Abstract

PENA, BEATRIZ CAROLINA. Hilario Antonio Rodríguez: a Spanish Negro from Havana in Colonial New York (1746-c. 1757). Front. hist. [online]. 2020, vol.25, n.1, pp.46-74. ISSN 2027-4688.  https://doi.org/10.22380/20274688.811.

The study of the scarce and half-destroyed documents, held in the New York State Archives, in the case of the young Cuban Hilario Antonio Rodríguez, brings to light the presence of the so-called Spanish Negroes in colonial New York, specifically in the mid-eighteenth century. The paper shows that Great Britain and Spain privateering as well as the imperial wars between the two European nations explain the violent circumstances of the arrival of Rodríguez and other blacks, mulattos, and indigenous persons from the Spanish Caribbean to the English-speaking city. These pages reconstruct the narrative of the illegal slavery of the teenager, the works he had to perform due to the status thrust upon him, the masters he had, the places where he lived, and the legal attempts to recover his freedom to return to Havana.

Keywords : Spanish negroes; colonial New York; war; privateering; prisoners; lawful prize; slavery.

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