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Hi everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is
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another episode of Estoria's Unknown, a podcast where we talk
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about Latin American history. Sometimes it's horrible and deals with
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heavy topics like racism, corruption and genocide. But more than that,
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it's also about resistance, power and community. Let's get into it.
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So we are talking about Carlotta Lusumi and the Triunvirato rebellion.
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I don't know anything about this. I'm excited, Okay. On
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November fifth, eighteen forty three, and enslaved a woman named
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the Carlotta Lusumi, also known as La Negra Carlotta Cuba
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Cuba in the house. Now we're not like any episodes
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about we don't write, I don't think, so this is
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the first, I think. And anyway, what a cool way
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of being known, right La Negra Carlotta Leguba. Yeah, anyway,
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she let an uprising in Matanta, Scuba at the Tri
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Birato sugar plantation. Not much is known about Carlotta, but
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what is known is that she was an African born
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free woman from the Kingdom of Benin in West Africa.
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Her last name Lusumi comes from her ethnic group. And
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hopefully I'm saying that right too. I was prodouncing it wrong.
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They said, Lukumi, Oh, let's start, okay, shard start all
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the way over. It's like I always said to sentences, Yeah, yeah, okay.
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On November fifth, eighteen forty three, and enslaved woman named
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Carlotta Lukumi, also known as La Negra Carlotta Lea Cuba
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let an uprising in Matantas, Cuba at the trin Wirato
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Sugar Plantation. Not much as known about Cardlota, but what
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is known is that she was an African born freewoman
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from the Kingdom of Benin in West Africa. Her last name,
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Lukumi comes from her ethnic group, the Lukumi people, who
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are descended from the Yoruba of present day Nigeria. Wow
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Carlotta was kidnapped when she was around ten when she
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became a victim of the slave trade, and she was
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taken to the Madantas Province of Kuba. Like elsewhere, slavery
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in Cuba was extremely harsh, but also by this time
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slavery had been abolished in it and was being abolished
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throughout the rest of Latin America. Yes, because the Haitian
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revolutions sparks revolutions everywhere else, right, that was the first revolution,
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like we learned from Haiti. Yeah, so I mean when
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people say we owe it to Haiti, like we really do,
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because I don't know. I feel like a lot of
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people discount Haiti when it comes to the revolution, and
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a lot of people tend to like, oh, French Revolution,
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the French Revolution. It's like, no, look at the Haitians
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right now, that's a revolution. Due to the harsh conditions
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and brutal treatment by the Spanish plantation owners, there were
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several uprisings by enslaved people throughout the eighteen thirties and
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eighteen thirties to eighteen forties, and Carlotta, along with another
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enslaved woman, Fedmina, were inspired. Carlotta and Faimina got together
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and started to plot a rebellion. Some sources say that
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Carota and Fermina were lovers. If that's the case, good
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for them, But there's not a lot like evidence out there.
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Either there are two besties planning of revolution together, or
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they're two girlfriends, and either way, I love them. Either way,
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I'm here for it. Yeah, yeah, either way, I was
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reading for them the whole time. Same. Unfortunately, A plantation
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owner caught Fedimina as she was distributing information about the
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rebellion to other enslaved people, and Fedmina was severely beaten
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and then imprisoned. I should say, there's gonna be some
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extreme violence that we're gonna talk about. Not like too much,
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you tell, but like a little bit. Okay, yeah, worse
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than this then yeahn get worse Okay. A different source
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said that Femina was imprisoned for participating in a prior
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rebellion that happened earlier in the year in August, but
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that didn't deter Garrota, and she continued to organize the uprising.
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Garota used the music to communicate and sent coded messages
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to nearby and slave people to coordinate the rebellion, and
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to be specific, Gadlota and her co conspirators used done
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duns or talking drums to coordinate their attacks. Wow, have
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you heard of talking drums? No? I'm assuming it's the
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drum that's used in a lot of like music, but
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I don't know what the talking part is. It's because
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it mimics like voices. Voice. Yeah, so talking drums are
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hourglass shaped instruments from West Africa. I know you've seen
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pictures of it. I'm sure. Yeah, well I'm picturing the
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ones you hit with your hands. Are those not it?
