mar 22, 1873 - Slavery abolished Puerto Rico

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On March 22, 1873, slavery was finally "abolished" in Puerto Rico but with one significant caveat: the slaves were not fully emancipated — they had to buy their own freedom at whatever price was set by their current owners. In order to accomplish this, the majority of the freed slaves continued to work for their former masters for some time under a kind of indentured servitude. They received a salary for their labor and slowly purchased their freedom.

The government placed a limit on this "buy-back" period and created an insular "Protector's Office" to oversee the transition. Under the new law, former slaves were to remain indentured for a maximum period of three years. After that they would go free. During that three-year period, they could work for their former masters, for other people, or for the state. Once the three-year period expired, if a slave had any remaining debt, the Protector's Office would pay it with an "indemnity bond" at the discounted value of 23% of the claimed debt.

The former slaves earned money by working as shoemakers, by cleaning clothes, or by selling the produce they were allowed to grow in the small patches of land allotted to them by their former masters.

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