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.