IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 8 ENGLISH | Page 49

Whether slaves or free, black women
were not allowed by law to use gold,
silk robes and beads. They were bought
and sold by the Church, the State, and
individuals. Freedom of black slaves
was achieved by decision of the master
(non-cash transaction), gracious manumission, self-purchase, services to the
State, or ruling of the courts. Frederick
Bowser3 says that black women generally incurred in crimes of cohabitation
or “concubinage”, homicide, filicide,
theft, and witchcraft. The punishments
were flogging, imprisonment, and even
death. They were also target of much
internal violence from the bickering
between them to the mistreatment by
their masters to the abuse by their husbands. In this case, they ended up being
slaves of slaves. Slave families repeated
the violence’s parameters prevailing in
society. According to Marcel Velásquez4, the powers were articulated in
the relations of legal, social, ethnic and
gender domination. Therefore, the
enslaved black women should have
occupied the last social stratum and

were unable to control or to modify this
situation. However, they were crucial
agents in the fight for independence by
expanding the areas of action, building
the domestic networks of female power,
and helping to implement the new
social, ethnic and symbolic order in the
post/colonial society.
Portraits of heroism
The abolition of slavery (1854) by
decree of President Ramon Castilla is
the official historical precedent. However, historical references show that a
large number of enslaved men and
women were freed before due to the
extra work they performed. At the end
of slavery, a historical gap occurred in
research, educational books and academic reports. The official history has
given little space and credibility to
African descendants, as if they had
disappeared after slavery was abolished.
However, the detailed investigations
show that certain women of African
descent contributed so much to the
development and sovereignty of Peru.

• Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua was a national hero and martyr of the independence as
chief adviser and wife of Tupac Amaru. Shortly before her execution, she expressed its
clear independence political position: "For the freedom of my people I have given up
everything. I am not going to see my children flourish."
Tupac Amaru revolted on November 4, 1780. After the capture and execution of Corregidor Arriaga, Micaela formed armies, wrote proclamations, and helped Tupac Amaru
to govern the chiefdoms of Surimana, Pampamarca, and Tungasuca. He was taken
prisoner and quartered on 18 May 1781. On the same day, Micaela was hanged in Cusco. Her body was dragged on the street and quartered.
The illustrations in textbooks depicted her with indigenous features, but it has been
found that she was daughter of Manuel Bastidas, a freedman of African descent, and the
indigenous women Josefa Puyucahua. Actually she was derisively called "Micaela the
Zamba".
• Catalina Buendía de Pecho was an Afro-Peruvian peasant who became a hero during
the Pacific War. When the Chilean invaded Peru, the Ica people showed their rebellion
facing the enemy with rudimentary weapons. The invaders had enormous military and
logistic superiority. Jaime Uribe Rocha5 relates: "She barricaded herself with the troops
on the hill of Los Molinos, roughly 12 kilometers north of the city of Ica, and offered a
courageous and epic resistance against the Chilean invaders, never equaled in the history of Peru."

49