234 CHAPTER 10 RACE, NATION, AND THE MEANING OF FREEDOM, 1821–1888
of the Afro-Cuban demand for freedom from Spain
and slave masters alike, sought to amend the Con-
stitution to require Cuban citizens to lend their “ser-
vices according to their aptitudes,” a clear attempt
to discriminate against Afro-Cubans. They also
drafted the Reglamento de Libertos that “assigned”
freedmen to “pro-Cuban owners” or “other mas-
ters.” Naturally, this alienated Afro-Cuban rebels,
who refused to compromise on the issues of aboli-
tion, independence, and racial equality. For them,
cubanidad—Cuban national identity—transcended
race; to be Cuban meant equality and freedom
from oppression, whether from Spain, the creole
slave master, or self-described white men.
THE TEN YEARS’ WAR
The Ten Years’ War, a long, bitter, devastating
guerrilla struggle, ended ignominiously in 1878
when Cuban creole leaders accepted a peace that
granted them some autonomy but withheld inde-
pendence. The Pact of Zanjón ended hostilities, but
some rebel leaders, like the black revolutionary An-
tonio Maceo, the “Bronze Titan,” rejected the set-
tlement because it only recognized the freedom of
slaves who had fought in the rebel army; it did not
achieve the main goals of the revolution: complete
independence and the abolition of slavery. Conse-
quently, Afro-Cubans refused to surrender arms,
more slaves escaped to maroon communities, and
those who remained refused to work or obey plan-
tation masters. New Spanish colonial laws sought
to suppress this post-Zanjón slave rebelliousness by
restricting slave movements, punishing slaves for
communication with outsiders, prohibiting slaves’
possession of machetes, and regulating slave sales.
Notwithstanding these efforts, however, Afro-
Cuban resistance ultimately resulted in a new con-
fl ict, the 1879 Guerra Chiquita (Little War), that
distinguished itself by the absence of creole partici-
pation and the prominence both of black military
and political leadership that demanded abolition
and equal rights. Desperate to stabilize the island,
preserve Spanish colonial authority, and prevent a
second black republic in the Caribbean, the Span-
ish government sought the loyalty of free Afro-
Cubans by abolishing slavery in 1880, with pro-
vision for an eight-year patronato, or period of
apprenticeship, for the liberated slaves. Ironically,
the abolition of slavery removed the last major
factor that made creole planters loyal to Spain.
Thereafter, the prospect of independence, offering
free, unlimited trade with the United States, be-
came increasingly attractive.
The Ten Years’ War and the Guerra Chiquita
had a far-reaching impact on the development of
Cuban society. First, they decimated the creole
landowning class, hindering the formation of a tra-
ditional Latin American landed elite on the island.
Second, they convinced future Cuban indepen-
dence leaders—black and white—that success re-
quired the abolition of “race” and the substitution
of national identity. To that end, Cuban national-
ists like José Martí and the Afro-Cuban journalist
Juan Gualberto Gómez produced war memoirs that
deracialized black insurgents in the Ten Years’ War
and instead celebrated them as “national heroes.”
According to historian Ada Ferrer, these counter-
hegemonic discourses contradicted Spanish propa-
ganda about a future “black republic” and depicted
images of faithful blacks who were “grateful” for
“white generosity.”
Naturally, this image of passive black insur-
gents starkly contradicted the reality of black
political activism between 1886 and 1895. Afro-
Cubans, drawing on their political experiences
during the previous decade, organized the Direc-
torio Central de las Sociedades de las Clases de Color,
a group whose principal objective was to promote
racial equality on the island. They aimed to create
free public schools, abolish segregated civil regis-
ters and “titles of courtesy,” and secure equal ac-
cess to public roads, transportation, and public
accommodations.
Third, the shakeout of mills during the war,
the fi nancial crisis of 1885–1890, and the expan-
sion of the island’s railroad network combined to
stimulate the spread of latifundios. As they grew,
the mills required more sugar cane, which came
from a wider geographic area than previously.
At the same time, the introduction of cheap rails
spurred railroad construction in Cuba (and all over
the world). In their quest for more cane, owners
of centrales began to lay their own track, and a