“The documentary … explores the secret life of a Cuban immigrant from New Orleans, a soldier and woman whose name is not common in history books or in the average American household.”
VOXXI article
By Daysi Calavia-Lopez
‘Rebel’ the true story of Cuban-American woman
who fought in Civil War May
May 3rd, 2013 By Daysi Calavia-Lopez
She was Cuban. She fought in the American Civil War.
She dressed as a man and took to the battlefield. She later became a
union spy.
Her name is Loreta Janeta Velazquez and although her description sounds
similar to that of a fictional character from a Hollywood blockbuster she’s
The PBS film “Rebel” tells the true story of Cuban-American Loreta Janeta
Velazquez, who fought in the American Civil War. (Courtesy photo/ PBS)
the focus of Ecuadorian filmmaker Maria Agui Carter’s most recent
project, “Rebel”.
The documentary premiering as a special presentation of the Latino Public
Broadcasting series VOCES ON PBS explores the secret life of a Cuban
immigrant from New Orleans, a soldier and woman whose name is not
common in history books or in the average American household.
“I came across her story on the internet,” Agui Carter said. “At first I
thought it was fictional and dropped it, but a few years later I came across
an article by DeAnne Blanton and was taken aback by the way she wrote
about this woman as if she were real, so I decided to go visit her and learn
more. I wanted to know ‘what is a Cuban woman doing hiding in the
American Civil War?’ ”
DeAnne Blanton, senior military archivist at the National Archives in
Washington, D.C, couldn’t have been more thrilled to meet Agui Carter.
“When Maria first contacted me to tell me she was researching Loreta I
was so excited. I thought finally,” she said. “Finally someone who didn’t
want to dismiss Loreta outright.”
Blanton always found Loreta’s story worth telling and felt it was never
viewed under a positive light by historians. Her 600-page memoir, “A
Woman in Battle,” which “Rebel” is based on has been the subject of
historical criticism since the time it was published in 1876. Historians main
gripe about the book is its inconsistencies. Because of apparent
embellishments in Loreta’s memoir it was dismissed as a hoax.
However, newspaper clippings and recently discovered documents in the
national archives indicate that’s not true.
“She existed. She did many of the things she said she did. We have the
documents here at the national archives proving it,” Blanton said.
Proof of Loreta Janeta Velazquez’s accounts
During Agui Carter and Blanton’s research of Loreta Janeta Velazquez’s
firsthand account they found her pass, a pass civilians needed to travel
from city to city or into enemy territory as well as pay records for Alice
Williams (the name Velazquez used when she worked for the U.S. Secret
Service), and newspaper articles reporting Velasquez’s arrest. “I just went
and looked in the records that exist and there they were, exactly where
they should have been for someone who did that service, but if you think
about it, the National Archives is huge. There’s billions of pieces of paper
and no one took the time to look because people just assumed she was a
fraud.” she said.
Skepticism aside and 13 long years of research later Agui Carter is a firm
believer that the stories we tell about our past really shape our national
consciousness.
“We have not always been deemed worthy of archiving, we have to look
for our history in different ways,” she said. “We don’t expect women on the
home front or Latinas in the civil war.”
Filmmaker Maria Agui Carter relates to
Loreta’s story
Maria Agui Carter like Loreta Janeta Velazquez immigrated to the United
States at age seven and has always been intrigued by the concept of
citizenship.
She grew up in New York and was raised by a single mother who worked
as a seamstress in a factory. Neither of them had legal documents. Later
her mother married and Agui Carter was able to obtain permanent
residency. She received a scholarship and graduated from Harvard
College.
“We choose a story because it expresses something we identify deeply
with,” Agui Carter said. “Until Latinos are the authors of our own stories,
America won’t really understand us. We will be seen as outsiders in our
own land. That’s why, I’m in film.”
Agui Carter will be turning the camera on herself as she works on her next
venture, a film about her personal experience being undocumented in the
U.S.
“Being undocumented, my mom and I faced a lot of inequities and
struggled, as Loreta did in her time,” Agui Carter said. “Rebel” will be
airing nationally on PBS on Friday, May 24 at 10 p.m E.T.