March 5, 2024

CUBA

Gloria Rolando’s Sisters of the Heart — part of a series of poetic documentaries labelled “Histories and Images of Our People” — explores the invisible and fascinating history of The Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first Roman Catholic sisterhood in the world established by women of African descent. Founded by Mother Mary Lange in Baltimore in 1829, the order ministers to and educates people of color in the United States, Costa Rica, and Cuba (1900–1961).

Mother Mary Lange was reportedly born in 1794 in Santiago de Cuba
of parents fleeing the Haitian Revolution. She arrived in Baltimore as a free, educated, French-, Spanish-, and English-speaking woman of color in 1813. She took the radical step of teaching the children of slaves how to read, a dangerous undertaking, where they faced a racist and classist society more than five 

decades before the abolishment of slavery in the U.S. In 1828, she established the St. Francis School for Colored Girls, one of the first schools in Maryland dedicated to educating Blackchildren. Now known as Saint Frances Academy, it remains (after 196 years)
the oldest African American Catholic school still in operation in the United States, continuing to serve the African American and Hispanic community of Baltimore. On 22 June 2023, Pope Francis declared Mother Mary Lange venerable, allowing her to be considered, ultimately, for sainthood.

Sisters of the Heart is presented in two heartfelt chapters that highlight the dignity and the struggle of black Cuban families to educate their daughters. The first chapter (“Colegio de San Jose”) introduces the educational and religious connection between Baltimore and Cuba established by the Oblate Sisters of Providence and then highlights their work in Cuba. A group of Black Cuban women visit the ruins of their old school and recall their childhood and the nuns who taught them. The second chapter (“Las Novias de Dios”) further develops the Baltimore- Cuba connection, provides historical context (the Haitian Revolution, the Spanish expulsion of French-speaking refugees, the Cuban Revolution), and describes the schools the order established across Cuba. Again, a group of former students share memories of the nuns who taught them and explain the importance of their education.

Gloria Rolando’s career as a filmmaker spans nearly 40 years, much of it at ICAIC (the Cuban National Film Institute). She also leads an independent filmmaking group, Imágenes del Caribe. Her documentaries reveal the often forgotten history and culture of the African diaspora in the Caribbean.She aims to present a true voice for Black leadership and to counter racial stereotypes. As she explains,

“I have worked very hard all of these years to bring to light episodes that are inconvenient for the official history."