Introduction: nineteenth-century costumbrista writers on the slave trade and on black traditions in Cuba
Cuban costumbrista portraits of slaves in sugarmills: essays by Anselmo Suárez y Romero
Juan Francisco Manzano's autobiografía de un esclavo: self-characterization of an urban mulato
Fino slave
Urban slaves and freed blacks: black women's objectification and erotic taboos
The costumbristas' views of manly black males: uppity blacks and thugs
Depictions of the horrific "unseen": Cuban Creole religious practices
Conclusion. Costumbrista essays on blacks: nineteenth-century preconceived notions of civility.