Carlota Lucumi and the Triunvirato Rebellion

0:12 Hi everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is another episode of Estoria's Unknown, a podcast where we talk about Latin American history. Sometimes it's horrible and deals with heavy topics like racism, corruption and genocide. But more than that, it's also about resistance, power and community. Let's get into it. So we are talking about Carlotta Lusumi and the Triunvirato rebellion. I don't know anything about this. I'm excited, Okay. On November fifth, eighteen forty three, and enslaved a woman named the Carlotta Lusumi, also known as La Negra Carlotta Cuba Cuba in the house. Now we're not like any episodes about we don't write, I don't think, so this is the first, I think. And anyway, what a cool way of being known, right La Negra Carlotta Leguba. Yeah, anyway, she let an uprising in Matanta, Scuba at the Tri Birato sugar plantation. Not much is known about Carlotta, but what is known is that she was an African born free woman from the Kingdom of Benin in West Africa.

1:24 Her last name Lusumi comes from her ethnic group. And hopefully I'm saying that right too. I was prodouncing it wrong. They said, Lukumi, Oh, let's start, okay, shard start all the way over. It's like I always said to sentences, Yeah, yeah, okay. On November fifth, eighteen forty three, and enslaved woman named Carlotta Lukumi, also known as La Negra Carlotta Lea Cuba let an uprising in Matantas, Cuba at the trin Wirato Sugar Plantation. Not much as known about Cardlota, but what is known is that she was an African born freewoman from the Kingdom of Benin in West Africa. Her last name, Lukumi comes from her ethnic group, the Lukumi people, who are descended from the Yoruba of present day Nigeria. Wow Carlotta was kidnapped when she was around ten when she became a victim of the slave trade, and she was taken to the Madantas Province of Kuba. Like elsewhere, slavery in Cuba was extremely harsh, but also by this time slavery had been abolished in it and was being abolished throughout the rest of Latin America. Yes, because the Haitian revolutions sparks revolutions everywhere else, right, that was the first revolution, like we learned from Haiti. Yeah, so I mean when people say we owe it to Haiti, like we really do,

2:58 because I don't know. I feel like a lot of people discount Haiti when it comes to the revolution, and a lot of people tend to like, oh, French Revolution, the French Revolution. It's like, no, look at the Haitians right now, that's a revolution. Due to the harsh conditions and brutal treatment by the Spanish plantation owners, there were several uprisings by enslaved people throughout the eighteen thirties and eighteen thirties to eighteen forties, and Carlotta, along with another enslaved woman, Fedmina, were inspired. Carlotta and Faimina got together and started to plot a rebellion. Some sources say that Carota and Fermina were lovers. If that's the case, good for them, But there's not a lot like evidence out there.

3:40 Either there are two besties planning of revolution together, or they're two girlfriends, and either way, I love them. Either way, I'm here for it. Yeah, yeah, either way, I was reading for them the whole time. Same. Unfortunately, A plantation owner caught Fedimina as she was distributing information about the rebellion to other enslaved people, and Fedmina was severely beaten and then imprisoned. I should say, there's gonna be some extreme violence that we're gonna talk about. Not like too much, you tell, but like a little bit. Okay, yeah, worse than this then yeahn get worse Okay. A different source said that Femina was imprisoned for participating in a prior rebellion that happened earlier in the year in August, but that didn't deter Garrota, and she continued to organize the uprising.

4:31 Garota used the music to communicate and sent coded messages to nearby and slave people to coordinate the rebellion, and to be specific, Gadlota and her co conspirators used done duns or talking drums to coordinate their attacks. Wow, have you heard of talking drums? No? I'm assuming it's the drum that's used in a lot of like music, but I don't know what the talking part is. It's because it mimics like voices. Voice. Yeah, so talking drums are hourglass shaped instruments from West Africa. I know you've seen pictures of it. I'm sure. Yeah, well I'm picturing the ones you hit with your hands. Are those not it?

5:14 Well yeah, but there's like different shaped drums, but yeah, they hit them with their hands, and so yeah, they're from West Africa, so Carlota would yeah, yeah, you know which ones? Yeah, uh huh. So Carlotta would have definitely used them in her youth before she was taken from what is modern day Nigeria. Finally, on November fifth, eighteen forty three, Carlotta, along with other tribal leaders named Philip Naziso, Manuel Ganga, and Eduardo, initiated the uprising, which is now known as the Dumirato Rebellion. But first they liberated a dozen slaves who had been imprisoned, including Femina Oh Good.

