Type: Black Wiki
Categories: People
Contributed by: Miriam Machado-Luces
Source: MimiTV https://mimitvamediapro.com/
This La Vida En Black History Month message is so nice I had to do it twice… This story goes deep into the heart of Peruvian culture with the Heroine of Black Peru; Victoria Eugenia Santa Cruz Gamarra, a much celebrated poet, composer, choreographer, designer, + 
an exponent of Afro-Peruvian art.
The daughter of writer / playwright, Nicomedes Santa Cruz Aparicio and Victoria Gamarra, their family was famous for their excellence in creative pursuits including the development of Zamacueca an ancient colonial dance and music with a mixture of roots from Africa to the Andes.
Victoria was one of 10 children born into the family. Her brothers are renown – Cesar is a musician and composer; Rafael the Bull Fighter isdeamed “untorero de gran clase” or the Wonderous Black Matador; and Nicomedes; the preeminent scholar of Afro-Peruvian culture.
Victoria received a scholarship to attend the Université du Theatre des Nations in Paris where she was educated in costuming and choreography. She created unforgettable costumes for the play “The Altarpiece of Don Cristobal”. And made a triumphant return to Peru. In 1968 she founded the Teatro y Danzas Negras del Perú, / Black Dance Theatre of Peru, inspiring a new and diverse period in Peru for the study of black culture.
Her choreography became a part of the fabric of Peruvian culture so much so that her talented group represented the nation at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. 
Victoria won numerous prestigious awards including Best Folklorist at the Primer Festival y Seminario Latinoamericano de Televisión en 1970.
She was a special guest of the Colombian government at the Festival de Cali in 1971. There she notably recognized that the black roots of Cali did not come from just one country of origin but from several African nations, so much like the various slaves brought to the Americas.
Santa Cruz’s name became synonymous with the cultural identity of Peru and in 1973 Victoria became the director of the National Folklore for the National Institute of Culture (INC) /Conjunto Nacional de Folclore del Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INC). She continued to spread her love of Afro-Peruvian culture throughout the world, teaching at Carnegie Mellon University, and in Europe at the Teatro del Sole, in Italy.
She passed away in 2014 surrounded by her beautiful family, the legendary Ambassador of Peruvian culture was lain to rest at the Peruvian National Musuem. Her poem “Me Gritaron Negra” They Screamed “Black” At Me, became a beautiful badge of honor for Afro-Latinos every where. Performed here by Victoria and then by a little Ecuadorian girl…
Lyrics
Español / English
Tenía siete años apenas, / Maybe I was seven years old,
apenas siete años, / Maybe seven years,
¡Qué siete años! / What seven years old!
¡No llegaba a cinco siquiera! / I wasn’t even five yet!
De pronto unas voces en la calle / when some voices in the street
me gritaron ¡Negra! / screamed at me ¡Negra! (Black Girl!)
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! / Black! Black! Black! Black!
¡Negra! ¡Negra!¡Negra! / Back! Black! Black!
¿Soy acaso negra?, me dije / I thought, Am I? Am I really Black?
¡SI! / Yes!
¿Qué cosa es ser negra? / What does it mean to be black?
¡Negra! Black!
Y yo no sabía la triste verdad / And I didn’t know the sad truth
que aquello escondía. / That it was hiding
¡Negra! / Black!
Y me sentí negra, / And I felt black,
¡Negra! / Black!
Como ellos decían / Just like their screams
¡Negra! / Black!
Y retrocedí / And I rejected it
¡Negra! / Black!
Como ellos querían / Just like they wanted
¡Negra! / Black!
Y odié mis cabellos / And I hated my hair
y mis labios gruesos / And my thick lips
y miré apenada mi carne tostada / and I was ashamed of my toasted skin
Y retrocedí / And I rejected it
¡Negra! / Black!
Y retrocedí. / And I rejected it.
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! / Black! Black! Black! Black!
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Neeegra! / Black! Black! Black!
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! / Black! Black! Black! Black!
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! / Black! Black! Black! Black!
Y pasaba el tiempo, / And the time passed by,
y siempre amargada / And I was always bitter
Seguía llevando a mi espalda / I carried this heavy load
mi pesada carga. / on my back.
¡Y cómo pesaba! / And it weighed me down!
Me alacié el cabello, / I straightened my hair.
me polveé la cara, / I powdered my face,
y entre mis entrañas siempre / And deep down inside of me, I always heard
resonaba la misma palabra / the same resounding word
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! / Black! Black! Black! Black
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Neeegra! / Black! Black! Blaaaack!
Hasta que un día que retrocedía, / Until one day I so rejected me,
retrocedía y qué iba a caer / rejected to the point where I put my own self down
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! / Black! Black! Black! Black!
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! / Black! Black! Black! Black!
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! / Black! Black! Black! Black!
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! / Black! Black! Black! Black!
¡Negra! ¡Negra! ¡Negra! / Black! Black! Black!
¿Y qué? / So What?
¿Y qué? / So What?
¡Negra! / Black!
¡Sí! / YES!
¡Negra! / Black!
¡Soy! / I Am!
¡Negra! / Black!
¡Negra! / Black!
¡Negra! / Black!
¡Negra soy! / I Am Black!
¡Negra! / Black!
¡Sí ! / Yes!
¡Soy! / I am!
¡Negra! / Black!
¡Negra! / Black!
¡Negra! / Black!
¡Negra soy! / I am Black!
De hoy en adelante no quiero / From this day forward I will not
laciar mi cabello / straighten my hair
No quiero / I do not want to!
Y voy a reírme de aquellos, / & I’m gonna laugh at those who
que por evitar / by avoiding
–según ellos– / according to them
que por evitarnos algún sin sabor/ To avoid the “bad taste”
Llaman a los negros / call black people,
gente de color / people of color
¿Y de qué color? / And what color is that?
¡NEGRO! ¡NEGRO! / BLACK! BLACK!
¡Y qué lindo suena! / And how beautiful it sounds!
NEGRO NEGRO
¡Y qué ritmo tiene! And what rhythm it has!
NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO
NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO
NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO
NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO
Al fin! / Finally!
Al fin comprendí, / Finally I understood,
¡AL FIN! / FINALLY!
Ya no retrocedo / I am not rejected
AL FIN / FINALLY
Y avanzo segura / I move forward with pride
AL FIN / FINALLY
Avanzo y espero / I move forward and wait
AL FIN / FINALLY
Y bendigo al cielo / I thank the heavens above
porque quiso Dios / because God wanted
que negro azabache / like a precious black stone
fuese mi color / I was meant to be my color
Y ya comprendí / and now I understand
AL FIN / FINALLY
¡Ya tengo la llave! / I now have the key!
NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO
NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO
NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO NEGRO
NEGRO NEGRO
¡Negra soy! / I am Black!