A Thesis entitled From Cuba to Ybor City: Race, Revolution, Nationalism and Afro-Cuban Identity by Elizabeth Becker Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Arts Degree in History _________________________________________ Diane Britton, Ph.D., Committee Chair _________________________________________ Charles Beatty-Medina, Ph.D., Committee Member _________________________________________ Ronald Lora, Ph.D., Committee Member _________________________________________ Patricia Komuniecki, Ph.D., Dean, College of Graduate Studies The University of Toledo May 2013 Copyright 2013, Elizabeth Becker This document is copyrighted material. Under copyright law, no parts of this document may be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author. An Abstract of From Cuba to Ybor City: Race, Revolution, Nationalism and Afro-Cuban Identity by Elizabeth Becker Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Arts Degree in History The University of Toledo May 2013 This research project explores race, nationalism, and Afro-Cuban identity in the small Florida ethnic enclave of Ybor City in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It also examines slavery, race, and revolution in nineteenth-century Cuba. The study reveals how Cuban ethnicity and patriotic solidarity ultimately trumped racial divisiveness in the Ybor City. Although the Jim Crow Laws deeply penetrated all levels of society in the U.S. South, black and white Cubans coexisted within the tiny bubble outside of Tampa during the last few decades of the nineteenth century. Historically, scholars have rarely focused on the voices of Afro-Cubans during this critical time period of Cuba’s nation building project, even though black Cubans contributed substantially to Cuba Libre and the Cuban Liberation army. By illuminating the Afro-Cuban immigrant story amidst the violent times of the Jim Crow South, the Spanish-American War, and their relations with the white Cuban exile community who escaped Spanish persecution leading up to the war, a complex and passionate set of characters are revealed who defined themselves as being Cuban, black, as well as immigrants. iii! For Mom and Adam “A Cuban is more than white, more than mulatto, more than black.” 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "!#$%&'!()**'+&$,-!!"#$%&'()%*+(,-.%/0#"1234()5%6)%7(89(!.(&/'*%0/11*2!3'/0*)%/45! 6)*%%!78!917)/:&-!;<<;=-!>>?!@A*!)*071$4/7'&)5!&B7%41*!C7%D!E&)4F!8&,7$%15!:*G1&)*:!/'!"HIJ?! ! Table of Contents Abstract iii Table of Contents v I. Introduction: A Brief History of Cuban and United States Relations 1 II. Slavery, Race and Revolution in Nineteenth-Century Cuba 23 1 A. Part I: Race and Slavery in Nineteenth-Century Cuba 23 B. Part II: Afro-Cuban Dedication to Cuba Libre 46 III. The Immigrant World of Ybor City: Race, Nationalism and Identity 62 Part I: The Evolution and Background of Ybor City 67 Part II: The Evolution of Afro-Cuban Nationalism, Blackness and Identity 81 IV. Conclusion: Race Relations in Present Day Ybor City 124 Bibliography 140 v Chapter One: Introduction A Brief History of Cuban and United States Relations During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a quilt of ethnic enclaves emerged in urban areas as the “new” immigrants poured into the United States.2 Most often, constant cultural interaction resulted within these communities between foreign immigrants and native-born Americans. 3 For some of these new arrivals, facing discrimination and prejudice was a daily occurrence, while others had little trouble assimilating into mainstream American life. Depending on what country they originated from, the immigrant experience differed greatly from one individual to the next. When looking at traditional studies of ethnic communities and constructing an immigrant identity, they often tend to ignore their “old world soul,” to use Marcus Eli Ravage’s term.4 In the case of Cuba’s immigrant population near the end of the nineteenth century, it is near impossible to disregard their country’s political, social, racial and economic situation in relation to the United States. By examining race, nationalism, and Afro- Cuban identity in Ybor City during the decades leading up to the Spanish-American War, as well as exploring slavery, race, and revolution in nineteenth-century Cuba, a far more detailed and complete picture reveals itself.5 Although Jim Crow Laws deeply penetrated all levels of society in the American South, black and white Cubans coexisted within !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 Thomas Archdeacon, Becoming American: An Ethnic History (New York: The Free Press, 1983), 112. Archdeacon states that the new immigration wave ranged from 1890-1930. These migrants created diverse ethnic neighborhoods that characterized urban America until the middle of the twentieth century. 