5:55 Carlotta and her co conspirators brandished macetas the weapon to the people, my favorite kind of soreed whatever it is. I've been thinking, like, why don't I have one? No? Where does one get one these days? I don't know? Actually, anyway, they brandish much of this, and along along the way they played the drums, calling other enslaved people to join them in code. How beautiful riots and it's like music was always used in this way. I'm so obsessed right now because when you watch Sinners, oh my god, are you serious? You will see the music that like how it's portrayed in the movie and just I mean the way it really was and is still today, but just specifically in the movie. When you hear the music, you're gonna be like, oh my god, like I had, Jill's I cried. We were talking about Sinners right before we started recording that. Yeah, because Christina just watched it and I'm going to watch it later on this week. Yes, especially Okay, there's like there's one scene. You'll see it because it kind of it's what transitions the first act of the movie into the second act of the movie, so you'll see it right away when I'm talking about it.

7:09 But there's one scene first that the guy, the main character, he sings so beautifully, like literal, like wow, what a voice. But he's performing in their club that they opened, what are they called Duke Joints, So he's performing in the Duke Joint and that song when you hear it, you're gonna know what I'm talking about. It's just it's insane the way it was made like crazy. I don't want to tell you more, Okay, I'm excited. So yeah, they were using these talking drums to communicate and to get other enslaved people to join them, and to the white slave owners, this sounded like a ceremony being held by the enslaves, so they suspected nothing amazing. Carlotta and the rebels are burned down the house that was used to torture them, and they killed the Overseers daughter, forcing Julian Luis Alfonso, the owner of the plantation, to flee. But then I saw other sources that said the overseers daughter survived Carlota's attack and was later quoted saying that the black women had shouted to other slaves that they should hit her harder because she was still living. So I don't know what's true because different sources said different things, and it's hard to know because you know, it was in terms of history that we talked about, yeah, a little longer ago than what we're usually talking about. Carlotta and the group then went to the Asana Plantation, a neighboring plantation, and killed as many white people as they

8:42 could find. They kept going and and I think that I don't know if people don't think about it, but like back then, these people were there, like anyone white to them is someone that the slaves them exactly exactly so, because then they're like why do you have to be raised into it? Like please? This is the dumbest topic to say that too, So I shouldn't have preemptively defended that. But you know what I mean, like some people don't get it. Yeah, yeah, they kept going to neighboring plantations, plantations and farms to free other enslaved people. In Toto Carlotta, and the rebels destroyed five sugar plantations and an unknown number of coffee and cattle estates. Initial reports of the rebellion focused on the violence and the quote savagery of the rebels, course of course, because early reports were written were written by Spaniards, but a modern examination of the records would show that the rebels possessed sophisticated military knowledge and often outstarted the Spaniards and like historians compare it to laggitty tactics from now, Oh I love it, I love it. And in fact, many of the enslaved who are anticipated in the rebellion were former soldiers before they were captured and sold into slavery. Oh like back in Africa. Yeah, ultimately the Spaniards with assistant from guess where, the US. Yeah, well,

10:19 it's because if the US let this go on to them, it would threaten their own enslaved populations here, because that's just inspiring. Of course, if you see the same people as you standing up somewhere else, you can be hey, they can do it, I can do it too, right, And they were trying to stable like it was the best quill to quell. Yes, exactly. So yeah, ultimately the rebellion was quelled with assistance from the US. A few sources differed regarding how long the rebellion lasted. One said that authorities weren't able to quell the uprising until the next year, but other sources said the rebell was squashed the next day. So I'm not sure. I wonder. Yeah, I think it did last until the next year, like little uprisings here and there. Yeah, either way, A for sure and known fact is that for her role in the rebellion, Garlotta was tied to four horses and torn apart.

