Slavery in Cuba: Anticipation Guide

Read the statements below, and circle in the BEFORE column

whether you agree or disagree with that statement.

BEFORE AFTER

Cuba gained its independence from Spain when the US

Yes No Yes No
gained independence from Britain.

Slavery ended about the same time everywhere around the

Yes No Yes No
world.

There is only one type of White person and one type of Black
Yes No Yes No
person.

The Spaniards started the large-scale system of slavery in

Yes No Yes No
Cuba.

African slaves maintained their own cultural identities after

Yes No Yes No
arriving in Cuba.

Yes No Cuba’s major export is cigars. Yes No

Slavery ended in Cuba after a civil war like the one in the
Yes No Yes No
United States.

Slaves transitioned easily into Cuban society after they

Yes No Yes No
received their freedom.

Timeline of Events from AfroCubaWeb.com

1513: First slaves arrive in Cuba; more follow in 1517.

1526: Royal decree establishes the right for a slave to purchase his/her freedom

1600: None of the 18 sugar mills around Havana have more than 26 slaves.

1762: British seize control of Havana during Seven Year War and allow trafficking of
10,000 slaves into Cuba.

1789: Spain opens the slave trade to Havana.

1806: First cabildo founded to help unite Africans based on national and religious
identities.

1820: Legal slave trade into Cuba abolished, but another 60,000 slaves arrive over
the next ten years due to illegal trading

1825: Cuban Independence movements begin with some help from Mexico and
Venezuela, but the United States still has slavery at this time and fears that slavery
would end in Cuba if it gained independence, so it threatened to block any effort to
liberate Cuba.

1826: Spanish government says that any slave that can prove he/she had been
illegally imported can be free.

1827: Census data now says there are 287,000 slaves in Cuba.

1832: Slavery is abolished in British colonies (remember – not the United States!)

1849: White Cubans begin practice of segregation in public places in an effort to

make themselves look more powerful.

1868-1878: 40,000 Afro-Cubans fight against Spain in the Ten Years War. They do not
succeed in winning independence.

1870: The colonial (Spanish) government passed Free Market Law to free slaves over
60, those born after 1868, and those who fight on the side of Spain.

1873: Last slave ship arrives in Cuba.

1886: Slavery abolished on October 7.

1893: Equal civil status is proclaimed for Blacks and Whites.

1898: Cuba gains independence from Spain, but is now heavily influenced by the
wishes of United States.
What was the economic relationship between the American colonies and Great Britain? (Who
controlled what? Where did the money go?)

Why would the United States not want slavery to end in Cuba?

Why didn’t slavery end earlier in Cuba?

How is this similar to the history of slavery in the United States?

How is this different from the history of slavery in the United States?

Why was it hard for the Afro-Cubans to mount a united front against discrimination from the
White Cubans?