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Collection of Cuban slavery documents
LSC.2335
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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.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
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.
[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.
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:
9361311
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.
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.
This collection is arranged according to the existing order in which it was received.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Slavery -- Cuba
Indentured servants
Contract labor