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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2009
Fundamental to an understanding of the complex relationships between race and social class in Latin America is an understanding of the process by which the caste societies of the colonial and early national periods were gradually transformed into the class societies of the twentieth century. During the 1850s a number of South American nations struck down the last vestiges of their slave regimes and the colonial Régimen de castas, legislation designed to divide society into racial castes arranged in a well-defined hierarchy. Among these countries were Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay delayed until later in the century. These developments seem at first glance to have paved the way for the integration of the non-whites as fully-fledged participants in the continent' newly formed class societies, as several authors writing on the Afro-Latin Americans have concluded.
1 By ‘caste’ is understood ‘an endogamous and hereditary subdivision of an ethnic unit occupying a position of superior and inferior rank or social esteem in comparison with other such subdivisions ’.Kroeber, A. L., quoted in Gerald Berreman, D., ‘ The Concept of Caste’, in Sills, David L. (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (New York, 1968), 11, 333.Google Scholar By ‘class’ is understood a social group whose members share a combination of objectives (e.g. education, income, political or social influence), and attitudinal (perceptions of each other and themselves as part of the same class, commonly held ideas concerning class interests and goals) characteristics, and whose members are perceived by the rest of the society as belonging to that class. See Lipset, Seymour M., ‘Social Class’, in Sills, xv, 296–335, particularly pp. 310–12.Google ScholarReaders are further referred to Cox, Oliver C., Caste, Class and Race (New York, 1947 and 1959).Google Scholar
2 For discussions of the Régimen, see Rout, Leslie B. Jr, The African Experience in Spanish America (Cambridge, 1976), pp. 126–60;Google ScholarMörner, Magnus, Race Mixture in the History of Latin America (Boston, 1967), pp. 53–75.Google Scholar
3 See, for example, Beltrán, Gonzalo Aguirre, ‘The Integration of the Negro into the National Society of Mexico’,Google Scholar and Rama, Carlos, ‘The Passing of the Afro-Uruguayan from Caste Society into Class Society’, both in Mörner, Magnus (ed.), Race and Class in Latin America (New York, 1970).Google Scholar These two articles are condensed from the authors' larger studies, La población negra de México (Mexico, 1946 and 1972) and Los afro-uruguayos (Montevideo, 1967).Google Scholar
4 In the Mörner volume, see Fernandes, Florestan, ‘Immigration and Race Relations in São Paulo’. Fernandes' arguments may be read at greater length in his books O negro no mundo dos brancos (São Paulo, 1972),Google ScholarA integração do negro na socicdade de clases (São Paulo, 1965),Google Scholarand its English translation The Negro in Brazilian Society (New York, 1969).Google Scholar Two dated but still classic studies of North American race relations that come to similar conclusions are Dollard, John, Caste and Class in a Southern Town (New York, 1937)Google Scholar and Myrdal, Gunnar, An American Dilemma (New York, 1942), Chaps. 35–2.Google ScholarSimilarly classic is Frazier, E. Franklin, Black Bourgeoisie (New York, 1957 and 1962).Google ScholarThernstrom's, StephanThe Other Bostonians (Cambridge, 1973) includes an interesting chapter on vocational mobility in the black community of Boston from 1880 to 1960.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5 Cohen, David W. and Greene, Jack P. (eds.), Neither Slave Nor Free (Baltimore, 1972), pp. 7–8, 17–18.Google Scholar
6 See Scobie, James, Buenos Aires: Plaza to Suburb, 1870–1910 (New York, 1974), passim,Google Scholar and Conde, Roberto Cortés, Hispano-américa: La Apertura al Comercio Mundial, 1850–1930 (Buenos Aires, 1975), Chap. VI.Google Scholar
7 This period is covered in Scobie's Buenos Aires.
8 See Gallo, Ezequiel and Conde, Roberto Cortés, La república conservadora (Buenos Aires, 1972), pp. 187–233.Google Scholar
9 Goldberg, Marta B., ‘La población negra y mulata de la ciudad de Buenos Aires, 1810– 1840’, Desarrollo Económico, 16, No. 61 (04–06 1976), p. 98;CrossRefGoogle ScholarCenso General de Población, Edificación, Comercio e Industrias de la Ciudad dc Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, 1889), II, 56–7.
