Black Catholic Conspirators in Cuba, Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, free people of color joined overlapping Catholic brotherhoods and military corporations, thus advancing their interests and gaining status in colonial Cuban society. However, the slave revolt of Saint-Domingue, the Cuban sugar boom and the ensuing influx of thousands of “new” Africans, in combination with the rise of abolitionist activity, caused the position of these groups to deteriorate rapidly in the nineteenth century. The alleged conspiracies of Aponte (1812) and La Escalera (1844) became aggravating factors in sapping their historic vitality. Ironically, the well-recorded information these groups maintained about their members allowed Cuban officials to identify and persecute the rebels, and neither previous loyalty nor services could save them. The leaders were executed and hundreds more were deported, catalyzing an Atlantic diaspora with roots in Cuba.