Library Dean’s Fellows and graduate students Gretchen Selcke (Department of Spanish and Portuguese) and Fernanda Bretones Lane (Department of History) have created an online exhibition of selected correspondence to and from Zapata Olivella. These letters and accompanying documents have been digitized and are searchable on this site. Links to selected documents also appear in the essays. Essays by Gretchen Selcke focus on the writing of Changó and his literary relationships. Fernanda Bretones Lane discusses Afro-Colombian identity and Zapata Olivella’s role in promoting black culture through the Congresses of Black Culture in the Americas. The selections were made with a view to illuminating the literary, cultural and anthropological aspects of his life and career.

Buchanan Fellows Elvira Aballi Morell and Alexandra Bradford discuss, respectively, Manuel’s travels and experiences in Mexico and the US.