Cuban Tobacco Slavery: Life, Labor and Freedom in Pinar Del Río, 1817-1886
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Copyright by William Alan Morgan 2013 The Dissertation Committee for William Alan Morgan Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: CUBAN TOBACCO SLAVERY: LIFE, LABOR AND FREEDOM IN PINAR DEL RÍO, 1817-1886 Committee: Toyin Falola, Supervisor Jonathan C. Brown Matt D. Childs George B. Forgie William C. Van Norman CUBAN TOBACCO SLAVERY: LIFE, LABOR AND FREEDOM IN PINAR DEL RÍO, 1817-1886 by William Alan Morgan, A.B.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2013 Dedication This work is dedicated to my parents, because I know no one is more proud of it than my mother while I imagine the same would have been true for my father. Acknowledgements The journey as represented by the following pages has been a long and arduous one, but also one that was filled with significant and critical support. I would like to thank first the members of my committee beginning with Toyin Falola who as one of my first professors at The University of Texas to the eventual chair of my committee has been vital to the development of any pretensions I may have as a historian. And while his professionalism and leadership remains a model to aspire to, it is his support and encouragement that I am most grateful for. I am additionally indebted to Jonathan Brown whose unwavering interest and scholarly critiques made this work immeasurably stronger; to George Forgie for his steadfast belief in both me and this project which proved to be the foundation for the completion of this work; and to Bill Van Norman whose influence and approach to understanding Cuban slavery on my own work will be apparent to all. Lastly, to Matt Childs who has seemingly perfected the combination of the warmth and generosity of friendship with the expectations and guidance of a mentor. To say that this dissertation would not be possible without their involvement is an understatement. Beyond the gratefulness I have for my committee as a whole, I would like to personally thank the following individuals for their very large and extraordinary support: Manuel Barcia, Charlotte Cosner, Sarah Franklin, Luis Martinez-Fernandez and Theresa Singleton. In an environment where the default can often fall between apathy and self- involvement the professional support of these individuals will always have personal connotations. v In addition to the support of the above scholars, I also benefited from numerous organizations. Institutionally, I would like to acknowledge the support of the following: at the University of Texas, the Department of History and the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection; in Cuba, the Biblioteca Nacional José Martí, the Archivo Nacional de Cuba, and in particular Vivian Mendez Cardonet and Anabel Cheda Ravelo at the Archivo Histórico Provincial de Pinar del Río. I also wish to acknowledge the contributions of my friends and family who are one in the same; Martin Bahl, Christopher Hay, Elliott Hollander, Evan Ross, Jon Updyke, Chris Werner, and Maddie. In a multitude of direct and indirect ways and over the course of many years, numerous places, and countless conversations, this dissertation was written for them, because of them and with each of them. While everyone listed above played a vital role in assisting me and my work, none did so more than my wife, Claire Boetticher who has been with me since the very beginning and in every moment of this project. Through her patience, encouragement, sympathy, intelligence, sacrifice and elation, I have learned far more about life and love than I ever did about Cuban tobacco slavery. Although this dissertation proved to be longer and harder than I had ever imagined on both of us, the true joy it brings me as a platform for expressing an unparalleled gratitude to my wife is equally more than I could have imagined. I am forever indebted. vi Cuban Tobacco Slavery: Life, Labor and Freedom in Pinar del Río, 1817-1886 William Alan Morgan, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2014 Supervisor: Toyin Falola This dissertation examines the size and scope of tobacco cultivation in the far western Cuban province of Pinar del Río, from 1817 to 1886, in an effort to detail the impact of tobacco upon Cuban slavery and emancipation. This focus is intended to correct the existing historiography that has traditionally either marginalized or assigned false stereotypes to the role of tobacco slaves in Cuban society. Tobacco cultivation, by virtue of its fundamentally different economic structure and size, its regionally specific location and historical development, and the distinct demographic makeup of its work force, suggests different patterns of slavery that in turn precipitated different meanings of freedom than those recognized in other slave regimes. Of central importance is the recognition of the enhanced degrees of autonomy and spaces for independence that the exigencies of tobacco cultivation produced in slavery and in freedom and that were significantly less possible elsewhere. Emphasizing how different types of labor profoundly affected the different ways that Cuban slaves defined themselves and their environment, this dissertation privileges both the specificity and determinative aspects of crop cultivation, and how the structure vii of slave society is informed by a culture of labor. Some of the more critical aspects of slave life and culture – work patterns, living arrangements, family formation, mobility, and the existence of informal slave economies – were all uniquely impacted by the particular demands and demographics of tobacco-based labor. Despite the dominant role of sugar in the historiography of Cuban slavery, other slaves existed, other forms of labor were pertinent, and the differences and the varieties among these slave societies, were important. Consequently there remains a need for a method of analysis that distinguishes and differentiates among the multiplicity of experiences for Cuban slaves. By identifying a distinct slave population whose structure differs radically from the accepted norm and whose presence has been largely minimized, this dissertation is an attempt at rendering a more nuanced view of Cuban slavery. As a result, tobacco slavery is promoted as an alternative or competing narrative to the overall understanding of Cuban slaves and the processes they created for freedom. viii Table of Contents List of Tables ........................................................................................................ xii List of Figures ...................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................1 CUBAN SLAVERY ............................................................................................1 HISTORIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................4 SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY ....................................................................13 CHAPTER LAYOUT........................................................................................16 Chapter 2: Cuban Tobacco Slavery ..................................................................19 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................19 CONNECTING TOBACCO AND SLAVERY .......................................................20 THE ROYAL MONOPOLY ON TOBACCO: THE FACTORÍA SYSTEM .............24 1763: ADVANCES IN THE FACTORÍA SYSTEM ..............................................26 1789 – 1817: THE ENDING OF RESTRICTIONS FOR CUBA’S AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE AND THE FACTORÍA SYSTEM ..................................................32 THE VUELTA ABAJO IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY .................................38 MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY CHANGES TO CUBA’S PLANTATION ECONOMIES ..............................................................................................................46 COFFEE, TOBACCO, AND THE HURRICANES OF THE 1840S .........................50 THE TOBACCO ECONOMY OF THE 1860S: THE GENERAL EXPANSION OF VEGAS AND SLAVE POPULATIONS ......................................................72 CUBAN TOBACCO SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION (1870S – 1880) ..............84 THE RETENTION OF CUBAN TOBACCO SLAVES UNDER EMANCIPATION ...89 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................95 Chapter 3: Slave Labor and the Emergence of the Plantation Vega .............97 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................97 THE HIERARCHY OF SLAVE WORK REGIMES .............................................98 LABOR ROUTINES IN TOBACCO CULTIVATION .........................................103 ix LAND AND LABOR IN THE VUELTA ABAJO ................................................110 LAND VALUES IN THE VUELTA ABAJO ......................................................112 PLANTATION VEGA WEALTH IN THE VUELTA ABAJO ..............................120 THE TIMING OF VEGA EXPANSION ............................................................124 SLAVE DOTACIÓN GROWTH ACROSS THE VUELTA ABAJO ......................133 VEGA GROWTH AND THE INCREASED PRODUCTION VALUE OF WORKERS140 THE VALUE OF CUBAN TOBACCO PRODUCTION VERSUS SUGAR AND COFFEE ............................................................................................................144