Putting the voices of the enslaved front and center, Gloria Garcia Rodriguez's study presents a compelling overview of African slavery in Cuba and its relationship to the plantation system that was the economic center of the New World. A major essay by Garcia, who has done decades of archival research on Cuban slavery, introduces the work, providing a history of the development, maintenance, and economy of the slave system in Cuba, which was abolished in 1886, later than in any country in the Americas except Brazil. The second part of the book features eighty previously unpublished primary documents selected by Garcia that vividly illustrate the experiences of Cuba's African slaves. This translation offers English-language readers a substantial look into the very rich, and much underutilized, material on slavery in Cuban archives and is especially suitable for teaching about the African diaspora, comparative slavery, and Cuban studies. Highlighting both the repressiveness of slavery and the legal and social spaces opened to slaves to challenge that repression, this collection reveals the rarely documented voices of slaves, as well as the social and cultural milieu in which they lived.
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ROYAL DECREE AND INSTRUCTIONAL CIRCULAR FOR THE INDIES ON THE EDUCATION, TREATMENT, AND WORK REGIMEN OF SLAVES
May 31, 1789
The King. In the code of laws of the Partidas1 and other bodies of legislation for these realms, in the Collection of Laws of the Kingdom of the Indies, in both general and limited decrees conveyed to my American dominions since the time of their discovery, and in the ordinances, examined by my Council of the Indies, which have merited my royal approval, the system for training slaves in useful endeavors has been established, observed, and consistently followed, and the appropriate measures for their instruction, treatment, and occupation provided, as their owners are obliged, in accordance with the principles and rules dictated by religion, humanity, and the well-being of the State, compatible with slavery and public tranquillity: nonetheless, as it is not feasible for my American vassals who possess slaves to acquaint themselves sufficiently with all the areas stipulated by law inserted into said compilations, and much less those found in the general and limited decrees, and in municipal ordinances approved for various provinces; and keeping in mind that for this reason, notwithstanding those measures ordered by my august predecessors concerning the instruction, treatment, and occupation of slaves, that over the course of time, slaveholders and their mayordomos [chief stewards] have introduced certain abuses inconsistent with and even in violation of the legislative system and other general and limited measures taken in this particular matter. For the purpose of remedying such breaches, and taking into account that with the free trade in slaves, which I have conceded to my vassals in Article 1 of the Royal Decree of February 28 last, the number of slaves in both Americas will increase considerably, meriting my attention to this category of individuals of the human race, during the time that, in the general code being formulated for the Indies, the laws concerning this important purpose are established and promulgated: I resolve that, for the present, all slave owners and slaveholders in those dominions faithfully observe the following directive:
Chapter I. Instruction. All slaveholders, of whatever class and condition, will be obligated to instruct their slaves in the tenets of the Catholic religion and in its necessary truths in order that they can be baptized within one year of their residence in my dominions, ensuring that they are properly instructed in Christian doctrine on all religious holidays, on which they will be neither obliged nor permitted to work for themselves nor for their owners, excepting harvesttime, when it is customary to grant special dispensations to work on holidays. On these days and all the others on which Church law calls for hearing mass, hacienda owners will bear the cost of a priest to celebrate mass for their slaves on these or other holidays, instruct slaves in Christian doctrine on religious holidays, and administer the sacred sacraments to them, likewise with other seasonal Church observances; taking heed that, every workday, at the conclusion of the day’s toil, slaves pray the rosary in their owners’ or their stewards’ presence, with the utmost serenity and devotion.
Chapter II. Food and garb. Slave owners have a continuing obligation to feed and clothe their slaves and the wives and children of these slaves, whether such dependents be slave or free, until such time as they themselves can earn their keep, presumably by the age of twelve for females and fourteen for males. As it is not possible to dictate fixed standards providing for the quantity and quality of slaves’ food and the type of garb that owners must provide, owing to the wide array of provinces, climates, temperament, and other specific factors, [the king] orders that, as far as these matters are concerned, municipal officials in the hacienda district, in accordance with the town council and the office of the syndic procurator, in his capacity as an advocate for the slaves, make known and determine the quantity and quality of food and attire that, proportionally, according to their relative ages and sex, slave owners must furnish their slaves with daily, in keeping with the reigning customs of the country, and consistent with what is commonly provided day laborers and clothing used by free workers. These regulations, after being approved by the district court, will be affixed every month to the doors of the town council building and churches of each town, and to those of hacienda oratories or hermitages, in order that these notices reach everyone and that no one can allege ignorance in this matter.
Chapter III. Slave occupations. Slaves’ primary and foremost occupation must be that of agriculture and other rural labors, and not the trades associated with sedentary life; and, thus, in order that both slave owners and the State realize the profit due them from the slaves’ work and that slaves carry out those labors as they should, municipal officials, in the same manner as the foregoing chapter, will determine the daily allocation of tasks for slaves, consistent with their age, strength, and individual vigor. As all work must commence and conclude between sunup and sundown. Slaves will be allotted two hours during the course of the day to devote to production of manufactures or to other tasks that result in the slaves’ own personal gain and profit. Owners or mayordomos cannot oblige individuals over sixty years old, nor minors younger than seventeen, nor female slaves to work under “portareas” [a type of quota system], nor may they assign these same women to work at tasks incompatible with their sex, or engage in any toil obligating them to consort with men, nor compel them to work as day laborers. The owners of those slaves in domestic service will pay an additional tax of two pesos a month, as stipulated in Chapter VIII of the Royal Decree of February 28 last, cited above.
Chapter IV. Recreation. On religious holidays, on which owners can neither compel nor allow slaves to work, after slaves have heard mass and received instruction in Christian doctrine, the masters and, if they are not available, their mayordomos will see to it that the slaves on their haciendas amuse themselves in simple and harmless pursuits, just as long as they not mingle with slaves from other haciendas, and are segregated according to sex. These same owners or mayordomos must be in attendance, making certain that slaves not drink in excess and ensuring that these diversions conclude before the bell tolls for evening prayers.
Chapter V. Housing and infirmary. All slave owners must provide housing that segregates unmarried slaves according to their sex, and that is comfortable and sufficient to shelter them from inclement weather, providing raised beds, blankets or other necessary linens, with one person to a bed, minimal provisions for privacy, and no more than two to a room. Owners must designate another separate, sheltered, and comfortable room or quarters for anyone who is ill, and they are obliged to tend to their every need. In the event that owners wish to consign a slave to a hospital, whether because a hacienda’s size does not justify one [a hospital of its own] or because a hacienda is located close to town, owners must pay for a slave’s hospital confinement there, paying the customary daily rate as determined by the court, in the manner and form provided in Chapter II. Likewise, slave owners are obligated to pay funeral expenses of any slave who passes away.
Chapter VI. Concerning old age and chronic illness. Slave owners must see to it that any slaves who, due to their advanced age or infirmity, are not fit to work, and, also, any children and minors of either sex are all properly fed. Slave owners must not grant slaves their freedom in order to be rid of them, unless slave owners provide this class of individuals with funds adequate to maintain themselves with no need for additional assistance, as determined by the court in consultation with the office of the syndic procurator.
Chapter VII. Slaves and marriage. Slave owners must work to forestall illicit behavior between the sexes, encouraging marriage, and doing nothing to thwart marriages between slaves belonging to different owners. In the latter case, if the respective haciendas are so far apart that the consorts cannot live as husband and wife, the woman will follow her husband, the husband’s owner buying her for a fair price as established by appraisers agreeable to both parties or, in the case of a dispute, by an impartial third party designated by the court. If the husband’s owner does not agree to these terms, the wife’s owner will have the same option [to purchase her husband according to these same provisions].
Chapter VIII. The obligations of slaves and disciplinary measures. While slave owners are obligated to support, instruct, and employ slaves in fruitful labors in keeping with their individual strength, age, and sex, and may not forsake minors, the aged, or the infirm, a reciprocal obligation likewise attaches to slaves, who are compelled to obey and revere their owners and mayordomos, to carry out those tasks and chores assigned to them as their individual strength allows, and to venerate them as they would their own parents; and, thus, any who fails to fulfill any of these obligations will and must be subject to corrective punishment for any excesses they commit, whether administered by hacienda owners or their mayordomos, according to the nature of the particular deficiency or offense, including imprisonment, shackles, chains, mace, or stocks, exempting the head, or no more than twenty-five lashes lightly laid on, that do not cause serious contusions or excessive bleeding, the administration of such disciplinary measures being restricted to slave owners or mayordomos.
