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08/29/2004:

"Black Contribution to Local Culture Has Been Largely Ignored"

When Berta was a little girl, she met Micaela, "an old black woman, whose back was full of scars." When she asked the adults around her why, she was told "it was the whips and red-hot iron bars, because she was a slave."

This is one of the personal accounts presented in ”Obscurity, Silence and Rupture: 150 Years Since the Abolition of Slavery in Venezuela”, an exhibit currently on display in the Museum of Fine Arts in Caracas, which also presents photos, prints, paintings, musical instruments, tools, weapons, masks, carvings and posters reflecting Venezuela's African heritage.

Slavery was officially abolished in Venezuela on Mar. 24, 1854. At that time there were 25,000 slaves, accounting for three percent of the population.

Full Article : ipsnews.net