897, at forty-six years of age, leaving a legacy for women’s rights for generations to come.
Read, listen, and enjoy our homage to Salomé Ureña, “Mother of the Lands” by Xánath Caraza.
