The Comparative Histories of Slavery in Brazil, Cuba, and the United States (New Approaches to the Americas)

342 Pages·2007·2.87 MB·English

by  Laird Bergad

This page intentionally left blank
The Comparative Histories of
Slavery in Brazil, Cuba, and
the U nite d States
ThisbookisanintroductoryhistoryofracialslaveryintheAmericas.Braziland
Cuba were among the first colonial societies to establish slavery in the early
sixteenthcentury.ApproximatelyacenturylaterBritishcolonialVirginiawas
founded,andslaverybecameanintegralpartoflocalcultureandsociety.Inall
threenations,slaveryspreadtonearlyeveryregion,andinmanyareasitwasthe
principallaborsystemutilizedbyruralandurbanelites.
Yet long after it had been abolished elsewhere in the Americas, slavery
stubbornlypersistedinthethreenations.IttookadestructiveCivilWarinthe
UnitedStatestobringanendtoracialslaveryinthesouthernstatesin1865.In
1886slaverywasofficiallyendedinCuba,andin1888Brazilfinallyabolished
thisdreadfulinstitution,andlegalizedslaveryintheAmericascametoanend.
LairdW.BergadwasbornandraisedinPittsburgh.HeattendedtheUniversity
ofWisconsin,wherehereceivedhisB.A.inhistoryin1970.Hethenlivedand
workedinvariousjobsinPuertoRicobeforeenrollingingraduateschoolatthe
University of Pittsburgh, where he received his Ph.D. degree in Latin
American and Caribbean history in 1980. He has traveled widely through
LatinAmericaandhaslivedforextended periodsin PuertoRico,Cuba,and
Brazil. He has written and published four previous books about rural slave-
basedsocietiesduringtheeighteenthandnineteenthcenturiesinPuertoRico,
Cuba, and Brazil: Coffee and the Growth of Agrarian Capitalism in Puerto Rico
(1983); Cuban Rural Society in the 19th Century (1990); The Cuban Slave
Market, 1790–1880 (coauthored, Cambridge 1995); and Slavery and the
Demographic and Economic History of Minas Gerais, Brazil, 1720–1888
(Cambridge1999).BergadhasbeentherecipientofaGuggenheimFellowship,
two Fulbright Fellowships, and an NEH Fellowship, among other grants and
honors. He is the founding director of the City University of New York’s
CenterforLatinAmerican,Caribbean,andLatinoStudies.

New Approaches to the Americas
EditedbyStuartSchwartz,YaleUniversity
Alsopublishedintheseries:
ArnoldJ.Bauer,Goods,Power,History:LatinAmerica’sMaterialCulture
Noble David Cook, Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest,
1492–1650
Herbert S. Klein, The Atlantic Slave Trade
Robert M. Levine, Father of the Poor? Vargas and His Era
Susan Socolow, The Women of Colonial Latin America
Sandra Lauderdale Graham, Caetana Says No: Women’s Stories from a
Brazilian Slave Society
Forthcomingintheseries:
JohnMcNeill,EpidemicsandGeopoliticsinthe AmericanTropics
Alberto Flores Galindo (translated by Carlos Aguirre and Charles
Walker), In Search for an Inca
Gilbert Joseph and Patricia Pessar, Rethinking Rural Protest in Latin
America
Eric Van Young, Popular Rebellion in Mexico 1810–1821

T h e C o m p a r a t i v e
H i s t o r i e s o f
S l a v e r y i n
B r a z i l , C u b a ,
a n d t h e U n i t e d
S t a t e s
L W. B
AIRD ERGAD
Lehman College and
The Graduate Center
City University of New York
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521872355
© Laird W. Bergad 2007
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2007
ISBN-13 978-0-511-28507-3 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-10 0-511-28507-8 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-87235-5 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-87235-9 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-69410-0 paperback
ISBN-10 0-521-69410-8 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Thisbookisdedicatedtothememoryofmymother,RuthBergad.Herlife
centeredonherfamily,forwhomshewasamodelofdedication,kindness,
warmth, selflessness, dignity, humility, pride, toughness, and love. She
embodiedthesebasichumanvalues,andtheyhaveinspiredmethroughout
mylife.Mom,Icanseeyouputtingthisoneontheshelfwiththeothers,
and I know you would have qvelled, as usual.