Colegas, friends, and supporters of CUNY DSI,
We hope this finds you well and in good spirits as we approach the holidays.
We would like to share with you the news about CUNY DSI’s dissemination of a collection of approximately 2,900 photographs of historical sites and monuments from the colonial period of what is today the Dominican Republic. These photographs have been uploaded onto Flickr.com, the photo-sharing system, and they are organized in 57 sets forming a collection titled “First Blacks of the Americas.” Included in this message you will find:
(1) CCNY’s press release in English on the initiative
(/advancement/news/CUNY-DSI-Makes-2900-Photo-Archive-Accessible-via-Flickr) and,
(2) A Spanish version of CCNY’s press release
(El Instituto de Estudios Dominicanos de CUNY Publica en Internet Archivo de 2900 Fotos).
This photographic collection was originally produced for “First Blacks in the Americas,” one of CUNY DSI’s current research projects, a website which will present the story of the thousands of Afro-descendants that inhabited La Española during the 16th century. We hope to launch the “First Blacks” website project early next year. The contents of the photo collection connect as well with other historiographical projects the CUNY DSI is currently working on. After realizing the scarcity of images available on the Internet pertaining to colonial La Española, we have decided to share this sizable collection with the public without waiting for the larger projects to reach completion. We hope you will agree that the collection may stand alone by itself as a source of visual information about a long and important period of the history of the Dominican people.
We also take the opportunity to inform you that we continue to work on the “Juan Rodriguez and the Beginnings of New York City” monograph. The monograph is expected to be published early in 2013, in anticipation of the celebration of the 4th centennial of Juan Rodrigues’ arrival to New York City, a festivity or grand fiesta organized in collaboration with the Harlem Historical Society among other organizations. The monograph will disseminate for the first time all the known documents about Juan Rodriguez, including photographic copies of the manuscripts and transcriptions that detail the known historical facts about this fascinating individual along with translations into English and Spanish of these documents. The monograph will also contribute additional information as to the relation between Juan Rodriguez and Hispaniola as his society of origin.
We hope you find the “First Blacks of the Americas/ Primeros Negros de las Américas” photograph collection both educational and enjoyable. Please feel free to share them and send us your comments.
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Wishing you peaceful and joyful holidays and a productive new year,
Abrazos,
Ramona Hernández, Ph.D.
Director, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute &
Professor of Sociology, The City College of New York &
Doctoral Faculty in Sociology, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Last Updated: 07/30/2015 12:07