Esclavos de Quito buscan su libertad. Solicitudes de manumisión en la primera mitad del siglo XIX

Abstract

This article analyzes some of the discursive strategies that slaves in Quito used in their requests for freedom during the first half of the 19th century. Once the battles for independence were over and during the first years of the republic, the enslaved continued in a state of servitude. For this reason, they secured their freedom by means of legal documents addressed to the Junta de Manumisión (Manumission Board). With these documents, the slaves tried to prove that they were eligible for emancipation. These pleadings reveal the hidden and evident discourses that were used as strategies to obtain their manumission.