10 Sarmiento, Domingo F., Conflicto y Armonía de las Razas en América (Buenos Aires, 1900), 1, 76;Google ScholarQuesada, Vicente (pseud. Victor Gálvez), ‘La Raza Africana en Buenos Aires’, Nueva Revista de Buenos Aires, 8 (1883), pp. 246–60;Google ScholarSegundo Censo de la República Argentina: Mayo Io de 1895 (Buenos Aires, 1898), I, xlvii-xlviii.
11 From a sample taken by the author. The original manuscripts of the census are located in the Archivo General de la Nación, Buenos Aires (henceforth AGN), X, 23–5–5 and 23–5–6. Since the majority of individuals in the census failed to list any occupation (86% of the blacks and 72% of the whites), we may speculate that the percentage of manual laborers in each racial group was actually higher than that yielded by the census.
12 Johnson, Lyman L., ‘The Artisans of Buenos Aires during the Viceroyalty, 1776–1810’ Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Connecticut, 1974, pp. 56–8;Google ScholarMolas, Ricardo Rodríguez, ‘El negro en el Río de la Plata’, Polémica, 2 (1970), p. 50.Google Scholar
13 Gillespie, Alexander, Buenos Aires y el Interior (Buenos Aires, 1921), p. 65;Google ScholarVidal, Emeric E., Picturesque Illustrations of Buenos Ayres and Montevideo (London, 1820), pp. 13–14.Google Scholar
14 A study of slave manumissions in late colonial Buenos Aires found that 90% of freed slaves with listed occupations were domestic servants. Johnson, Lyman L., ‘La manumisión de esclavos en Buenos Aires durante el Virreinato’, Desarrollo Económico, 16, No. 63 (10–12 1976), XVI p. 338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15 AGN, X, 27–7–4.
16 ‘Servicio Doméstico’, El Martir o Libre, No. 9 (17 July 1830), pp. 1–2; ‘La moral doméstica’, La Tribuna, I, No. 63 (27 Oct. 1853), p. 2; ‘La moral doméstica – Casa de corrección’, La Tribuna, I, No. 74 (8 Nov. 1853), pp. 2–3.
17 For biographies of these men, see Ford, Jorge Miguel, Beneméritos de mi estirpe (La Plata, 1899), pp. 50–2, 103–5.Google Scholar
18 Lanuza, José Luís, Morenada (Buenos Aires, 1967), pp. 100–101.Google Scholar
19 See Ford, op. Cit., pp. 73–4. Sar's will is in AGN, Sucesiones 8310, Testamentaría de D. Eugenio Sar.
20 See Lanuza, op. cit., pp. 120–7; Mejía, José Maía Ramos, Rosas y Su Tiempo (Buenos Aires, 1907), I, 274–5, 286–8, 330–40;Google Scholar Rout, op. cit., pp. 190–I.
21 ‘Las Clases Altas de la Sociedad y la de Color’, El Proletario, 1, No. 2 (24 Apr. 1858), p. I.Google Scholar
22 ‘Bombos y Bombas’, La Broma, 2, No. 69 (12 05 1882), p. I.Google Scholar
23 Lattes, Alfredo and Poczter, Raúl, Muestra del censo de población de la ciudad de Buenos Aires de 1855 (Buenos Aires, 1968), p. 68;Google Scholar Scobie, op. cit., p.265.