Chapter IX. Imposition of harsher disciplinary measures. When slaves are guilty of wrongdoing, exhibit shortcomings, or commit offenses against their masters, their wives, or their children, mayordomos, or any other person for which the corrective penalties and punishments cited in the preceding chapter may be insufficient, the culprit apprehended by the hacienda owners or their mayordomos or whosoever witnesses the commission of the offense, the injured party or their representative must inform the court in order that in a hearing with the slave owner, assuming that the slave is not forsaken by his owner before responding to the suit and is not implicated in the accusation, and in all cases with the syndic procurator in his capacity as an advocate for the slaves in attendance, the proceedings follow the dictates of law, the procedures of indictment and sentencing, and the imposition of the corresponding sentence, according to the gravity and exact circumstances surrounding the offense, observing in every respect the same legal process that attaches to offenders who are free. And when the owner does not forsake the slave and the slave is sentenced consistent with the damages and injury done to a third party, the owner must be responsible for satisfying these, in addition to administering any corporal punishment, always in keeping with the gravity of the offense, that the slave perpetrator will undergo once [the penalty] is approved by the district court, if it is a case of the death sentence or a punishment calling for mutilation of limbs.
Chapter X. Wrongdoing or excesses committed by owners or mayordomos. Slave owners or their hacienda mayordomos who do not comply with measures set out in the preceding chapters of this instructional circular pertaining to slaves’ instruction, nourishment, garb, supervision of appropriate work and chores, engagement in wholesome forms of amusement, guidelines for housing and infirmaries, or the abandonment of minors, the aged, or the infirm will incur a fine of fifty pesos for a first offense, one hundred for a second, and two hundred for a third, which must be paid by the slave owner, even in the case in which the mayordomo alone is guilty but lacks the means to pay himself, remitting payment in thirds, a third going to the accuser, another third to the judge, and the final third into a public fine fund, to be dealt with later. In the case that the aforementioned fines do not produce the desired effect, and a repeat offense is substantiated, additional larger penalties will be levied on the guilty party for disobeying my royal orders, and I will be duly and properly informed in order to take the appropriate measures.
When wrongdoing on the part of slave owners or mayordomos consists of administering excessive corrective penalties, causing slaves serious contusions, excessive bleeding, or mutilation of limbs, besides suffering the pecuniary fines cited above, the syndic procurator will press criminal charges against the slave owner or mayordomo, substantiating the grounds according to law, and imposing the appropriate sentence for the offense committed, just as if the injured party were free. In addition, the syndic procurator will confiscate the slave, in order that the slave be sold to another owner if he is fit to work, applying the purchase price to the public fine fund. Any slave deemed unfit for sale will not be returned to the former owner or mayordomo who is overzealous in their punishment. Rather, the owner must pay daily allotments for the slave’s maintenance and apparel, as determined by the court, for the rest of the slave’s natural life, paying it in thirds and in advance.
Chapter XI. Concerning those who do harm to slaves. As only slave owners and mayordomos can administer corrective punishment to slaves, while exercising the restraints outlined above, no other person who is not the owner or mayordomo can inflict bodily injury, punish, wound, or slay a slave without incurring penalties, as established by law, pertaining to those who commit such excesses or offenses against a person who is free, prosecuting, trying [a case], and making a ruling at the request of the owner of any slave who may have been so injured, punished, or slain; or, in his absence, officially by the syndic procurator in his capacity as protector of the slaves, who as such protector also will have a role in the first instance, even if there be an accuser.
Chapter XII. Slave rosters. Slave owners must present an annual roster signed and sworn to before the municipal court in whose jurisdiction their haciendas are situated, of all the slaves contained thereon, distinguishing them individually by sex and age, in order that the town council’s notary public make an official entry to that effect in a special tome designated for this purpose and preserved in that same town council building, with lists submitted by slave owners. Should a slave later perish or quit a hacienda, the slave owner must inform the court within three days in order that, by virtue of a summons issued by the syndic procurator, it may be duly noted in that same aforementioned tome for the purpose of avoiding any implication that the slave may have been dealt a violent death. Any slave owner who fails to meet this condition will be obliged to account fully either for the slave’s absence or his natural death. Should he fail to do so, at the request of the syndic procurator, the appropriate charges will be filed.
