Slavery Continued On Well After It Had Been ‘Abolished’ in 1817
According to the 1817 treaty that Spain joined with England, slave trade into Spanish colony Cuba was abolished. Unfortunately, this didn’t put an end to enslaved Black people being brought to the foreign land. Between 1821 and 1831, more than 300 expeditions continued to kidnap Africans for chattel slavery in Cuba. It is believed that these expeditions were responsible for forcing more than 60,000 Black people into captivity in Cuba.
Slavery in Cuba Was Gendered
Unlike slavery in America, Cuba’s slavery system was gendered, according to “General History of the Caribbean, Vol III.” Enslaved women often had a different set of tasks and responsibilities than enslaved males. This was different from the slavery system in America where both men and women were required to carry the same workload, especially in the fields. Women were still worked just as hard as men were and often did work in the fields, but many enslaved women had the task of operating town taverns or taking on more domestic labor.
