Paying the Price of Freedom: Family and Labor among Lima's Slaves, 1800-1854

Christine Hünefeldt documents in impressive, moving detail the striving and ingenuity, the hard—won triumphs and bitter defeats of slaves who sought liberation in nineteenth—century urban Peru. Drawing on judicial, ecclesiastical, and notarial records—including the testimony of the slaves themselves—she uncovers the various strategies slaves invented to gain their freedom.

Hünefeldt pays particular attention to marriage relations and family life. Slaves used their family solidarity as a str...