Kayla Love

Kristine Juncker writes,

Recently, the University Press of Florida posted information online about my first book, Afro-Cuban Religious Arts: Popular Expressions of Cultural Inheritance in Espiritismo and Santería. I began working on the book more than a decade ago. I was drawn to these materials, and particularly the four women about whom I write, because of the ongoing absence of histories of women who shaped the international character of modern and contemporary Latin America…

Tiburcia Sotolongo (1861-1938) was born on a sugar plantation in Havana Province—in an area where slavery did not end until the 1880s. She moved to  Havana City during the wars for independence from Spain. There, she supported  herself and her four adopted children by working as an Espiritista, or medium, and  as a Santera, or priest of Santería.

Hortensia Ferrer (1906-1992) was adopted by Tiburcia Sotolongo and began to assist Tiburcia with her religious work in Havana City. In 1938, she inherited Tiburcia’s practice and extensive network of religious family and clientele.

Marta María Pérez Bravo, “Cuanto Encontró Para Vencer,” 2000