blacks. Belgrano ' s impression on Afrodescendants became famous. He wrote to San Martin: " Blacks and mulattos are a coward and bloodthirsty rabble(...) It only comforts me to know that white officers are coming."( Picotti: 1998, 97- 98). Nevertheless, Afro-descendant Sergeant Juan Bautista Cabral saved San Martin’ s life in the battle of San
Lorenzo( 1813). Without that sergeant, Miter couldn’ t have completed his wellknown History of San Martín and the South American Emancipation. Finally, we must rewrite history to begin to recognize, with neither insults nor misrepresentations, the contribution by African descendants to the making of Argentine identity.
Bibliography DE ESTRADA, Marcos( 1979): Argentinos de origen africano [ Argentines of African origin ], Buenos Aires: Eudeba. LANUZA, José L.( 1967): Morenada. Una historia de la raza africana en el Río de la Plata [ Morenada. A History of the African Race in Rio de la Plata ], Buenos Aires: Editorial Schapire. MITRE, Bartolomé( 1950): Historia de San Martín y de la emancipación sudamericana [ History of San Martín and the South American Emancipation ], Buenos Aires: Tor, Tomo 1, Caps. XII, XIII y XIV, Tomo 2, Cap. XLXI. PICOTTI, Dina( 1998): La presencia africana en nuestra identidad [ African Presence in Our Identity ], Buenos Aires: Ediciones del Sol.
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