Old Spanish Racial Terminolgy?
I am abstracting information from a 1790 slave ship record (Slave Trade to Havana, Cuba, 1790 - 1820, from the DPLS website). The African slaves are classified as "Piexas", "Mulecones" , and "Muleques"
I have been to several spanish speaking chat rooms and no one seems to know what these words mean. One of my Hispanic friends has heard "Piexa" used to refer to a Black person of "non-mixed" heritage.The other words could be equivalent to "mulato" but I don;t understand the distinction between the two.
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Re: Old Spanish Racial Terminology?
Not precisely an answer, but the def. for "muleque" is: "masc.(Cuba, hist.) little slave; black boy." ... according to the 1975 Simon & Schuster's Concise Int'l (Eng-Span) Dict., edited by Tana de Gamez.
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Re: Old Spanish Racial Terminology?
Thank you very much for this info. I will add this and the reference to my web page.
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Re: Old Spanish Racial Terminology?
From an old (1890s) Spanish dictionary...muleques was a "new" young negro slave between 7 to 10 years old. The term was Cuban. The other term "mulecones" may have meant an older "new" slave. Not sure about the other word "Piezas" although that might have been someone who was already a slave and not "new".
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Re: Old Spanish Racial Terminology?
Hi!
Thank you for the reply! Very informative. I'll add this as a note on my web page where I have transcribed a lot of slave importation data (into Havana, Cuba).
Take Care, ---Karmella
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Re: Old Spanish Racial Terminology?
Just took another look at my 1890s dictionary. It does have “mulecon” = Negro bozal de once a diecisiete años. Voz cubana. The term bozal meant a “new” slave. Mulecones would be the plural of mulecon. So maybe the other word “Pieza” meant an adult?
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Re: Old Spanish Racial Terminolgy?
The term "piexas" or "piezas" literally meant "pieces" as in items of inventory or towards the slaves, as if counting animals. This term probably applied to the adults while the other terms were for children. The following is an extract from a website citation...
Los esclavos estaban catalogados no como humanos sino como un objeto, en un viaje inventario se lee: "Carta de venta que otorgó Melchor de Brito, vecino de las minas del Espíritu Santo, a favor de dicho Pedro Narváez de diez y seis piezas de esclavos que le vendió". Eso de mencionar a los esclavos por piezas, era lo mismo que señalar mercancía, bultos, barriles, animales, etc. "Las cartas de venta quedaban sujetas al capricho del dueño del esclavo, por lo que ve a su precio, con ponerlo alto, dificultaban la operación. En los portales de la plaza pública, donde hoy está el Teatro Degollado y en la Plaza Mayor o Plaza de Armas, era donde periódicamente se acostumbraba hacer la venta de Esclavos, algo así como una subasta pública.
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Re: Old Spanish Racial Terminolgy?
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the info! This is very helpful.
---Karmella
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Re: Old Spanish Racial Terminology?
your spanish information from others than Cubans as they are notoriously and wrongly highly negative towards blacks in particular. I would highly suggest comparing anything from a cuban source with that of real Spain and other Spanish speaking countries. If still in doubt, please consult the Gale Multiculturual Encyclopedia of America as to Cubans interatcions with those ofnother groups, races and just visit Miami and judge for yourself.
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