24 See Cohen and Greene, op. cit., pp. 263, 331; Karasch, Mary Catherine, ‘Slave Life in Rio de Janeiro, 1808–1850’ Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1972, pp. 412, 484–5;Google ScholarWade, Richard, Slavery in the Cities (London, 1964), p. 275;Google Scholar Fernandes, The Negro in Brazilian Society, p. 5 Litwack, Leon F., North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790–1860 (Chicago, 1961), pp. 162–8.Google Scholar
25 Taullard, A., Nuestro antiguo Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, 1927), p. 86.Google Scholar
26 ‘Los lavanderos municipales’, Caras y Caretas, II, No. 56 (28 Oct. 1899).
27 Caras y Caretas, 1, No. II (17 Dec. 1898), 5; ‘El Changador’, Caras y Caretas, II, No. 41 (1 July 1899).
28 Quoted in Lanuza, op. cit., p. 220.
29 Manuel Pereyra, Alvarez, Historia del Regimtento 8 de Linea (La Plata, 1921), pp. 22–9.Google Scholar
30 Molas, Ricardo Rodríguez, ‘Negros libres rioplatenses’, Buenos Aires: Revista de Humanidadesa, 1, No. 1 (09. 1961), p. 125.Google Scholar
31 Mamerto Quinteros, Fidel, Memorias de un negro del Congreso (Buenos Aires, 1924), p. 224;Google Scholar Rodríguez Molas, ‘ Negros libres rioplatenses’, p. 125.
32 See the black butler in López's, LucioLa Gran Aldea (Buenos Aires, many editions, first published in 1884), or the black manservant Benjamin who appears in cartoons in Caras y Caretas. ‘En el Tigre’, Cares y Caretas, III, No. 71 (10 Feb. 1900); ‘ Noticias de la Guerra’, III, No. 76 (17 Mar. 1900).Google Scholar
33 Scenna, Migue Angel, Cuando murió Buenos Aires, 1871 (Buenos Aires, 1974), p. III.Google Scholar
34 For a description of anti-immigrant feeling in Buenos Aires, see Scobie, op. cit., pp. 230–1.
35 La opinión del estrangero’, La Igualdad, II, No. 49 (3 May 1874), p. 1.
36 Ford, op. cit., p. 44.
37 La Broma, 1, No. 33 (21 Mar. 1880).
38 Quinteros, op. cit., pp. II, 93, 153–4.
39 El Proletario, 1, No. 1 (18 Apr. 1858), p. 1.
40 ‘Consejos sociales’, La Juventud, 1, No. 4 (23 Jan. 1876), p. 1.Google Scholar
41 ‘La sociedad obrera’, La Juventud, 1, No. 8 (20 Feb. 1876), p. 1.Google Scholar
42 ‘Falsa inteligencia’, El Proletario, 1, No. 3 (4 May 1858), p. 1.Google Scholar
43 ‘Unión, Igualdad, Fraternidad’, La Jutientud, 2, No. 23 (30 July 1878), p. 3.Google Scholar
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45 ‘El hombre del pueblo’, La Juventud, 1, No. 26 (25 June 1876), p. 1.Google Scholar
46 See Ford, op. cit., pp. 73–4; Canepa, Luís, El Buenos Aires de Antaño (Buenos Aires, 1936), p. 263;Google Scholar‘La Protectora’, La Broma, 2, No. 79 (28 July 1882), pp. 1–2.Google Scholar
47 El Proletario, 1, No. 2 (24 Apr. 1858), p. 1.
48 triunfo, Nuestro, La Juventud, 1, No. 2 (23 01. 1876), p. 1.Google Scholar
49 In so doing, the Afro-Argentines displayed similarities to the Afro-North American bourgeoisie. See Frazier, op. cit., Chap V; Berlin, Ira, Slaves Without Masters (New York, 1974), pp. 273–83;Google ScholarDegler, Carl, Neither Black Nor White (New York, 1971), section on ‘The Flight from Blackness’, pp. 567–70;Google Scholar Litwack, op. cit., pp. 186–7.
50 ‘Nuestro triunfo’, La Juventud, 1, No. 4 (23 01. 1876), p. 1.Google Scholar
51 La Juventud, 1, No. 7 (13 02. 1876), p. 2.Google Scholar
52 See the regular feature La Broma, ‘which appeared in La Juventud during May and June 1876, and which ridiculed the previous week's issue.
