Carlota (rebel leader)

Carlota, also known as La Negra Carlota (died March 1844) was a Cuban slave woman of Yoruba origin.[1] She was one of the three leaders of slave rebellion on Cuba during the Year of the Lash in 1843-1844.[1] Carlota led the slave uprising of the sugar mill "Triunvirato" in the province of Matanzas (Cuba) on November 5, 1843.[2][3]

Biography

Carlota, together with another Yoruba man; Eduardo and the Manuel gang, led the rebellion against the mayoral of the mill and his assistants. During this period there were numerous confrontations between the slaves and the prevailing slave regime. Slaves did not know the day or exact place of their birth and they carried out the insurrection in the yumurinas lands. The masters' house and residence was burnt down, and also part of the bohíos of the batey. The rebellion managed to extend through the province of Matanzas to the endowments of the mills "Ácana", "Concepción", "San Lorenzo" and "San Miguel", and numerous coffee plantations and cattle farms.

Drums were the method of communication. There were two Yoruba Africans in connection: Evaristo and Fermina, of the ingenuity "Acana". They devoted themselves to campaigning among the slaves to put an end to the brutality of the system. They managed to communicate by the drums which they interpreted with eloquence. On the 5th of November of 1843, the slaves of "Triunvirato" rebelled.

In the "San Rafael" mill, Carlota died while fighting in March 1844.[4]

There is a monument dedicated to Carlota which stands amidst the ruins of the Triunvirato mill in the province of Matanzas, Cuba.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Ana Lucia Araujo. Shadows of the Slave Past: Memory, Heritage and Slavery (Routledge Studies in Cultural History). Routledge, 2014. p. 198. ISBN 978-1-135-0119-70.
  2. ↑ Richard Gott (2005). Cuba: A New History. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-111-149.
  3. ↑ Eugene Godfried. "CARLOTA , Lukumí/Yoruba Woman Fighter for Liberation Massacred in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1844".
  4. ↑ MARTA ROJAS. "Carlota, the rebel" (in Spanish). Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  5. ↑ CARLOTA Lukumí/Yoruba Woman Fighter for Liberation Massacred in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1844
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