3 Throughout the paper, “American” refers to the United States. 4 Marcus Eli Ravage, An American in the Making: The Life Story of an Immigrant (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1917), 60. Ravage concentrated on European immigrants, stating that they were not “blank sheets to be written on,” nor had they “sprung from nowhere.” According to Ravage, these immigrants brought with them “deep-rooted tradition, a system of culture and tastes and habits.” 5 The Spanish-American War is also referred to as the final Cuban War for Independence (1895- 1898). 1 Ybor City during the last decades of the nineteenth century. Defying the laws and customs of their host country, Cuba Libre and the quest for freedom and equality essentially melded the two Cuban races together within this tiny bubble outside of Tampa.6 Thus, in the decades leading up to the Spanish-American War, Cuban ethnicity and patriotic solidarity briefly overshadowed racial divisiveness in the small Floridian ethnic enclave of Ybor City.7 By illuminating the Afro-Cuban immigrant story amidst the violent times of the Jim Crow South, the Spanish-American War, and their relations with the white Cuban exile community who escaped Spanish persecution leading up to the war, one is confronted with a complex and passionate set of characters who defined themselves as being Cuban, black, as well as immigrants. Typically, accounts of the Spanish-American War reveal only part of the story: the Cuban voice, particularly the black one, is simply left out, strangely missing from its own war and history. Thus, a narrative on the perceptions and actions of Afro-Cubans, both during the Spanish-American War and before, requires a new set of questions, sources, and a new perspective. What was the relationship between the United States and Cuba during the nineteenth century? How did Afro-Cubans view the United States and Spain, and how did the United States perceive Cubans, both black and white? How were Afro-Cubans in Cuba socially and racially treated in the years leading up to and during the War for Independence? How did black !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 6 Cuba Libre is translated to “free Cuba.” 7 As discussed throughout the paper, particularly in the beginning of Chapter One, race was difficult to define in nineteenth-century Cuban society. For Cubans, race was socially constructed and a quite malleable concept. In Cuba, defining one’s color was often complex due to the historical racial mixing through the occurrence of mixed marriages and relationships and the idea of mestizaje. In late nineteenth-century Cuba, the use of the term “black” was a topic of public debate, centered on whether race was to be explicitly identified or not. Ybor City was an isolated, predominately Latin, ethnic community that resided on the outskirts of Tampa where residents appeared to adhere more to the social mores of their home country, Cuba. 2 Cubans residing in ethnic enclaves in Florida perceive the war, imperialism, and dreams of independence? How did the mutual aide societies, so prevalent and resourceful in Cuba, adapt when transplanted to the United States? Did they serve a similar function to their members? Moreover, what impact did the Jim Crow South and the Cuban War for Independence have on black and white Cuban relations and on Afro-Cuban identity? Like a temptress drawing in her suitor, Cuba held the North American imagination throughout the nineteenth century, enticing it with her warm climate, abundant resources and simple way of life. Going back to the eighteenth century, the United States has maintained a fascination with the island “almost in sight:” From James Polk and Franklin Pierce attempting to buy the island, to William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt questioning Cuba’s sovereignty, Americans attempted to acquire the island without success. Thus, by the outbreak of the Cuban War of Independence (1895- 1898), when Cuba’s freedom was transforming from a mere dream into reality, the United States intervened. In 1896, Texas senator Roger Mills summarized the history of American policy: “It has been the settled policy of our country, of all parties, at all times, that this all important key shall never pass out of the feeble hands of Spain to any other Government except that of the United States.”8 Why did this “all important key” seem to captivate the United States? Through the power of their own figurative depictions, Americans historically rendered the need to possess Cuba as essential to their own well being. Considering Cuba was so close, many Americans were fearful