Waiting for Plantation Food Rations, Cuba, ca. 1866
The author, who visited Cuba ca. 1866, describes a large sugar plantation, or estate. The bulk of the hands used in the general operations of the place, cutting cane, plowing, etc. are known as the gente, or people. They are pretty well taken care of as regards food . . . at least in quantity . The clothing . . . is limited, the children usually going about stark naked, the women with only a calico dress on, and the men wearing only their pants. it is rather a novel sight, at the eleven o'clock halt from work, to see these people gathering for their rations, which are served out to them once a day (pp. 360-61). Person in right foreground is playing a guitar. In its digital gallery, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York City), shows a photograph (stereograph) of a plantation view in Cuba (image 1657420) that is clearly related to the image shown here -- which was probably based on the photograph (thanks to Roberta Kilkenny for bringing this to our attention).
Image Title
Waiting for Plantation Food Rations, Cuba, ca. 1866
RegID
SI-OB-467
Date
1866
Title
Waiting for Plantation Food Rations, Cuba, ca. 1866
Source
Samuel Hazard, Cuba with pen and pencil (Hartford, Conn., 1871), p. 360.
Language
English
Item sets
Plantation Scenes, Slave Settlements & Houses
Spatial Coverage
Caribbean--Cuba
Reproduced In
Samuel Hazard, Cuba with pen and pencil (Hartford, Conn., 1871), p. 360.
Researchers
Handler, Jerome; Tuite, Michael; Randall Ericson; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
4-May-12
Identifier
LCP-04