Matanzas (Cuba : Province). Junta Provincial de Patronato

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Matanzas (Cuba : Province). Junta Provincial de Patronato

The Junta Provincial de Patronato de Matanzas was created in 1880 when the law of patronato was passed in Spain. The patronato system represented a legal strategy to gradually abolish enslavement in Cuba through an "apprenticeship" process. The patronato was the mechanism established to oversee the transformation of enslavers (masters) into patronos and of enslaved people into patrocinados. "It represented an intermediate stage between slavery and freedom during which former slaves would owe labor to their former masters, but would receive a token wage in return" ("Gradual Abolition and the Dynamics of Slave Emancipation in Cuba, 1868-86," by Rebecca J. Scott. Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 63, No. 3 [Aug. 1983], p. 457). The Junta functioned as a provincial entity and, with the civil governor, oversaw the local juntas in municipalities and cities.

References to enslavement updated by Amanda Moreno, June 2022, as part of a reparative description project by the University of Miami Libraries Inclusive Metadata Remediation Working Group.