The Coolie Speaks In the series ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE edited by Sucheng Chan, David Palumbo-Liu, Michael Omi, K. Scott Wong, and Linda Trinh Võ Antonio T. Tiongson Jr., Edgardo V. Gutierrez, and Ricardo V. Gutierrez, eds., Positively No Filipinos Allowed: Building Communities and Discourse Sucheng Chan, ed., Chinese American Transnationalism: The Flow of People, Resources, and Ideas between China and America during the Exclusion Era Keith Lawrence and Floyd Cheung, eds., Recovered Legacies: Authority and Identity in Early Asian American Literature Rajini Srikanth, The World Next Door: South Asian American Literature and the Idea of America Linda Trinh Võ, Mobilizing an Asian American Community Franklin S. Odo, No Sword to Bury: Japa nese Americans in Hawai’i during World War II Josephine Lee, Imogene L. Lim, and Yuko Matsukawa, eds., Re/collecting Early Asian America: Essays in Cultural History Linda Trinh Võ and Rick Bonus, eds., Contemporary Asian American Communities: Intersections and Divergences Sunaina Marr Maira, Desis in the House: Indian American Youth Culture in New York City Teresa Williams- León and Cynthia Nakashima, eds., The Sum of Our Parts: Mixed- Heritage Asian Americans Tung Pok Chin with Winifred C. Chin, Paper Son: One Man’s Story Amy Ling, ed., Yellow Light: The Flowering of Asian American Arts Rick Bonus, Locating Filipino Americans: Ethnicity and the Cultural Politics of Space Darrell Y. Hamamoto and Sandra Liu, eds., Countervisions: Asian American Film Criticism Martin F. Manalansan, IV, ed., Cultural Compass: Ethnographic Explorations of Asian America Ko- lin Chin, Smuggled Chinese: Clandestine Immigration to the United States Evelyn Hu- DeHart, ed., Across the Pacific: Asian Americans and Globalization Soo- Young Chin, Doing What Had to Be Done: The Life Narrative of Dora Yum Kim Robert G. Lee, Orientals: Asian Americans in Popu lar Culture David L. Eng and Alice Y. Hom, eds., Q & A: Queer in Asian America K. Scott Wong and Sucheng Chan, eds., Claiming America: Constructing Chinese American Identities during the Exclusion Era Lavina Dhingra Shankar and Rajini Srikanth, eds., A Part, Yet Apart: South Asians in Asian America Jere Takahashi, Nisei/Sansei: Shifting Japan ese American Identities and Politics Velina Hasu Houston, ed., But Still, Like Air, I’ll Rise: New Asian American Plays Josephine Lee, Performing Asian America: Race and Ethnicity on the Contemporary Stage Deepika Bahri and Mary Vasudeva, eds., Between the Lines: South Asians and Postcoloniality E. San Juan, Jr., The Philippine Temptation: Dialectics of P hilippines-U .S. Literary Relations Carlos Bulosan and E. San Juan, Jr., ed., The Cry and the Dedication Carlos Bulosan and E. San Juan, Jr., ed., On Becoming Filipino: Selected Writings of Carlos Bulosan Vicente L. Rafael, ed., Discrepant Histories: Translocal Essays on Filipino Cultures Yen Le Espiritu, Filipino American Lives Paul Ong, Edna Bonacich, and Lucie Cheng, eds., The New Asian Immigration in Los Angeles and Global Restructuring Chris Friday, Or ga niz ing Asian American Labor: The Pacific Coast C anned- Salmon Industry, 1870-1 942 Sucheng Chan, ed., Hmong Means Free: Life in Laos and America Timothy P. Fong, The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remarking of Monterey Park, California William Wei, The Asian American Movement Yen Le Espiritu, Asian American Panethnicity Velina Hasu Houston, ed., The Politics of Life Renqiu Yu, To Save China, To Save Ourselves: The Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance of New York Shirley Geok- lin Lim and Amy Ling, eds., Reading the Literatures of Asian America Karen Isaksen Leonard, Making Ethnic Choices: California’s Punjabi Mexican Americans Gary Y. Okihiro, Cane Fires: The Anti- Japan ese Movement in Hawaii, 1865-1 945 Sucheng Chan, Entry Denied: Exclusion and the Chinese Community in America, 1882- 1943 The Coolie Speaks CHINESE INDENTURED LABORERS AND AFRICAN SLAVES OF CUBA Lisa Yun TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS Philadelphia Cover image: “A Chapter on the Coolie Trade” by Edgar Holden Harpers, New Monthly, June 1864, vol. 29, issue 169. Publication of this book is made possible through the generous support of the Chiang Ching- Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. Temple University Press 1601 North Broad Street Philadelphia PA 19122 www.temple.edu/tempress Copyright © 2008 by Temple University All rights reserved Published 2008 Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48- 1992 Library of Congress Cata loging- in- Publication Data Yun, Lisa, 1963– The coolie speaks : Chinese indentured laborers and African slaves in Cuba / Lisa Yun. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN- 13: 978- 1-5 9213- 581- 3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN- 10: 1- 59213- 581- 1 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Indentured servants—Cuba—History. 2. Alien labor, Chinese—Cuba—History. 3. Slave labor—Cuba—History. 4. Alien labor, African—Cuba—History. 5. Slaves’ writings—Cuba—History and criticism. 6. Revolutionary literature, Cuban—History and criticism. 7. Cuba—Race relations—History. 8. Cuba—Emigration and immigration— History. I. Title. II. Title: Chinese indentured laborers and African slaves in Cuba. HD4875.C9Y86 2008 331.6'25107291—dc22 2007020202 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 To the Yun and Laremont families, whose heritage spans fi ve continents Contents Ac know ledg ments xi Introduction: Challenges of a Transnational History xv Chapter 1: Historical Context of Coolie Traffi c to the Americas 1 The Narrative of Transition 1 The Early Experiments 5 Chinese and Indian Coolie Labor 7 Chinese Coolies and “Tea with Sugar” 11 Coolies on Ships and the Passage 14 Coolies on American Ships 21 Coolies on Land 28 Chapter 2: The Coolie Testimonies 36 The Commission Investigation 37 Methodological Challenges of Reading Testimonies 49 Coolie Testimonies and African Slave Narratives 54 Who Were the Coolies? 60 Chapter 3: The Petitions 72 The Witness Petition 80 The Verse Petition 87 The Argument Petition 105 Philosophical Prelude 106 Chasing Freedom 111 Slaves of the Market 133 The Paper Chase Petition 137 Chapter 4: The Depositions 143 Race, Re sis tance, and Spectacular Subordination 146 The Peculiar Fatality of Color 157 Struggle Before Solidarity 163 The Cost of Domination 173 Chapter 5: An Afro- Chinese Author and the Next Generation 183 The Subversive and the Translator 187 The Motley Tongue 196 Liberation, Solidarity, and “Socio- po liti cal Adultery” 209 Coolies and Californians 215