As African American poets have always tried to reflect in their writings the typical concerns of their culture in the context of a larger American civilization, they created part of their poetical compositions by recalling the folkloric values of their ancestors.

The performance history of La púrpura de la rosa (“The Color of the Rose” or “The Blood of the Rose”) begins in Madrid in 1659 with a treaty and a betrothal, and leads to Lima in 1701 with a French king and his birthday.