How Braids Became a Secret Map for Escaping Slavery

Summary

The video describes how enslaved African women in 19th-century Colombia used braided hairstyles to communicate escape plans and help others navigate to freedom.

• A style called “partes,” meaning “depart,” signaled that someone intended to escape.
• Braids could encode information about the route:
  • A braid shaped like a worm represented a river.
  • A Bantu knot represented a mountain.
  • Thick braids, called “tropas” (“troops”) in Colombia’s Pacific region, indicated the presence of soldiers.
• Women sometimes concealed gold or seeds in their hair to help them survive after escaping.
• The video says these escape routes helped people flee and establish settlements known as palenques. It mentions San Basilio de Palenque as one of the earliest Black towns in the Americas and one of the few remaining palenques in Colombia.
• This history is commemorated at Afro hairdressing competitions in Cali on May 21, which the video identifies as Afro-Colombian Day and the date slavery was abolished in Colombia in 1851.

Speakers or Sources Featured

• One unnamed narrator.
• No other speakers or specific sources are identified in the subtitles.