Finding aid for the Collection of Cuban Slavery Documents LSC.2335

Finding aid prepared by Jasmine Jones and Alex Adame, 2019.

UCLA Library Special Collections

Online finding aid was last updated on 2020 September 4.

Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library

Box 951575

Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575

spec-coll@library.ucla.edu

URL: https://www.library.ucla.edu/special-collections

Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections

Title: Collection of Cuban slavery documents

Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2335

Physical Description: 0.4 Linear Feet (1 box)

Date (inclusive): circa 1816-1890s

Abstract: The forced enslavement of individuals in Cuba began in the early 1500s and continued until 1886. Spanish colonists first enslaved Cuba's indigenous population, and then began forcibly transporting individuals from Africa in the late 1700s as Cuba's sugar industry, which relied heavily on enslaved labor, increased. Throughout the 1800s, amongst international pressure to cease the Atlantic slave trade, Spanish colonists and Cuban plantation owners sought out other systems of forced labor. Cuba did not cease its involvement in the Atlantic slave trade until 1867 and slavery was not officially abolished until 1886. The Collection of Cuban slavery documents ranges from circa 1816-1890s and contains death certificates, labor contracts, identification documents (cédula), enslaved bills of sale, relocation permits, two sets describing emancipation cases, legal documents, correspondence, and governmental reports. Sources: "A fifteen part archive of documents relating to Cuban slavery: labor, administration, runaways, and emancipation." Description by Libros Latinos, February 19, 2016. Hu-Dehart, Evelyn. "Chinese Coolie Labor in Cuba in the Nineteenth Century: Free Labor of Neoslavery." Contributions in Black Studies: A Journal of African and Afro-American Studies 12, article 5 (1994): 38-54. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cibs/vol12/iss1/5. Scott, Rebecca. Slave Emancipation In Cuba: The Transition to Free Labor, 1860–1899. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000. Tan, Hai Lun. "Monuments of a Hidden Past: Deconstructing the Historical Narrative of the Chinese in Cuba, 1847-1959." Honors thesis, Wesleyan University, 2018. https://doi.org/10.14418/wes01.1.1474.

Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Language of Material: Materials are in Spanish.

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Collection of Cuban slavery documents (Collection 2335). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from Libros Latinos, 2016.

Processing Information

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

Original description by Libros Latinos in 2016. Stub record created by Jasmine Jones and materials rehoused by Alex Adame in 2019. Final description by Kelly Besser with assistance from Tess Livesley-O'Neill in 2020 utilizing guidelines outlined in "Anti-racist Description Resources" by Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia and "Writing About Slavery/Teaching about Slavery: This Might Help" by P. Gabrielle Foreman, et al. Description decisions were made to avoid neutral or euphemistic language, lay bare the brutality and violence of the institution of slavery, and humanize the subjects of the records in this collection. For example, instead of "slave" we use "enslaved", instead of "owner" we use "enslaver", and instead of "runaway" we use "self-emancipated."

UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9361311

Biographical / Historical

The forced enslavement of individuals in Cuba began in the early 1500s and continued until 1886. Spanish colonists first enslaved Cuba's indigenous population, and then began forcibly transporting individuals from Africa in the late 1700s as Cuba's sugar industry, which relied heavily on enslaved labor, increased. Throughout the 1800s, amongst international pressure to cease the Atlantic slave trade, Spanish colonists and Cuban plantation owners sought out other systems of forced labor. These systems essentially continued the same practices and conditions of enslavement but were disguised as contract labor. This included a system in China, where individuals were forcibly, deceptively, and coercively recruited into signing labor contracts and then subsequently transported to Cuba. A system known as patronato also became common. Former enslavers, known as patronos, contracted formerly enslaved individuals, known as patrocinados, into an eight year period of labor, often at the same locations where they had previously worked in bondage. Cuba did not cease its involvement in the Atlantic slave trade until 1867 and slavery was not officially abolished until 1886.

Sources:

Hu-Dehart, Evelyn. "Chinese Coolie Labor in Cuba in the Nineteenth Century: Free Labor of Neoslavery." Contributions in Black Studies: A Journal of African and Afro-American Studies 12, article 5 (1994): 38-54. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cibs/vol12/iss1/5.

Scott, Rebecca. Slave Emancipation In Cuba: The Transition to Free Labor, 1860–1899. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000.

Tan, Hai Lun. "Monuments of a Hidden Past: Deconstructing the Historical Narrative of the Chinese in Cuba, 1847-1959." Honors thesis, Wesleyan University, 2018. https://doi.org/10.14418/wes01.1.1474.

Scope and Content

The collection of Cuban slavery documents range from circa 1816-1890s and contains death certificates, labor contracts, identification documents (cédula), enslaved bills of sale, relocation permits, two sets of documents describing emancipation cases, legal documents, correspondence, and governmental reports.

"A fifteen part archive of documents relating to Cuban slavery: labor, administration, runaways, and emancipation." Description by Libros Latinos, February 19, 2016.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged according to the existing order in which it was received.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Slavery -- Cuba

Indentured servants

Contract labor

box 1, folder 1

Death certificates circa 1870s-1890s

Scope and Contents

This folder contains 140 documents including death certificates issued for enslaved and emancipated Afro-Cubans.

box 1, folder 2

Death certificates circa 1870s

Scope and Contents

This folder contains 190 documents including death certificates issued for Chinese and Asian individuals.

box 1, folder 3

Labor contracts 1868

Scope and Contents

This folder contains five labor contracts issued in Cuba to Chinese individuals.

box 1, folder 4

Identification documents and enslaved bills of sale circa 1860s

Scope and Contents

This folder contains five documents issued in Cuba to Chinese individuals.

box 1, folder 5

Identification documents circa 1850s

Scope and Contents

This folder contains five documents issued to emancipated people of color.

box 1, folder 6

Enslaved bills of sale, emancipation circa 1850s

box 1, folder 7

Relocation permits circa 1840s

Scope and Contents

This folder contains four documents issued to emancipated individuals.

box 1, folder 8

Emancipation set 1884

Scope and Contents

This folder contains documents concerning a Black enslaved individual named Simon seeking emancipation from his enslaver, Julian Gomez.

box 1, folder 9

Emancipation set 1880

Scope and Contents

This folder contains thirteen pages of text concerning an enslaved woman's emancipation.

box 1, folder 10

Legal deposits 1885

Scope and Contents

This folder contains two documents concerning pending cases to be heard by the Provincial Board of Sponsored People.

box 1, folder 11

Letter 1848

Scope and Contents

This folder contains a three page letter concerning self-emancipated individuals.

box 1, folder 12

Governor request 1838

Scope and Contents

This folder contains four documents totaling six pages, including a request by the governor concerning self-emancipated individuals.

box 1, folder 13

Report 1830

Scope and Contents

This folder contains a five page report concerning self-emancipated individuals.

box 1, folder 14

Correspondence 1822

Scope and Contents

This folder contains seven documents totaling ten pages, including official and mayoral correspondence concerning the stolen labor of enslaved individuals to complete construction of the port of Monserrate.

box 1, folder 15

Documents 1816

Scope and Contents

This folder contains two documents concerning the suspension of the slave trade.