From the emergence of the first
sugar plantations up until 1873, when slavery was abolished, the
wealth amassed by many landowners in Puerto Rico derived mainly from
the exploitation of slaves. But slavery generated its antithesis:
disobedience, conspiracies, uprisings, and flight. Slave
Revolts in Puerto Rico is
a richly documented volume dealing with these expressions of
collective resistance. The image of the docile and submissive slave
presented by the prevailing historiography until very recently is no
longer valid. Documents uncovered by Guillermo A. Baralt provide
evidence of over forty uprising attempts, as detailed in this
fascinating book.
