Slavery Ended in Puerto Rico 150 Years Ago. Examine the Island’s History from Spanish Colony to US Territory

By 1867, Puerto Rico had 656,328 inhabitants. Its recorded population consisted of 346,437 white people and 309,891 people of color who were categorized as Black, mulatto, and Mestizos. Spain also used the territory as a military outpost as the country continued to colonize the Caribbean along with Central and South America.

Enslaved people grew and harvested highly profitable crops such as coffee and sugar cane, which bolstered Spain’s economy.

The Center’s Digital Collections hold 67 slave documents that contain the names of those enslaved, details about their appearances, and names of those who purchased enslaved people. The papers span 1867–1872.

The Center’s founder Arturo Schomburg, along with friends Rafael Serra, Rosendo Rodríguez, Silvestre Pivalo founded the political club Las Dos Antillas in 1892. It advocated for the liberation of Puerto Rico and Cuba from Spain. Mr. Schomburg served as the group’s secretary.

Meeting minutes document donations of medical supplies, money, and weapons in aid of the independence of both colonies. The Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division created a finding aid detailing Mr. Schomburg’s records. The Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference has the papers on microfilm. Two pages of the records are also in the Center’s Digital Collections.

The club dissolved in 1898 following U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War.

Mr. Schomburg (1874–1938), who was born in Puerto Rico, was of African and Puerto Rican descent. He emigrated to New York in 1891. He collected books, manuscripts, artworks, and more highlighting the achievements and histories of people of color across the African Diaspora. He sold his collection to The New York Public Library in 1926. His items are the foundation of the Center’s collections, which today hold over 11 million objects.

In a Letter to the Editor of The New York Times in 1902, Arturo Schomburg questioned the government’s treatment of fellow Puerto Ricans when traveling to the mainland U.S. 

He wrote that during the Spanish-American War and before peace negotiations were completed, the U.S flag flew over Puerto Rico "in supremacy, and to the nations of the worlds stands stands the symbol of sovereign power.”

When entering the mainland U.S, Puerto Rican residents were being involuntarily “subject to the same conditions and examinations as are enforced against people from a country over which the United States claims no sovereignty.” The government's actions were also at odds with the Organic Act, he added.

The Foraker Act—also known as the Organic Act of 1900—gave Puerto Rican residents the protection of the United States but did not grant citizenship. 

Mr. Schomburg spoke out about Puerto Ricans living on the mainland and not being able to vote plus Puerto Ricans residents entering the mainland and still being subject to foreign immigration laws in a second letter to the paper’s editor in 1903.

"We would like to know the status of the Porto Ricans who were naturalized previous to the [Spanish-American] war," he wrote under the pen name Guarionex, "if they are ipse facto Americans or citizens of Porto Rico."

In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act giving Puerto Rican residents on the island U.S. statutory citizenship, an action by Congress. The act created Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches of government and a Bill of Rights. The act also included a statement that Puerto Rico's governor and the U.S Executive Branch can override or veto any law passed by Puerto Rico's legislature. (Currently, Puerto Rico does not have voting representation in Congress.)

Mr. Schomburg's 1903 letter also questioned why the island was "deprived of our lovely" name. The government changed the spelling of the island to "Porto Rico" following 1898's Treaty of Paris. Meanwhile other places on the mainland kept the original Spanish spellings of their names after become a part of the U.S., he wrote.

The government returned to the island's Spanish spelling in 1931.

With an NYPL Library card, researchers can explore past issues of The New York Times to read the full versions of "Questions by a Porto Rican" and "Status of Porto Ricans", respectively, at any library location. 

To learn more about Mr. Schomburg, explore the Center's Arturo Schomburg Research Guide. It details his activism, collection, writings, and legacy.

In support of the Center’s 2004 book and 2005 website In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience, which looked at 13 migrations that transformed communities of people of African descent, there was a digital compilation of photographs highlighting Puerto Rico. Explore the Stereograph Collection to view images of farm workers cutting sugar cane, street scenes of San Juan, and more. Photos span 1865 through 1900.

Film

“Known to tourists as an island paradise in the Caribbean sun but the peace and tranquility seen by tourists are illusions,” says Rosalba Rolon, the voice narrating Puerto Rico: Our Right to Decide. “On our own island, we are controlled by others. When we go to the mainland, we are aliens by the nation that claims us as citizens.”

Should the island seek to become the 51st state? Remain a U.S. territory? Become its own independent country? In interviews with activists, educators, farmers, religious leaders, and residents, discover different perspectives of the island as they discuss Puerto Rico’s past, future, and preserving its unique culture.

The Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division holds this 1981 documentary short co-written and directed by Vicente Juarbe. The film (780344) is part of the Black Filmmaker Foundation Collection.

Books

Looking to spark additional conversations around colonialism, culture, nationalism, and race? Here are some texts to read at the Center’s Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division: 

Blackness, Ethnicity and Cultural Transformations in Southern Puerto Rico written by Arlene Torres.

Blackness in Latin America and the Caribbean: Social Dynamics and Cultural Transformations edited by Norman E. Whitten, Jr. and Arlene Torres. 

Puerto Rican Jam: Rethinking Colonialism and Nationalism edited by Frances Negrón-Muntaner and Ramón Grosfoguel.

San Mateo de Cangrejos: Historical Notes on a Self-Emancipated Black Community in Puerto Rico written by Gilberto Aponte Torres, translated by Karen Juanita Carrillo, and includes a forward translated by Vanessa K. Valdés.

The Hispanic American Newspapers database is the single largest compilation of Spanish-language newspapers printed in the U.S. from 1808–1980. Information can be accessed using an NYPL library card.