Muzzled wounds of slavery
on January 24, 2008
Category: African Diaspora, Slavery, Poetry, African History, Africa - Creative Arts, African Women
Santa Anastacia, Anastácia Escrava, an Angolian princess, kidnapped and forced to become the mistress of her white master in Brazil. Anastacia resisted her capture, her rape and abuse and for that she was forced to wear a metal muzzle - common practice in Brazil and the Caribbean. Muzzles were used to prevent slaves from eating the sugar cane and as a general punishment for acts of resistance. Anastacia contracted gangrene from the muzzle and eventually it killed her. Below is a sculpture by a friend, Matt Branson, of Anastacia muzzled.
Ancestors
A wounded body is one who turns day into night
one who returns to the womb
A wounded body is one who turns laughter into tears
one who weeps under blue skies
A wounded body is one who faces the wall
one who no longer smiles
A wounded body is one who bleeds from inside
one who can no longer dream
A wounded body is one who reaches out
but finds only silence and nothingness
A wounded body is one who cannot smell the roses
one who only feels the pain of thorns.For some the wounds are timeless, stretching back in history
for others they are but moments in the present
Listen to my wounds, feel my wounds
taste the wounds of my ancestors, if you dare
Do not deny my wounded body
do not mistake my wounds for weakness
on the contrary, my wounds are my strength© Sokari Ekine
Links: Quilombo Country
Tags:
Anatacia
Brazil
Slavery + Bahia
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10 Comments so far
1. brownfemipower
January 24th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
oh, god, what a heartbreaking enraging story.
thank you for sharing it.
2. Kismet
January 24th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
The poem is lovely and disturbing. And the sculpture is stunning. The gold muzzle, making it violent but valuable at the same time–valuable to the master because he can do that or valuable to Anastacia because it symbolizes her resistance? I dunno…
Very striking post.
3. Sokari
January 24th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
hmm - not sure about the poem, i just woke up thinking of slavery and started writing. while i was writing i thought of the story of Anastacia and Matt’s sculptures. i never thought of the gold and why he used that colour but maybe to heighten the horror of someone beautiful or as you say to symbolise the the value of Anastacia. I will ask. Yes the poem is disturbing but so is slavery and the cruelty faced by Anastacia and millions of others. For those who believe we should forget, I post this as a reminder that no we must never forget - there are so many stories yet untold and i for one want to hear them and feel them because they are stories of Africa’s ancestors.
4. Dave Lucas
January 24th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
How incredibly barbaric! The close-mindedness is astounding… let’s all strive to be more tolerant, accepting of and inspired by other cultures and by people who are “different.”
5. OG
January 24th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
They lynched Black men if they looked at a White female the wrong way and now all is supposed to be forgiven.They have wealth not lottery winnings but WEALTH from they free labor for 400 years , but all is to be forgiven. My God
6. cherynne
January 24th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
the sculptures and the poem are very powerful. especially i think because they connect our individual present day pain with our historical collective pain.it is so important to reclaim our her-stories ones which white male european “civilization” has tried to erase. one of the most powerful and damaging tools of colonialism was and continues to be the negation of our pasts, languages, cultures and ancestors.we must keep the memories alive , the dignity of a past,the right to exist in all our diversity.
7. cherynne
January 24th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Karasch, Mary C. “Anastacia and the Slave Women of Rio de Janeiro” in Paul Lovejoy (ed.), Africans in Bondange. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1986.
http://www.smu.ca/academic/arts/history/barbosa.html
8. Joachim Graf: Dialektische Kunst
January 25th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Sculpure about black women slavery…
I have found in Black looks blog an article about Anastácia Escrava, an Angolian princess, who was kidnapped and forced to become the mistress of her white master in Brazil. Anastacia resisted her capture, her rape and abuse and for that she was force…
9. JoachimGraf.com
January 25th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Sculpure about black women slavery
I have found in Black looks blog an article about Anastácia Escrava, an Angolian princess, who was kidnapped and forced to become the mistress of …
10. ana
January 26th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Great tribute to Anastacia. Many Afro Brazilians venerate Anastacia. I visited Salvador, Bahia years ago and noticed that many Afro Brazilians keep an altar in honor of their beloved saint. Afro Brazilinas really don’t care if the church accepts Anastacia or not. They also keep at the entrance of their door statues of elderly blacks referred to as the ancestors. Many of the homes have altars with candles always burning to the ancestors and the African deities.
The stories of our ancestors remained hidden in the memories of the people of the African Diaspora.My very own spirituality not only comes from God but is also reinforced by the strength and power of the Atlantic Ocean, the very place where our ancestors travailed and perished on their voyage to the Americas(the Middle Passage).Too many of us are unaware of the many places where we can gather forces and strength to win vitory not only for ourselves but for our beloved ancestors.The will of God and our ancestors are one now. We are never alone.
Cordiales Saludos.