Voices of the Enslaved in Nineteenth-Century Cuba

“Should be required reading for both students and senior scholars who work on slavery in Cuba and the Caribbean. The book will be of great value as a text for undergraduate students.” — The Historian

“A useful synthesis of the evolution of slavery in the Cuban economy.” — Latin American Research Review

“[Rodriguez] does a skillful job of pointing out that slavery was not imposed by physical violence alone.” — Latin American Research Review

“Pioneering. . . . García is not trying to give us an unmediated voice of the enslaved; she knows that is likely impossible. But she does succeed in laying before us a view of enslavement from within the confines of the plantation, in the process giving us a much fuller and richer picture of the interior world of Cuban slavery than any yet available.” — Ada Ferrer, from the foreword

“This collection excels at restoring a strong agency to slaves who are sometimes viewed as faceless, supine, downtrodden, and incapable of responding to their servile conditions. Slaves did not just work, riot, and die violent, premature deaths. Garcia beautifully recovers the rich abilities, insights, and collective will of Cuba’s slaves through their own words. An invaluable and thorough introduction to a new world slave system.” — Franklin W. Knight, The Johns Hopkins University