11:21 Oh I hate the Spanish same, They were truly the savage Fermina was also executed. Later on. She and four others who participated in the rebellion were shot and killed in March eighteen forty four that year. In eighteen forty four, it was brutal for the enslaved, since slave owners punished all of the enslaved for the rebellion, even those that were involved, and even those that were free were punished. Eighteen forty four came to be known as the Year of Lashes in Kubab. Oh my god, that sounds terrible right. This was also an attempt to intimidate others to control them at discouraged for their uprisings. But even with the Year of Lashes, slave owners weren't able to stop the word of Carlota's bravery from spreading throughout Kuba, and her actions inspired various subsequent uprisings. The various uprisings that happened after the Triumvirato rebellion became known as lascallera or the ladder rebellions. This name came from one of the most common methods of torture used against the enslaved. I found a description of the ladder though it says, but here they call it a raq. It says, it's a torture device consisting of a rectangular, usually wooden frame. Well, it looks like a ladder. It has a roller at one or both ends. The victim's ankles are fastened to one roller and the wrists are chained to the other, and then a handle and ratchet mechanism attached to the top

12:51 roller or used to very gradually retract the chains, slowly increasing the strain on the prisoner's shoulders, hips, knees, and elbows and causing excruciating pain. Oh my god, damn wow. And this must have been so wighly done that it was then rebellion was named after this method of torture. Yeah. The thrum Birato Rebellion and Lascallera rebellions marked the peak of uprisings, and rebellions didn't pick up again until the beginning of Kuba fighting for their independence against Spain in eighteen sixty eight. Slavery continued in Cuba until eighteen eighty six, when slavery was abolished. And I think I read I forgot to note it here, but Kuba was one of the last places in Latin America to abolish slavery. Wow.

13:39 I didn't know that. I want to say they were second to last, and I don't remember for sure, but I think Brazil was the last last. Yeah, I think so. In present day, there's a monument of Carlotta Lukumi at the trim Birato Sugar Milt to honor her legacy. Oh wow, that's amazing. That's wild that it still took so long for them to abolish ye slavery from her, like the time of her death. And obviously these things aren't they don't just happen. It is like all these extra of rebellions and the literal rebellion that forces their hands. They're not just saying all right, well let's free everyone. Yeah, okay, well thanks for those notes. Again, I don't know if we announce everything, but we're doing short notes to catch up so we can be back to like weekly and it's good to mix it up every once in a while.

14:36 We don't always have the longest notes, okay, they can They can't all be one hour and a half long or one hour you know, so yeah, thanks for sharing. I do have a short bullshit segment, thank you, so one just I guess overall update in general, but gi mad Abrego Garcia was moved out of SECO into another prison. But as if we've said many times on East Tonia's unknown and if you're an OJI listener, you know by now, although e Echo is the worst of the worst prisons, the rest of the prisons are still terrible. And yeah, people are dying, people are being tortured and abused, and even in these prisons, right, so while people are out here screaming sick, sick, SICKO, the other prisons are not all of the prisons. Yeah, yeah, it's all of the prisons, and so people are celebrating that, and I just want to reiterate that all the prisons are bad. And yes, again Secho is the worst, and supposedly, allegedly it was like only it was the prison made for gangs specifically, and there's only men there and supposedly all gang members.

15:54 And while the other prisons are where the all the other people, uh, non gangs, non gang members, all the innocent civilians and activists and teachers and dissidents, that's where all they're all being arrested, and children included. And again, torture and abuses happening in all these other prisons. They're already all overcrowded, So he's just moving out of one terrible place into another terrible place. And I believe that the other people that we know that were sent there and they're still in Techo, like all of them. So I love Venezuelans, yes, and speaking of Venezuelans, but could I propose a deal that would free the disappeared Venezuelans.

16:34 And how does he all of a sudden have the power to make these deals when before he was saying that he didn't have the power to return any of them. Ridiculous, right, it doesn't make sense. But he said he would free Venezuelan, said that Trumpetvertatian deported to and San Raloa if Venezuela released the same number of prisoners, including members of the opposition, people against Venezuela. I guess, yeah, like against Maluo regime. Yeah, okay, so yeah, he said, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of one hundred percent of the two for the two Venezuelans who were deported in exchange for the release and surrender of an identical number of the thousands of political prisoners you hold. But that's rich coming from Bucla, who was also holding political prisoners.

17:23 I know, I was just gonna say that, like, look who's talking. Yeah, so yeah, I have been enjoying I've seen more and more post on TikTok of people saying that they fail for bukheist spell and are now opening their eyes. Do I wish or happened to nor? Yeah, but you know, better late than ever. I guess, agreed, agreed, and yeah that is the Buka bullshit segment today. All right, I guess that brings us to the end of the episode. Yes, we hope that this was one last historian unknown for you.

18:06 Bye bye,