Prior to our visit to the DSI Archives and Library, please:

 

1. read two essays: Resistance & Black Women, Present in La Española as Early as Black Men
2. choose at least one of the following bullet points below and read all documents, meaning the translation and commentaries of the manuscripts listed, although you are also free to explore any other part of the document(s) or website.
3. come to class (held at the DSI Archives and Library, NAC 2/202) prepared to describe the document(s) and discuss your observations

 

RELIGION & PURITY OF BLOOD  (Compare the following 3 documents)

• Manuscript 4 (1501) Agreement between the Crown and citizen Luis de Arriaga to lead settler expedition into La Española. The agreement prohibited the residence in the colony of individuals “banished” from the Spanish kingdoms and those who had been “Jews or Moors or Reconciled” & Manuscript 5 (1501)  By 1501 enslaved Blacks raised in Spain were already seen as a convenient labor force for the Spanish colonization of the Americas, but non Christianized Blacks were banned & Manuscript 28 (1545) The king orders that both enslaved Berbers and free descendants or Moors with trades that already resided in La Española be allowed to stay in the colony, provided that an inventory is made of all of them, while no new people of this type should be permitted in the future
  • Were the officials disseminating these documents concerned about the concept of “limpieza de sangre” (“purity of blood”)? Why were they worried about enslaved non-Christians?

 

MARRIAGE & GENDER (Compare the following 3 documents)

• Manuscript 16 (1504) Since early on in the colonization of La Española, there was an interest for including black women among the enslaved black population being sent to the new colony, & Manuscript 22 (1527) Worried by the presence in La Española of a population of enslaved black men much larger than that of the white colonists and who might attempt to rebel against the latter, king Charles V mandated the carrying of enslaved black women to the colony, and the promotion of marriage among “blacks”, & Manuscript 19 (1522) The Christmas 1521 Black slaves’ rebellion of La Española, the first recorded uprising by blacks in the Americas, appears mentioned for the first time in the colonial ordinances on Blacks issued on January 6th (Epiphany)
  • Why were colonial administrators interested in bringing black women to Hispaniola? What does this imply about gender relations?
  • Spanish slave law gave enslaved peoples certain rights, including the Catholic sacrament of marriage. What did slaves argue that marriage should confer to them?

 

EARLY COLONIAL BLACK IDENTITY  (Compare the following 4 documents)

• Manuscript 71 (1492) Young black man Juan Portugués (“John The Portuguese”) arrives in La Española with Christopher Columbus in his first trip to the Americas. The information is contained in a statement given by Juan Portugués in 1516 at Santa María del Darién (today’s Colombia) & Manuscript 3 (1500) A free young black man, named Juan Moreno or Juan Prieto, who worked as Christopher Columbus’ servant in La Española, is considered the first black person on record to arrive in the Americas since 1492 & Manuscript 43 (1519) According to a settler called to testify, some enslaved blacks owned by a politically powerful master were able to literally get away with murder & Manuscript 40 (1594) A Black African man sold as a slave by French smugglers on La Española’s northern coast claimed a right to freedom based on his African original social status of nobility 
  • What types of histories did you expect to find on the website called “First Blacks in the Americas”? Why?
  • How do these documents both reinforce and complicate the narrative that African descent implies slavery? 
  • What do the terms moreno/a, prieto/a, and negro/a mean in your culture? Are they synonymous? Are there equivalents in the English language?
  • How do you interpret the courts’ use of Juan Moreno/Prieto/Portugués’s testimony?
  • Did some enslaved blacks identify with their masters, particularly those who benefitted from their masters’ social position?

 

RESISTANCE  (Compare the following 3 documents)

• Manuscript 19 (1522) The Christmas 1521 Black slaves’ rebellion of La Española, the first recorded uprising by blacks in the Americas, appears mentioned for the first time in the colonial ordinances on Blacks issued on January 6th (Epiphany) & Manuscript 26 (1530) Around 1530 in Santo Domingo, a female Black slave was burned at the stake accused of poisoning her female mistress & Manuscript 55 (1547) In a letter to the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, the Spanish Crown referred to the reportedly irregular work behavior of local cowboys or cattle ranch workers of La Española. It is very likely that these cowboys were enslaved black Africans or their La Española-born descendants & Manuscript 62 (1553) In 1553, residents of Santo Domingo still remembered how Black maroon leader Sebastián Lemba’s head was exhibited in the city’s public square
  • What do you make of the fact that the first recorded uprising took place in 1521?
  • What were some of the ways that enslaved peoples retaliated against their owners and oppressors? Include any type of action, no matter how ineffective you may deem it.
  • What do you make of the fact that clergy owned slaves? How did this complicate their roles both in terms of their philosophy and their daily activities?
  • Did Lemba’s violent death and spectacle serve serve to further the colonizer’s intentions or did it work against them?