Silver Slaves

I thought it was interesting to learn that African slaves were brought to be used in the sliver mines near San Miguel de Allende. According to a report on March 2, 1768, an inspection that had been ordered to investigate charges of mistreatment of slaves was conducted in the area and fourteen slave families were investigated. There is also mention of six other male slaves without families in that specific report. Proctor states that while it is impossible to determine what percentage of the labor force was made up of slaves at that time, he concludes that it would have been significant. The slaves imported from Africa, like the indigenous slaves, formed part of the encomiendo system that bound them and their descendants to a particular plantation or hacienda and they were not usually subsequently bought and sold. Interestingly enough, although the Constitution of 1824 freed the slaves, some slavery was still practiced as late as 1829.
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Afro-Mexican Slave Labor in the Obrajes de Paños of New Spain, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Author(s): Frank T. Proctor III Source: The Americas, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Jul., 2003), pp. 33-58 Published by: Academy of American Franciscan History Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3654753