Emerging from silence, Afro-Cubans in the colony

Abstract

Colonial Cuban society was defined by the construction of models based on the color of people's skin, which led to the emergence of racist theories and white supremacy that justified the imposed system: slavery. In this sense, the economic and social situation of black women in Cuba was the most complex due to their opposition to the paradigms of power of the time. The research addresses elements of Cuban history from the end of the 18th century to the second half of the 19th century from a gender perspective. Hence, the general objective is aimed at analyzing the situation of Afro-descendant women in the context of colonial Cuba. The work was developed from a qualitative methodological perspective with the use of theoretical methods, where the bibliographic review was used as the main methodological strategy. The results obtained reflected how female identities were based on the intersection of multiple variables, legal status or degree of miscegenation, which resulted in the formation of racialized femininities, reflected in the painting of the time, especially in the work of Víctor Patricio de Landaluze. The experiences of Afro-Cuban women are a powerful testimony to human resistance and resilience. Studying them allows us to learn important lessons about the fight against oppression and discrimination, in the interest of building a more just and egalitarian society.