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Well yeah, but there's like different shaped drums, but yeah,
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they hit them with their hands, and so yeah, they're
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from West Africa, so Carlota would yeah, yeah, you know
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which ones? Yeah, uh huh. So Carlotta would have definitely
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used them in her youth before she was taken from
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what is modern day Nigeria. Finally, on November fifth, eighteen
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forty three, Carlotta, along with other tribal leaders named Philip Naziso,
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Manuel Ganga, and Eduardo, initiated the uprising, which is now
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known as the Dumirato Rebellion. But first they liberated a
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dozen slaves who had been imprisoned, including Femina Oh Good.
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Carlotta and her co conspirators brandished macetas the weapon to
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the people, my favorite kind of soreed whatever it is.
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I've been thinking, like, why don't I have one? No?
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Where does one get one these days? I don't know? Actually, anyway,
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they brandish much of this, and along along the way
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they played the drums, calling other enslaved people to join
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them in code. How beautiful riots and it's like music
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was always used in this way. I'm so obsessed right
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now because when you watch Sinners, oh my god, are
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you serious? You will see the music that like how
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it's portrayed in the movie and just I mean the
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way it really was and is still today, but just
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specifically in the movie. When you hear the music, you're
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gonna be like, oh my god, like I had, Jill's
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I cried. We were talking about Sinners right before we
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started recording that. Yeah, because Christina just watched it and
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I'm going to watch it later on this week. Yes,
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especially Okay, there's like there's one scene. You'll see it
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because it kind of it's what transitions the first act
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of the movie into the second act of the movie,
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so you'll see it right away when I'm talking about it.
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But there's one scene first that the guy, the main character,
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he sings so beautifully, like literal, like wow, what a voice.
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But he's performing in their club that they opened, what
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are they called Duke Joints, So he's performing in the
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Duke Joint and that song when you hear it, you're
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gonna know what I'm talking about. It's just it's insane
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the way it was made like crazy. I don't want
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to tell you more, Okay, I'm excited. So yeah, they
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were using these talking drums to communicate and to get
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other enslaved people to join them, and to the white
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slave owners, this sounded like a ceremony being held by
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the enslaves, so they suspected nothing amazing. Carlotta and the
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rebels are burned down the house that was used to
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torture them, and they killed the Overseers daughter, forcing Julian
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Luis Alfonso, the owner of the plantation, to flee. But
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then I saw other sources that said the overseers daughter
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survived Carlota's attack and was later quoted saying that the
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black women had shouted to other slaves that they should
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hit her harder because she was still living. So I
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don't know what's true because different sources said different things,
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and it's hard to know because you know, it was
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in terms of history that we talked about, yeah, a
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little longer ago than what we're usually talking about. Carlotta
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and the group then went to the Asana Plantation, a
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neighboring plantation, and killed as many white people as they
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could find. They kept going and and I think that
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I don't know if people don't think about it, but
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like back then, these people were there, like anyone white
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to them is someone that the slaves them exactly exactly so,
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because then they're like why do you have to be
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raised into it? Like please? This is the dumbest topic
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to say that too, So I shouldn't have preemptively defended that.
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But you know what I mean, like some people don't
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get it. Yeah, yeah, they kept going to neighboring plantations,
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plantations and farms to free other enslaved people. In Toto Carlotta,
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and the rebels destroyed five sugar plantations and an unknown
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number of coffee and cattle estates. Initial reports of the
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rebellion focused on the violence and the quote savagery of
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the rebels, course of course, because early reports were written
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were written by Spaniards, but a modern examination of the
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records would show that the rebels possessed sophisticated military knowledge
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and often outstarted the Spaniards and like historians compare it
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to laggitty tactics from now, Oh I love it, I
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love it. And in fact, many of the enslaved who
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are anticipated in the rebellion were former soldiers before they
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were captured and sold into slavery. Oh like back in Africa. Yeah,
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ultimately the Spaniards with assistant from guess where, the US. Yeah, well,
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it's because if the US let this go on to them,
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it would threaten their own enslaved populations here, because that's
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just inspiring. Of course, if you see the same people
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as you standing up somewhere else, you can be hey,
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they can do it, I can do it too, right,
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And they were trying to stable like it was the
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best quill to quell. Yes, exactly. So yeah, ultimately the
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rebellion was quelled with assistance from the US. A few
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sources differed regarding how long the rebellion lasted. One said
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that authorities weren't able to quell the uprising until the
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next year, but other sources said the rebell was squashed
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the next day. So I'm not sure. I wonder. Yeah,
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I think it did last until the next year, like
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little uprisings here and there. Yeah, either way, A for
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sure and known fact is that for her role in
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the rebellion, Garlotta was tied to four horses and torn apart.
