Objective:

This essay documents the labor role of enslaved workers who arrived in Cuba and were destined mainly for sugar cane plantations during the illegal trade beginning in 1820. I particularly analyze their literary presence in costumbrismo, artistic trend of the moment which self-censored reporting on the violations of the labor statutes that provided for the maintenance of enslaved workers.

Methodology:

I examine representative costumbrista essays by Anselmo Suárez y Romero (1818-1878), collected in his Colección de artículos (1859).

Originality:

I highlight certain types of costumbrista essays by Suárez and Romero, which I classify as "sentimental labor", as they reveal detailed information about the exhaustive tasks of enslaved workers and abundant personal data presented in a positive way or, as I argue, through an anti-slavery perspective.

Conclusions:

My analysis focuses on the passage of time, marked by frequent references to sunsets and nights of intense physical work for enslaved workers, as a subversive literary technique indirectly related to the strong anti-slavery tone of these costumbrista essays. The images of the twilight and the dusk are mostly gloomy, but connected to the constant presence of death; a highly romantic metaphor, which points directly to the high death rate among enslaved workers.