Chapter XIII. Means of determining wrongdoing on the part of owners or mayordomos. Given the extended distances between haciendas and towns, plus certain difficulties that ensue if, under the pretext of lodging a complaint, slaves are allowed to leave an establishment without the owners’ or mayordomo’s written permission stating the express purpose of their excursion, and the just laws prohibiting fugitive slaves from being aided, abetted, or concealed, it is necessary to develop the means to address all these circumstances, in order that it is possible to acquire information concerning the treatment of slaves on the haciendas. One of these means is the clerics who traverse haciendas for the purpose of expounding religious doctrine to slaves and celebrating mass. They can observe for themselves and hear firsthand from slaves concerning how owners and mayordomos proceed and how they comply with the content of this instructional circular. By giving secret and confidential information to the syndic procurator of the respective city or town, [he will] in this manner assist the person who inquires into whether or not the masters or mayordomos are lacking in all or in part of their respective obligations, with the ecclesiastic bearing no responsibility for charges found to be baseless, or a denunciation kept confidential by the ecclesiastic due to his ministry, or due to slave grievances. Any information they may provide should serve only as a basis for the syndic procurator to promote and request before the court that a member of the town council or another person of impeccable conduct be appointed to carry out an inquiry; this person submitting the appropriate indictment, and turning it over to a court of law, in order to substantiate and determine the grounds according to law, listening to the syndic procurator, and taking into account any legal precedent and instances cited in this instructional circular, to the district court and allow the possibility of appeal in those cases where a point of law is raised.
Besides this means, it will be advisable for municipal officials, in accordance with the town council and the assistance of the syndic procurator, to appoint a person or persons of good character and conduct, who are to visit haciendas three times a year and closely examine them, and duly report if the conditions singled out in this instructional circular are being implemented, making note of what they observe so that, upon presenting a competent defense [to the court], the matter be rectified through a hearing by the syndic procurator. Also, popular action can denounce the deficiencies or lack of compliance with one or all of the previous chapters, and, in the understanding that the name of the accuser will be forever kept confidential, and the designated portion of the fine will be applied, [the accuser will remain] exempt from liability except when the charge or accusation should prove to be notoriously and overwhelmingly slanderous.
Lastly, it is also declared that the residence trials2 of municipal officials and procurators, syndics in their capacity as protectors of the slaves, will seek out any deficiencies of omission or commission they may have incurred by failing to use all necessary means in order to fulfill my royal purpose, as stipulated in this instructional [ … ].
In order that all the rulings prescribed in this instructional circular be duly and scrupulously observed, I hereby repeal any existing laws, decrees, royal orders, applications, and practices contrary to them.
Fernando Ortiz, Los negros esclavos (Havana: Editorial de Ciencas Sociales, 1975), pp. 408–15.
2. Slaveholders and the Slave Code
STATEMENT FROM HAVANA’S INGENIO OWNERS TO THE KING
Havana, January 19, 1790
Sire:
Hacendados from this city who own sugar-producing ingenios, advised of the royal decree issued in Aranjuez on May 31 last, which provides for the regulation of the education, treatment, and occupations of slaves in these dominions, submit this reverent representation to Your Majesty. We in no way intend to contest these regulations, nor will we attempt to recur to that economic authority which legally authorizes us to govern our establishments as we see fit. We recognize in Your Majesty the full and complete embodiment of the highest sovereignty. We have willingly obeyed Your Majesty as an expression of our love and devotion. Our love only makes Your Majesty’s precepts all the more pleasing to us and our devotion compels us to observe them as sacred. We only wish to make known to Your Majesty the very grave problems that the implementation of some of the chapters of this same royal decree implies and how others are actually carried out in practice.
We know that, in the establishment of these laws, Your Majesty is prompted solely by a sense of justice and love for your vassals. Your Majesty’s august father, whom we will never forget, provided us with many proven instances of that truth, and, assured in our conviction that anything departing whatsoever from that purpose is opposed to Your Majesty’s sovereign intentions, we are inspired to direct our appeal to you. We predict that there will be dismal consequences for our economic interests. We already foresee our haciendas lying in ruin, our families wretched, and unimaginable arrearages for Your Majesty’s treasury. Tithe rents destroyed, port commerce annihilated, our fields abandoned, agriculture devastated, the island subject to one calamity after another, and our slaves, in open revolt, without […]1 leaves us with the disastrous spectacle of the bloodshed that will be necessary to contain them. These damages are exactly what will result from Law 24, Title 1, Book 2 of the compilation of these realms unless the observance of royal decrees and their provisions are suspended. We are being absolutely truthful, subjecting our observations to the closest scrutiny. We vow that Your Majesty will be pleased.
