Slavery behind the Wall: An Archaeology of a Cuban Coffee Plantation

Cultural Heritage Studies

by Theresa A. Singleton

"A significant contribution in Caribbean archaeology. Singleton weaves archaeological and documentary evidence into a compelling narrative of the lives of the enslaved at Santa Ana de Biajacas."--Patricia Samford, author of Subfloor Pits and the Archaeology of Slavery in Colonial Virginia "Presents results of the first historical archaeology in Cuba by an American archaeologist since the 1950s revolution. Singleton's extensive historical research provides rich context for this and future archaeological investigations, and the entire body of her pioneering research provides comparative material for other studies of African American life and institutional slavery in the Caribbean and the Americas."--Leland Ferguson, author of God's Landscape, Religion, and Race in Moravian Wachovia "Singleton's enlightening findings on plantation slavery life will undoubtedly constitute a reference point for future studies on Afro-Cuban archaeology."--Manuel Barcia, author of The Great African Slave Revolt of 1825: Cuba and the Fight for Freedom in Matanzas Cuba had the largest slave society of the Spanish colonial empire. At Santa Ana de Biajacas the plantation owner sequestered slaves behind a massive masonry wall. In the first archaeological investigation of a Cuban plantation by an English speaker, Theresa Singleton explores how elite Cuban planters used the built environment to impose a hierarchical social order upon slave laborers. Behind the wall, slaves reclaimed the space as their own, forming communities, building their own houses, celebrating, gambling, and even harboring slave runaways. What emerged there is not just an identity distinct from other North American and Caribbean plantations, but a unique slave culture that thrived despite a spartan lifestyle. Singleton's study provides insight into the larger historical context of the African diaspora, global patterns of enslavement, and the development of Cuba as an integral member of the larger Atlantic World.

Genres: Archaeology, History

286 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 2015

Reviews

[Ann Greyson]

I am a direct descendant of Ricardo O’Farrill y O’Daly, who was a representative of the London-based South Sea Company and the grandfather of Ignacio O’Farrill y Herrera, II Marques de Almendares, who “Slavery Behind The Wall” examines. Being related to so many historical figures, I can feel at times emotionally overwhelmed. Especially, when I was raised on the ideals that I come from a prominent bloodline, so proud of the people who had come before me, more often than not celebrating their triumphs.

In the space of a hundred years, Ricardo O’Farrill y O’Daly’s descendants owned many sugar and coffee plantations under enslaved populations. The author discusses in-depth the rise and fall of Ignacio O’Farrill y Herrera’s coffee plantation, Cafetal Biajacas, nestled in western Cuba, and compares it to other coffee and sugar plantations in Cuba. Additionally, the novel explores how these elite Cuban planters used the built plantation landscape to impose a hierarchical social order upon slave laborers. This jail-like character, housing of enslaved people in prison-like quarters locked at night and carefully watched by guards, had dehumanizing effects.

The detailed research that author Theresa A. Singleton has done regarding the delicate topic of slavery, which carries a profound significance to many, proves that uncomfortable history can be examined and accounted for objectively. This novel offers a comparative case-study of archaeological data with a mix of colonialism and the African diaspora.

My Irish-Hispanic Catholic O’Farrill y Herrera relatives were a product of their times, profiting from slavery and the plantation economy in Cuba, behaving in accordance with what society had sadly succumbed to.