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Oh I hate the Spanish same, They were truly the
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savage Fermina was also executed. Later on. She and four
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others who participated in the rebellion were shot and killed
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in March eighteen forty four that year. In eighteen forty four,
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it was brutal for the enslaved, since slave owners punished
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all of the enslaved for the rebellion, even those that
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were involved, and even those that were free were punished.
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Eighteen forty four came to be known as the Year
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of Lashes in Kubab. Oh my god, that sounds terrible right.
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This was also an attempt to intimidate others to control
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them at discouraged for their uprisings. But even with the
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Year of Lashes, slave owners weren't able to stop the
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word of Carlota's bravery from spreading throughout Kuba, and her
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actions inspired various subsequent uprisings. The various uprisings that happened
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after the Triumvirato rebellion became known as lascallera or the
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ladder rebellions. This name came from one of the most
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common methods of torture used against the enslaved. I found
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a description of the ladder though it says, but here
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they call it a raq. It says, it's a torture
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device consisting of a rectangular, usually wooden frame. Well, it
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looks like a ladder. It has a roller at one
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or both ends. The victim's ankles are fastened to one
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roller and the wrists are chained to the other, and
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then a handle and ratchet mechanism attached to the top
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roller or used to very gradually retract the chains, slowly
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increasing the strain on the prisoner's shoulders, hips, knees, and
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elbows and causing excruciating pain. Oh my god, damn wow.
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And this must have been so wighly done that it
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was then rebellion was named after this method of torture. Yeah.
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The thrum Birato Rebellion and Lascallera rebellions marked the peak
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of uprisings, and rebellions didn't pick up again until the
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beginning of Kuba fighting for their independence against Spain in
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eighteen sixty eight. Slavery continued in Cuba until eighteen eighty six,
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when slavery was abolished. And I think I read I
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forgot to note it here, but Kuba was one of
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the last places in Latin America to abolish slavery. Wow.
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I didn't know that. I want to say they were
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second to last, and I don't remember for sure, but
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I think Brazil was the last last. Yeah, I think so.
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In present day, there's a monument of Carlotta Lukumi at
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the trim Birato Sugar Milt to honor her legacy. Oh wow,
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that's amazing. That's wild that it still took so long
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for them to abolish ye slavery from her, like the
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time of her death. And obviously these things aren't they
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don't just happen. It is like all these extra of
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rebellions and the literal rebellion that forces their hands. They're
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not just saying all right, well let's free everyone. Yeah, okay,
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well thanks for those notes. Again, I don't know if
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we announce everything, but we're doing short notes to catch
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up so we can be back to like weekly and
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it's good to mix it up every once in a while.
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We don't always have the longest notes, okay, they can
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They can't all be one hour and a half long
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or one hour you know, so yeah, thanks for sharing.
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I do have a short bullshit segment, thank you, so
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one just I guess overall update in general, but gi
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mad Abrego Garcia was moved out of SECO into another prison.
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But as if we've said many times on East Tonia's
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unknown and if you're an OJI listener, you know by now,
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although e Echo is the worst of the worst prisons,
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the rest of the prisons are still terrible. And yeah,
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people are dying, people are being tortured and abused, and
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even in these prisons, right, so while people are out
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here screaming sick, sick, SICKO, the other prisons are not
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all of the prisons. Yeah, yeah, it's all of the prisons,
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and so people are celebrating that, and I just want
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to reiterate that all the prisons are bad. And yes,
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again Secho is the worst, and supposedly, allegedly it was
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like only it was the prison made for gangs specifically,
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and there's only men there and supposedly all gang members.
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And while the other prisons are where the all the
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other people, uh, non gangs, non gang members, all the
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innocent civilians and activists and teachers and dissidents, that's where
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all they're all being arrested, and children included. And again,
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torture and abuses happening in all these other prisons. They're