Slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico in 1873. Perhaps they were workers or perhaps you have the wrong decade...? What are their names, dates, and locations?
Unfortunately you did not mention what type of information you try to find. So I post some links that might give an overview what is available. In case you would like to search for a particular person you also could post the name and information you might have already and maybe one of the volunteers here in the forum can help in your search.
Familysearch.org is for free but you need to sign up for an account to get access.In case you have access to ancestry (not free) records are there too.
When you search the catalog on familysearch you get a list what is available for Puerto Rico.
On the bottom are two points for slavery in Puerto Rico. Among the records are registers for slaves in Puerto Rico but nothing for the 1880's. In Puerto Rico slavery was abolished in 1873.
I have little information as my father passed away at age 98 and did not give us much information. I heard a name "Cleta" (Enriquetta?) Bonafoux who was supposedly his grandmother. I can guess that she was born sometime after 1724. She had 5 daughters one of whom was named Marcelina Bonafoux. Her mother was an African slave and her father was a slave owner supposedly Bonafoux. This is why I would like to find out more about them.
I have inquired in Ancestry to no avail. I will follow up on your suggestions and hope you find additional information.
[Moderator edit: Location can be either Guayama or Ponce, Puerto Rico. ]
It is difficult if not impossible to do a research with your information. Did you do your familytree backwards from your father? This is the only way to get down to the right people, of course as long as there are records available. Puerto Rico has actually good records which even contain in parts in birth records information about the grandparents. But in order to do right it would be very helpful to collect information first about your father or his parents, names, dates and places of birth, death, marriage or children to make sure to go the right path down and search for the right persons.