53 ‘Actualidad’, La Broma, 1, No. 5 (22 08. 1878), p. 2.Google Scholar
54 ‘¿Por qué se llama “La Broma”?’, La Broma, 1, No. 17 (15 11. 1878), p. 2.Google Scholar
55 La Juventud, 1, No. 19 (7 May 1876), p. 3.Google Scholar For some interesting parallels, see Frazier's chapters on ‘The Negro Press and Wish-Fulfillment’ and ‘“ Society”: Status Without Substance’. Black Bourgeoisie, op. cit.
56 ‘La Raza Africana’, La Nueva Generacón, No. 27 (9 Jan. 1858), p. 1.
57 Letter from ‘Dos Ciudadanos de Color’, El Proletario, 1, No. 8 (16 June 1858), p. 1; Platero, Tomás B., La Broma, 2, No. 95 (4 11, 1882), p. 1.Google Scholar
58 ‘La Hermandad del Rosario’, La Broma, 1, No. 8 (3 09. 1879), p. 1.Google Scholar
59 ‘El lujo es incompetente y ruinoso a la clase de color’, El Proletario, 1, No. 4 (9 May 1858), I;Google Scholar‘El lujo’, La Juventud, 2, No. 22 (20 07 1878), p. 2.Google Scholar
60 Among those mentioned in the black papers are the musicians Zenón Rolón and Manuel L. Posadas, who studied in Italy and Belgium; and the painters Juan Blanco de Aguirre and Justo García.
61 See ‘Alerta’ in Mendizábal's Primeros Versos (Buenos Aires, 1865) and ‘Arjentina’ in Horas de Meditación (Buenos Aires, 1869); Ford, op. cit., p.73.
62 ‘¿Por qué se llama La Broma’?, La Broma, 1, No. II (3 10. 1878), PP. 5–2;Google ScholarLa Igualdad, 2, No. 54 (06 1874), p. 3.Google Scholar
63 First episode, ‘El Ramo de Flores’, La Juventud, 1, No. 3 (16 01. 1876), p. 2.Google Scholar
64 Cañas, Luis Soler, ‘Pardos y Moenos en el Año 80’, Revista del Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas Juan Manuel de Rosas, No. 23 (1963), pp. 281–2, 274.Google Scholar
65 de Reilly, Juan José Soiza, ‘Gente de Color’, Caras y Caretas, 8, No. 373 (25 11. 1905).Google Scholar
66 The best account of this episode is found in Soler cañas' previously cited article, pp. 274–81.
67 ‘Estamos’, La Broma, 1, No. 2 (20 07 1879), p. 1.Google Scholar
68 ‘La libertad’, La Broma, 1, No. 23 (18 12. 1879), p. I.Google Scholar
69 ‘La ley del embudo’, La Broma, 1, No. 34 (19 08 1881), p. 1;Google Scholar‘La lavandera’, La Broma, 1, No. 43 (27 10 1881), p. 2.Google Scholar
70 ‘La Protectora’, La Broma, 2, No. 79 (28 07 1882), p. 2.Google Scholar
71 ‘Los bienes de nuestros abuelos’, La Broma, 1, No. 18 (30 04. 1881), p. 1;Google ScholarLa Broma, 2, No. 81 (11 08. 1882), p. 3.Google Scholar
72 ‘Los cabellos de la aurora empiezan a ilustrar la naturaleza’, La Juventud, 2, No. 32 (30 10. 1878), pp. 1–2;Google Scholar‘Club Barcala’, La Broma 2, No. 8 (11 08. 1882), p. 1.Google Scholar
73 See note 17.
74 Degler, op. cit., pp. 253–61.
75 Mörner, Race and Class,. 141.
76 Andrews, George Reid, Forgotten But Not Gone: The Afro-Argentines of Buenos Aires, 1800–1900’ Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1978, pp. 554–6, 568–9.Google Scholar
