The 1812 Aponte Rebellion in Cuba and the Struggle against Atlantic Slavery (Envisioning Cuba)

316 Pages·2006·0.77 MB·English

by  Matt D. Childs

The 1812
Aponte Rebellion
in Cuba and
the Struggle
against Atlantic
Slavery
The 1812
Aponte Rebellion
in Cuba
Envisioning Cuba
louis a. pérez jr., editor
Matt D. Childs
and the Struggle
against
Atlantic Slavery
the university of north carolina press
chapel hill
∫ 2006 The University
of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United
States of America
Set in Monotype Dante by
Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
The paper in this book meets the
guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production
Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-
Publication Data
Childs, Matt D., 1970–
The 1812 Aponte Rebellion in Cuba and the struggle
against Atlantic slavery / Matt D. Childs.
p. cm. — (Envisioning Cuba)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-8078-3058-1 (cloth: alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-8078-3058-5 (cloth: alk. paper)
isbn-13: 978-0-8078-5772-4 (pbk.: alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-8078-5772-6 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Slavery—Cuba. 2. Slave insurrections—Cuba.
3. Slavery—America—History. I. Title. II. Title:
Eighteen-twelve Aponte Rebellion in Cuba and the
struggle against Atlantic slavery. III. Series.
ht1076.c55 2006
306.3%62097291—dc22 2006014641
cloth 10 09 08 07 06 5 4 3 2 1
paper 10 09 08 07 06 5 4 3 2 1
For my compañeros For Jamee and my
and compañeras little buddy for
in this world and keeping me whole
the next and honest
The ultimate mark —michel-rolph trouillot,
of power may be Silencing the Past
its invisibility; the
ultimate challenge, the
exposition of its roots.
People find it di≈cult —james baldwin,
to act on what they The Fire Next Time
know. To act is to be
committed, and to
be committed is to
be in danger.
To talk revolutions, to —alejo carpentier,
imagine revolutions, Explosion in the Cathedral
to place oneself
mentally in the midst
of a revolution, is in
some small degree
to become master of
the world. Those who
talk of revolution find
themselves driven to
making them.
Memory is a way —che guevara,
of reviving the past, Reminiscences of the Cuban
the dead. Revolutionary War
Contents acknowledgments ix
introduction
Worse than Aponte 1
∞. The Present Time Period Is
Very Delicate: Cuban Slavery and
the Changing Atlantic World,
1750–1850 21
≤. Nothing Worse in the World
than to Be a Slave: Slaves and
Free People of Color in Early
Nineteenth-Century Cuba 46
≥. Organizing the Rebellion:
The Overlapping Worlds of
the Militia and the Cabildos de
Nación 78
∂. Burn the Plantations: The
Cuban Aponte Rebellion(s) of
1812 120
∑. Vanquish the Arrogance of
Our Enemies: Emancipation
Rumors and Rebellious
Royalism 155
conclusion
Plaques of Loyalty: The Legacy
of the Aponte Rebellion 173
appendix
Biographical Database of the
Aponte Rebels 189
notes 207
bibliography 261
index 289
Figures and Tables figures
Entrance to La Cabaña military
fortress 5
La Cubaña military fortress 5
Prison cell at La Cabaña military
fortress 6
Plaza in Puerto Príncipe where
fourteen leaders of the 1812
rebellion were executed 126
Location of Peñas-Altas
plantation outside of Havana
where the rebellion erupted on
the night of 15 March 1812 141
Remnants of the smokestack
from the boiling house of the
Peñas-Altas plantation 142
tables
2.1 Estimates of Cuban Slave
Imports, 1790–1820 50
2.2 Cuban Population Figures,
1755–1817 55
Acknowledgments
A first book for any author accumulates many debts. Regrettably, I can only
recognize a small portion of all the people who helped me over many years.
First and foremost, special thanks go to my parents, Dotty and Tim Childs,
who raised me with the important values of hard work and respect for
humanity. My only regret is that my mom did not see the publication of my
second book. My second probation o≈cer, Steve Doaks, deserves special
recognition for stressing (unlike my first probation o≈cer) that I did have
some potential and for encouraging me to go to college.
Aline Helg guided and nurtured this study at the University of Texas. The
greatest pleasure in working with Aline was the respect and confidence she
expressed in my work, all the while, however, encouraging a level of scholarly
rigor, thoroughness, and familiarity with the sources.
Numerous faculty members at UT shaped my formation as a historian
during my graduate studies. In particular, I would like to recognize Dave
Bowman, Bob Olwell, Jim Sidbury, Toyin Falola, Sandra Lauderdale-Graham,
Richard Graham, Jonathan Brown, Mauricio Tenorio, and Sonia Labrador-
Rodríguez. Equally important to completing my studies were the solidarity
and fellowship with graduate students Marc McLeod, Joanna Swanger, John-
Marshall Klein, Michele Reid, Alexandra Brown, Hal Langfur, Mike Snod-
grass, Sean Kelley, Michele McAtee, Kevin Roberts, Jason Lowery, Saheed
Adejumobi, Joel Tishken, Dan Haworth, Russ Lohse, Patrick Timmons, Rob-
ert Smale, and Ken Aslakson.
I would also like to thank scholars who shaped this study through inter-
actions at conferences, archives, and e-mail correspondence: João José Reis,
Paul Lovejoy, David Eltis, Jane Landers, Rosemary Brana-Shute, Laurent
Dubois, Ada Ferrer, David Brion Davis, Seymour Drescher, Mary Karasch,