26 Years a Slave

Beatriz Carolina Peña, Ph.D. (2007), is Professor at Queens College (CUNY) and a specialist in colonial Latin-American studies. She has published one critical edition and six award-winning monographs, including Manuel Jala: un afrocampechano ataca la esclavitud en la Boston colonial (2024).

• List of FiguresAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1 On Board of the María Luisa1 From Cartagena, but a Passenger?2 Off to Sea, Boys!3 Coast Guard, Privateers, and a Little Mixed-Race Sailor at Sea4 Lurking in the Deep Waters of Coro5 Arriving in New York2 Resilience, Hope and Prison1 The Breaking of the Body for the Breaking of the Spirit2 Nearing the End of Seven Years3 Manuel: the Arrest and the Evidence3 The Crisis of 1741: Entangled in the “Great Negro Plot”1 The War of Jenkin’s Ear2 A Robbery, a Great Fire, and Other Fires3 The Plot4 The Spanish Invasion5 Miranda and York4 William Kempe and the “Spanish Negroes”1 James Parker, the Press, and the “Spanish Negroes”2 The Official Claims of Indians, Blacks, and Mulattoes3 The Capture of the Ave María and the Ana María4 “Several Blacks” and Forty-Five “Men of Color”5 As a Result of Privateering5 Juan Miranda and Four Years of Struggle1 A “Black Face”2 Farewell to Sarah van Ranst3 Rebuttal and Other Witnesses6 Juan Miranda, John Moranda and More Years of Struggle1 Juan Miranda in the Press2 The Civil Suit3 Another Lock-Up and the Continuation of the Lawsuit4 Latest Developments on Miranda5 John MorandaEpilogue: From Cumaná, Cartagena, Havana … to New York Appendix 1: Transcription of Juan Miranda’s Case Documents(New York Historical) Appendix 2: Transcription of Juan Miranda’s Case DocumentsAppendix 3: Transcript of Juan Miranda’s Lawsuit against Cornelius van Ranst before the Supreme Court of Judicature of New York (New York State Archives)Appendix 4: Transcription of Case Entries in the Minute Books of the New York Supreme Court of Judicature (New York State Archives)Appendix 5: Transcript of Manuel de Cumana’s Petition Presented to Governor James DeLancey (New York State Archives)Appendix 6: William Kempe’s Boat Stolen from Greenwich (1757)Appendix 7: Articles about the Rebellion on Board the Sloop PollyAppendix 8: Four “Spanish Negroes”Appendix 9: James Parker about the “Spanish Negroes”Appendix 10: Captures of Spanish PrizesAppendix 11Appendix 12BibliographyIndex