IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 6 ENGLISH | Page 77

distant. Our country’s education
promotes these stereotypes, stereotypes
that should be overcome. May offers
another weighty and useful historical
moment to elaborate upon the history of
Argentine
Afro-descendants.
The
National Constitution was approved on
May 1st, 1853, although unincorporated
Buenos Aires (separate from the rest of
the country for a decade) did not. Its
Article 15 abolished slavery and
automatically liberated whoever came
from abroad “for the sole reason of
stepping on the Republic’s territory.”
For the first time in history, the
commemoration of the Bicentennial of
the first Constitutional Assembly was
declared a national holiday on January
31st, 2013. This assembly’s purpose was
to declare independence and craft a
constitution. Although it did not fulfill
these two goals, it did decree the
freedom of wombs, which is often
confused with the outright abolition of
slavery, which did occur 40 years later
(it also decreed other popular measures,
e.g., the adoption of patriotic symbols).

Other sometimes ignored,
historical moments
One could mention the laudable efforts
of
Afro-descendants
among
the
protagonists before the eventuality of the
May Revolution. The English Invasions
(1806-1807)
brought
about
the
th
benchmark events of August 12 . That
day, in 1806, the defenders of the City of
Buenos Aires regained control after
weeks of British occupation. English
General Guillermo Carr Beresford
surrendered to the forces of the day’s

hero, Santiago de Liniers. The day is
remembered as the “Day of the Buenos
Aires Re-conquest.” A goodly part of the
combatants were members of the Pardo
and Moreno Regiments (Black and Tan
Regiment), and by the end of the
hostilities, sources indicate that only 70
slaves were compensated through
manumission. June is a