Book review

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.5.1.0076
• Published date: 01 April 2013
• Date: 01 April 2013
• Pages: 76272-77
• Author: Jeffrey R. Kerr-Ritchie

I J  C S 5.1 S 2013

BOOK REVIEWS

Manuel Barcia, The Great African Slave Revolt of 1825: Cuba and the Fight for

Freedom in Matanzas (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2012)

hb 272pp. ISBN: 9780807143322

Reviewed by Jeffrey R. Kerr-Ritchie

Between January and June 1825, slaves on coffee plantations in the Coliseo

region of Matanzas, Cuba, planned an uprising. At midnight on 15 June, rebels

gathered at two plantations. The uprising began at the El Sabanazo estate under the

leadership of Lorenzo Lucumí and Federico Carabalí. Over the next several hours,

the insurgents moved from plantation to plantation, killing whites, gathering

arms, liberating slaves, and imbibing. At noon, they reached a tavern where

they were faced-down by armed white residents and soldiers from Matanzas.

The twelve-hour revolt cost the lives of forty rebels and ten whites. Over the

next few weeks, the surviving insurgents were hunted down. Lorenzo was killed

on 26 June, Federico on 27 June. Over the next few months, several new plots

were unearthed; while groups of prisoners were executed for participating in the

uprising. A total of 180 slave rebels were eventually implicated in the 1825 revolt.

They included various West African ethnicities including the Carabalís, Gangás,

Mandingas, and Lucumís.

According to Manuel Barcia the 1825 slave revolt had two notable features.

First, the uprising was extremely violent. He attributes this violence to the slaves’

greater freedom of movement and their desire to succeed by killing as many whites

as possible. He also suggests that such violence challenges the common view that

life on coffee plantations was less harsh than in the sugar zone. The second aspect

concerns the uprising’s African dimensions. The post-revolt inquiry documented

numerous descriptions of warlike clothing, respect for women, drumming,

dancing, jumping, and the ruthless murder of victims. This connotes links to

African warrior traditions that were implemented during the revolt.

The 1825 slave revolt has not drawn much scholarly attention. It disappeared

from public documents after 1844. Not until 1986 did a local historian in Matanzas

write about it. Although some scholars have referenced it, they have invariably

misunderstood the revolt’s signif‌icance. Laird Bergad doubts the existence of a

broader plot; while Gloria García sees it as closing a cycle of slave resistance.

Barcia challenges the silence by providing the f‌irst major examination of the 1825

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