Historia de La Esclavitud Negra En Puerto Rico by Luis M. Soler
This book, in my opinion, is worth keeping handy, and with a good library, and after having learned to read both Spanish and French, as well. It was available freely online as a pdf document, via a university library system if I recall correctly, back when I first read it in 2015 or so, but I have not searched for it since then.
This extensive and not easy to read, but well worthwhile history of slavery in Puerto Rico, shows the importance not only of where we have been, but also what tools we have now and how to evaluate them in the light of past and present situations. The author comments that a Cooperative could have saved the small coffee producers of Puerto Rico, though not on whether that would have enabled the liberation of their enslaved workers. Yet this is a step forward in the analysis of both labour relations and the history of People of Color in the Americas.
I now also know that the family of my initially enslaved 5xGreat Grandfather Miles Manzilla, Sr. (the father of the nun featured in the upper right hand corner of the Project Do Better book cover at the bottom of this post…) could even have originated in Spain itself, potentially. Our shared origins are important to know, both for understanding why enslaved workers would have defended their masters during Indian attacks, and also in deciding how to relate to our history of enslavement today. What feelings remain to be resolved on all sides?
P. 15 del pdf = P. 21 del libro
La Corona y los esclavagistas se creaban liberales y generosos, evidentemente, pero sus
esclavos no compartieron ese sentimiento!
The Crown and owners thought themselves generous, but their slaves disagreed!
P. 25=32: Ya sabîa Bartolomé de Las Casas pero no de Fray Antonio de Montesinos a favor de los
indigenes.
Dominicans vs Franciscans ??
P.33 Las Ordenanzas No Fueron Cumplidas… (The Orders of the King to protect the
Indigenous/Indian/Native Population Not Obeyed…)
but “Como si los indios fuesen africanos!” -Nice, Thanks. Now I know which part of my blood
sits higher…
P.33=P.40: At least he admitted his error before he died; Al menos se admetîa su error antes
de su muerte.
Updates online… (Courtney, Richard H., Ruth A., Michelle, Thomas and Mel will certainly like
this book, and Akshat Liked an early update…)
P.77pdf=P.86 del documento: The author thinks that a Cooperative would have saved small
producers in PR from the falling coffee prices (due to Cuban overproduction)…
P.109pdf=P.119 book: Pardos must be like me: morenos claros ?
P. 111pdf=P.119 book: Alot of English testimony from ship captains: 14 British citizens sold
into slavery by contrabandists, apparently never freed (though 7 were identified!!).
P. 126 So France had a Black Code, too? Of course, where did the southern colonies/states
(USA) get them from…
3 November, 1839: Pope Gregory XVI condemned the Slave Trade? and Baltimore, and Maryland…
In summary, there was not only lots of Mestisage, but a good bit of back-and-forthing of slaves between PR and the English and French-speaking colonies. Thus, entirely possible that Miles Manzilla, Sr’s family was of Spanish colony origin.
Read, Write, Run, Teach !
updated from orig. post: 18 February, 12016 HE
*****************
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B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,
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Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BsCs
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:
, El Maestro de Esgrima, in my on-going, perhaps cooling now, love affair with the books of author Arturo Pérez-Reverte. I think I most loved two points in the book: about living and dying, and about childhood games. I was impressed that he actually works a kids game into a major fight scene of the book! His insistence on living his life by a set of rules that were nearly out of fashion already, even then, carries this book through some boring parts. All of the boring parts are needed for the plot to make sense in the end, but the theme is the best part: why is it important for one to live by a code that makes one’s life more difficult? Why take responsibility for upholding the truth, and for living by that truth, in a world where no one else will do so? Or, in the words of part 6 of an earlier 
Context, Critical Thinking, Continuous Learning: Project Do Better 