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Slave Revolts in Puerto Rico: Conspiracies and Uprisings, 1795-1873
From the emergence of the first sugar plantations up until 1873, when slavery was abolished, the wealth amassed by many landowners in Puerto Rico derived mainly from the exploitation of slaves. But slavery generated its disobedience, conspiracies, uprisings, and flight. Slave Revolts in Puerto Rico is a richly documented volume dealing with these expressions of collective resistance. The image of the docile and submissive slave presented by the prevailing historiography until very recently is no longer valid. Documents uncovered by Guillermo A. Baralt provide evidence of over forty uprising attempts, as detailed in this fascinating book.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 19, 2022
This book traces insurrectionist activity among the enslaved African population on the island of Puerto Rico during the first half of 19th Century. It provides a solid account of both the reasons and outcomes of insurrectionist conspiracies and occurrences. I was struck by just how routine and cyclical the insurrectionist conspiracies were. In instance after instance, the author describes how enslaved Africans in Puerto Rico were either (1) inspired by their counterparts in Haiti, (2) led by their own burning desire for freedom, or (3) reacting to the worsening conditions of plantation life on their “haciendas” in Puerto Rico. Often, these reasons worked in conjunction with each other, leading to conspiracy after conspiracy. However, for a different set of reasons (typically betrayal), the vast majority of these conspiracies were squashed before they ever got off the ground.
Notably, the author describes arguably the most “successful” revolt on the island during the 19th Century—the Toa Baja revolt led by the “Longoba nation”—framing its success (insofar as it wasn’t immediately betrayed) as a product of the West Africans unifying around a common identity and language. It was here that I wish the author would have given more detail about who these Africans were, including what ethnic group in West Africa they hailed from, and how they used their traditional African culture in the revolutionary activities.
The last chapter of the book goes into the reasons for why conspiring Africans in Puerto Rico could not replicate the success of their counterparts in Haiti. First, the lack of Maroon settlements on the island (primarily due to geographical disadvantages) deprived potential rebels of semi-autonomous African strongholds. Thus, many individual Africans simply calculated that they would be better off trying to survive under the existing slave dynamic, rather than rebel and almost certainly meet their demise. Second, collective organization was extremely difficult and almost always led to at least one slave breaking rank and giving up the conspiracy to a plantation administrator. Third, because of the major impediments against mounting a real organized threat against the slave system, many rebellious Africans simply chose to either runaway on an individual level, or assassinate their overseers / plantation owners. Despite these reasons (and others) for why collective resistance was difficult, the author makes clear that enslaved Africans in Puerto Rico—particularly those who were captured in Africa rather than born on the island—were anything but docile. This is a sobering, but inspirational account of African resistance against unthinkable oppression.
Notably, the author describes arguably the most “successful” revolt on the island during the 19th Century—the Toa Baja revolt led by the “Longoba nation”—framing its success (insofar as it wasn’t immediately betrayed) as a product of the West Africans unifying around a common identity and language. It was here that I wish the author would have given more detail about who these Africans were, including what ethnic group in West Africa they hailed from, and how they used their traditional African culture in the revolutionary activities.
The last chapter of the book goes into the reasons for why conspiring Africans in Puerto Rico could not replicate the success of their counterparts in Haiti. First, the lack of Maroon settlements on the island (primarily due to geographical disadvantages) deprived potential rebels of semi-autonomous African strongholds. Thus, many individual Africans simply calculated that they would be better off trying to survive under the existing slave dynamic, rather than rebel and almost certainly meet their demise. Second, collective organization was extremely difficult and almost always led to at least one slave breaking rank and giving up the conspiracy to a plantation administrator. Third, because of the major impediments against mounting a real organized threat against the slave system, many rebellious Africans simply chose to either runaway on an individual level, or assassinate their overseers / plantation owners. Despite these reasons (and others) for why collective resistance was difficult, the author makes clear that enslaved Africans in Puerto Rico—particularly those who were captured in Africa rather than born on the island—were anything but docile. This is a sobering, but inspirational account of African resistance against unthinkable oppression.
October 14, 2020
Buen libro para el estudio de los temas de la esclavitud, las rebeliones, la autoridad estatal/organización militar española y la industria agrícola (particularmente la azucarera) en Puerto Rico durante el Siglo XIX. También tiene información interesante sobre las interacciones entre distintas islas del Caribe y movimientos "independentistas" del extranjero en el contexto geopolítico interesante que es la primera mitad del siglo XIX, entre la Revolución Haitiana y las hispanoamericanas.
April 12, 2020
La narración de los abusos vividos en esos tiempos te llenan de coraje.
January 24, 2018
I have been researching Puerto Rican History. Like most books on the subject of slavery in Puerto Rico, this slim book is very dry and factual. There are a lot of well documented dates and locations that makes it great for research but the casual reader would find it to be a very dense read. I do recommend it highly as a starting point for research.
February 6, 2025
Este libro full hay que leerlo, si te interesa la historia de Puerto Rico este es imprescindible.
May 7, 2013
This was originally a thesis for a degree, and it shows. The good part is that it means that this book is very well documented and researched, with lots of very rich footnotes and plenty of references to primary sources. The bad thing is that it is extremely dense, given to extremely dry recitation, and often unwilling or unable to synthesize the information into a point of view.
If the brief synopsis on the back cover is to be believed, this was a very influential book -- it revolutionized the image of the 18th and 19th century Puerto Rican slaves from docile coordinators to frequently-unhappy agitators. This may be the case; I'm simply not knowledgeable enough on these matters to say. However, it did seem an odd statement to make. Slavery is linked hand-in-hand with injustice and rebellion in my mind, perhaps because my native country, the United States, fought the bloodiest war in our history over slavery. Slaves that never rebel seem like an inherent contradiction.
If you're really dying for some information on this topic or need to cite this for a paper you're writing, check this out, but otherwise don't bother.
If the brief synopsis on the back cover is to be believed, this was a very influential book -- it revolutionized the image of the 18th and 19th century Puerto Rican slaves from docile coordinators to frequently-unhappy agitators. This may be the case; I'm simply not knowledgeable enough on these matters to say. However, it did seem an odd statement to make. Slavery is linked hand-in-hand with injustice and rebellion in my mind, perhaps because my native country, the United States, fought the bloodiest war in our history over slavery. Slaves that never rebel seem like an inherent contradiction.
If you're really dying for some information on this topic or need to cite this for a paper you're writing, check this out, but otherwise don't bother.
February 11, 2017
Very short, filling book. Good for any Puerto Rican or anyone interested in the affairs of Puerto Rico to pick up.
February 9, 2023
La cronología de la esclavitud en Puerto Rico y a la vez tu sentimiento se llenan de odio y tristeza el ver como los seres humano se destruyen por el poder y el color de piel
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews