Secrets in the Colony

For 24 hours this weekend, I went with my family to a place called Colonia del Sacramento. It is in Uruguay, on the Atlantic coast, a one hour boat ride from Buenos Aires. The trip was lots of fun. The place is beautiful and peaceful, the hotel was nice, and we laughed a lot while we drove around the town in a golf cart.

If you don't look too hard, its a wonderful place. So serene, clean, safe. You would never know the real story if you didn't ask someone. The history books only tell us that the region changed hands numerous times, that it was founded in the 1600s by the Portuguese. There is little mention of Colonia being a slave colony. We asked a number of people working at the shops and museums and they all agreed, yes, it was a slave colony.

The first clue that something isn't right comes up in the tourist stores. Most have small figurines of black people dancing happily. Some have painted portraits of black women from the colonial time period. One store had small statues of naked black women with exaggerated lips.

In the brochures about the town, there is frequent mention of a street named Calle de los Suspiros - suspiro meaning "heavy sigh" --- sometimes associated with ultimo suspiro - the last breath before a person dies. We found the street. It leads to a nearby rocky beach.

People agreed to tell us the story of the street, but didn't want to say more. There are three versions. First is that it was the street where slaves had to walk while going to their execution. Second, it was an area of prostitution. Third, it was where regular criminals had to walk to be executed.

The fact that Colonia was a slave colony and that slaves were executed are the only memories still acknowledged these days. These remnants make sense. It is a beautiful tourist location in the 21st century. Best to keep its past a secret. Contain the history of slavery into a colony and only talk about slaves when they were to be executed. Their presence is only silenty acknowledged as their figurines are bought and sold at the local tourist stores.

The horror of slavery is that human beings were sold as commodities, and executed as their owners saw fit. Colonia may be trying to keep it a secret, but the information still stands in front of the tourist as she enters the expensive shops or walks down the picturesque streets.

Colonia isn't the only place holding these types of secrets. My daughter reminded me that most any city on the Atlantic coast contained a slave market. Closer to us, Houston, Galveston, and New Orleans all had slave markets, with New Orleans being the largest and most important on the Gulf Coast.

photos by M.T. Hernandez