Babalú-Ayé y la Negra del Hospital

Babalú-Ayé y La Negra del Hospital | Film Stills | 2022

Citation

“Somewhere between 1497 and 1501, a Black woman in the early village of Santo Domingo established the first hospital-like healing facility of the Americas,” Dominican Studies Institute, https://ccnydigitalscholarship.org/dsi-blacks-in-america/items/show/125.

Ruins of Hospital San Nicolás de Bari in Santo Domingo| Film Still | 2022

Babalú-Ayé y La Negra del Hospital is an artistic endeavor to provide a voice to a Black woman that, somewhere between 1497-1501, founded the first hospital-like healing establishment in the New World. Although she influenced the construction of the Hospital San Nicolás de Bari in Santo Domingo, the first “authorized” hospital in the Americas, her name and story are unknown, silenced within the colonial archives for centuries as “La Negra del Hospital.” This film seeks to rectify this iniquity and honor her spirit.

Creative Director Yelaine Rodriguez | Director of Photography - Kilpatry Montes de Oca
Assistant Camera - David Zayas

Performers: Jeremy Antonio Caro as Babalú-Ayé | Rayser Rafelina Campusano Rosario as La Negra del Hospital

Produced by - Yelaine Rodriguez & Kilpatry Montes de Oca | Executive Produced by Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Original Poem by Yaissa Jiménez (Poet)

Music Director: Mitiko Mawôn (JJBC)

Funders

Babalú-Ayé y La Negra del Hospital is made possible by the generous support of The Office of Faculty Development, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Cyrus Amir Boquin, MD, MPH & Glory Van Scott, MD. Special thanks to Christopher Irobunda MD, Phd chief organizer of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion event, Lina Maria Alfonso, MHA, Mayra Marte-Miraz, & Maria Hamm de Miguel, MD.

To my family, blood or chosen, who made this project come to life.