Palenqueras

Black women once used their hair to draw escape maps in Colombia.

In the 1500’s, enslaved African women forcibly taken to Colombia would communicate within their communities through braided hair. For example, a braided hairstyle called “departes” (meaning depart in English) would signal that the person wanted to escape. Black women would also record with their braids the obstacles they would encounter on their journeys to help others escape. 

A river was represented with a braid in the shape of a worm, a bantu knot represented a mountain, and if there were soldiers in any part of the route, they would use really thick braids still known today in the pacific region of Colombia as “tropas”(meaning troops in English).

On top of that, inside the braids, sometimes gold or seeds were hidden to ensure the women’s’ survival after their escape. The rich history of braids is celebrated every year on May 21st known as Afro-Colombian Day which also marks the abolition of slavery in Colombia in 1851.

Because of these braid maps, many Africans were able to escape and form the famous free settlement known today as Palenque. 

San Basilio del Palenque (Or Palenque) was the first free town for African slaves in the Americas. Its name comes from a term used in Iberoamerica to refer to places or politically organized concentrations of enslaved people who emancipated themselves from slavery.

The palenques were established between the 17th and 18th centuries as a form of anti-colonial resistance and managed to consolidate themselves as a space of freedom and recreation of various customs inherited from Africa. 

This unknown town became famous in the 1970s and in 2005, UNESCO declared Palenque a masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.