| Item Description: | Title devised by cataloger.
The Spanish Cortes approved an abolition law in 1880 that provided for an eight-year period of patronato (tutelage) for all slaves liberated according to the law. This amounted to indentured servitude, as slaves were required to spend those 8 years working for their masters at no charge. The Junta Provincial de Patronato de Matanzas, was created in 1880 when the law of patronato (apprenticeship) was passed in Spain. The law represented a legal strategy to gradually abolish slavery in Cuba. Most of the workings of the slave system were preserved, but patrocinados, as former slaves came to be known, received a minimal set of legal rights and were to be paid a token wage. The transition to the patronato system was overseen by a provincial network of government agencies called Juntas de Patronato. |
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