“Rebel”
Airing Friday, May 24, 2013 at 10:00 p.m. ET on PBS
When The Woman In Battle
was published in 1876 it caused a sensation.
Its author, Loreta Janeta Velazquez, was one of an estimated 1,000 women
who secretly served as soldiers during the American Civil War. Many, including former Confederate Lieutenant
General Jubal Early, worked to prove it and its author a hoax and a fraud. How could a Latina woman, an immigrant from
New Orleans, and the daughter of a wealthy Cuban planter, masquerade herself as
Harry T. Buford, a Confederate soldier, and later become a Union spy? To many in the 19th century it was simply a
tale too fantastic to be believed.
Dismissed as a fraud, Loreta and her service to both the
Confederate Army and the Union cause, have nearly been erased from the history
of the greatest conflict to ever take place on American soil; that is until
now. “Rebel,” a new episode of the Latino
Public Broadcasting documentary series Voces, premiers Friday May 24, 2013 at
10:00 p.m. ET, on PBS.
Based largely on Loreta’s 600-page memoir, “Rebel” was written
and directed by Maria Augui Carter and produced by herself and Calvin Lindsay,
Jr. It uses dramatic reenactment (most
notably featuring Romi Dias as Loreta), archival material and historical
commentary by such noted historians and scholars as Catherine Clinton, Renee
Sentilles, Kirsten Silva Gruesz, Christina Vella, Jesse Aleman, Vicki L. Ruiz,
DeAnne Blanton, Elizabeth D. Leonard, Richard Hall, Carman Cumming and Gary W.
Gallagher, to weave together a captivating hour long documentary that successfully
lifts the veil of mystery that has shrouded its subject for nearly 150 years
and rightfully restores her place in history alongside her sisters in uniform.
