PBA Galleries

A set of 6 printed and manuscript immigration documents for a Chinese slave in Cuba. Various sizes.

Includes the following:

• "Macao Document" - The Chinese first immigrated by the boatload to Cuba in 1847 and the first Chinese slavery contracts issued, coinciding with the arrival of the Chinese, were the Macao documents. Typically initiated in China, these contracts were also written up in Cuba. The Macao contracts are the rarest of all Chinese slavery contracts as they written both in Spanish and Chinese, with Chinese on one side and Spanish on the other. The document outlines the rations the Chinese individual was to receive: food, clothing, etc., and describes the medical treatment the Chinese might have been allowed. It is documented that the Chinese were to be paid less than existing black and criollo (native) slave labour and were given only minimum rations to keep them from leaving. Although the Chinese first arrived in Cuba expecting to work as regular laborers, this was a deception and Cuba had in fact looked to other countries to replace the black and criollo slave labor as many were dying of diseases such as cholera.
• Baptismal certificate: this was typically issued after fulfilling an initial (mandatory) 8-year contract (Macao contract), so you will notice this document dates to 1863 as the Macao contract dates to 1855. Religion was a large part of the Chinese' lives in the 19th century.
• "Cedula" - this was a Cuban ID issued to a Chinese slave (different from the ID/Nationalization Certificate issued by the Chinese Consulate in Havana).
• Statement agreeing to abide by Cuban Law - Document stating the individual will abide by Cuban laws. This was not by this slave (many are) as it appears he was illiterate.
• Statement of work performed - this document details the work completed by a slave - in this case he worked on a farm - and states whether he did a good job or not. This is an important document as slaves were issued "Recontrata" to begin work elsewhere after the initial 8-year contract was finished. This is a work reference of sorts.
• Petition to the Capitain General to receive his nationalization ID - the petition is issued after the first 8-year contract is completed (so stated in the document) and after the Chinese individual is known to have "embraced" the Catholic religion. The "Cedula" (above) is then issued.

A very rare piece of Chinese and Cuban history!