In the 80’s and Beyond…

My third post will start with the renowned 1980 Mariel boatlift. In 1980, Cuban president Fidel Castro opened up the port of Mariel, Castro released a statement inviting the Cuban immigrants of the United States to sail back to Cuba and pick up their relatives. Thousands of Cubans took advantage of this possibility and sailed from the United States to Cuba, hoping to bring back their families in what came to be known as the Mariel boatlift.

The political climate in Cuba during the 1980s  was tumultuous. The Castro regime had become a Communist dictatorship where Cubans felt continuously oppressed. In 1965 Castro created the UMAP ( Unidades Militares para la Ayuda de Producción) or Military Units to Help Production. The UMAP were labor camps that served as a way to get rid of Castro’s enemies, pretty much everybody with political affiliations that differed from those of the government (Cordova, 35)

The Cuban population grew in discontent with the government and its repeated abuses of power. The standard of living had decreased by 1970s, high levels of unemployment were also a common problem. Castro’s brilliant idea to end unemployment was to criminalize it! In 1971the Anti-Loafing Act was passed , the unemployed population would be sent to jail(Cordova, 42).

Political dissidents were also held in prison, they were sometimes tortured and faced inhumane prison conditions. Homosexuals were assigned to a “special” type of prison in which they went through a re-education program to “cure” their “disease”. Motivated by the harsh conditions at the time, a bus full of Cuban people crashed in the Peruvian embassy in Cuba, seeking political asylum in 1979 (Cordova, 57).

The 1980 Mariel boatlift followed quickly, after Castro allowed certain people to leave the country. Thousands of  Cubans living in the United States rushed to the Mariel Port in Cuba to pick up their families (Larzelere, 27).

    

Thousands of Cubans migrated to the United States (Florida to be exact), using yachts, sailboats and even freighters; approximately 125,000 Cubans were transported to the United States. The Cuban immigrants were received with open arms by the US government and by the American population, who saw them as victims of the evil communism.

 

This good attitude towards the newcomers changed drastically  when Castro released a statement saying that amongst the people who migrated to the US were criminals, prostitutes, drug addicts, homosexuals and mental health patients. Castro sent his “unwanted” people to the United States (Larzelere, 43-50). some of these included:

• Julio Gonzalez, arsonist and mass murderer
• Pedro Medina, he was executed for killing a Floridian girl in 1982
• Luis Felipe, he was a convicted murderer and founder of a Latin gang

Not all the Marielitos (as they were known) were criminals:

• Mirta Ojito, writer and Pulitzer prize winner
• Elizabeth Caballero, opera singer
• Rene Lavan, actor and soap opera star
• Reinaldo Arenas, poet and novelist

Popular discontent towards the Cubans immigrants thanks to the intense media coverage of Castro’s plan to send the “undesirables”. Americans began to see the Cubans of Mariel with fear and horror, many “concerned citizens” sent letters to the White House demanding the expulsion of the Mariel Cubans.  Americans made the mistake to believe that all the Cubans of Mariel were criminals. According to government investigations, 2,000 to 5,000  of the Cubans of Mariel had committed serious crimes in Cuba;  the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service apprehended over 1,000 of them (Jimenez, 215).

The following video shows media propaganda against the Cubans of Mariel in Miami.

Americans refused to believe that most of the immigrants were law abiding citizens. They accused the Carter Administration of making the U.S. Cuba’s dumping ground for criminals.  Arguing that the crime rates increased sharply after their arrival, there was a 66 percent increase in crime rates in Miami, Florida (where most Cubans were settling) (Jimenez, 218).

The Mariel boatlift came to an end in October 1980, after only six months. Many of these immigrants did not qualify for refugee status under the 1980 U.S. Refugee Act, so the government granted them a temporary entrant status. Under the temporary entrant status, allowed them to seek employment and receive a limited amount of public assistance. In 1984 the U.S. government finally decided that the Cubans of the Mariel boatlift qualified for US citizenship (Larzelere, 126).

The Cubans of Mariel faced a tremendous amount of discrimination because of the criminal accusations implied by the media. They left their country in search of  a better life, and the cruel reality of discrimination proved that they would not get it in their host country. They faced discrimination while trying to find decent housing and employment (Larzelere, 128).

While some Cubans in Florida raised millions of dollars for relied and settlement efforts, others turned against the newcomers afraid that their reputation might be damaged. Women and Children had an easier time finding people willing to help them. Many Americans went as far as opening their homes to single women or families. Women were also able to find jobs faster than men because many employers saw them as safer than males (Jimenez, 150).

Just like their earlier counterparts,  Cuban women of Mariel found jobs as domestics, seamstress, cooks, dishwashers, waitresses and other service occupations. These women were already used to work outside the home to support the family due to Cuba’s unstable economy (Gracia, 78) .

Many Cuban women of Mariel had relatives in the United States to help them adapt to the new society. These women had the support of a family network to help them find work, housing, schools for their children and they also had friends that they could talk to and rely on (Jimenez, 59).

Cuban women of Mariel were also invested in the political issues of their homeland. Just like previous female Cuban emigrants, the Cuban women of Mariel had participated in a series of  campaigns against the Castro government, including demonstrations and organized letter writing campaigns (Kanellos, 169).

Cuban women in the United States also created political organizations to gather support against the Castro regime. These organizations included the Union de Mujeres (Union of Women), Cruzada Femenina Cubana (Cuban Femenine Crusade) and Movimiento Femenino Anticomunista  (Anti-communist Femmenine Movement) (Kanellos, 170).

The government began the implementation of new policies to decrease the number of illegal immigrants in the United States. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, required employers to verify a future employee’s immigration status prior to being hired.  In other words, hiring an illegal immigrant was officially illegal and punishable by law (Fox, 89).

Another famous policy was the “Wet Feet, Dry Feet” policy of 1995. Basically if Cubans are caught in the water (the ocean) while attempting to enter the United States, the Coast Guard could send them back to Cuba. Cubans who successfully made it to shore were allowed to stay and seek citizenship; basically a game of “luck” (Benson, 185).

These new policies made it harder for Cubans to migrate to the United States. These policies were created to discourage the Cuba-US migration, but the attempts never stopped. Every year hundreds of Cubans begin the journey to the United States, they pay smugglers to get them out of Cuba and into the US illegally, they take great risks in their journey to freedom. Their desperation is so big that they attempt to make the journey using fragile “boats” others have tried to make the journey by converting trucks or cars onto floatation devices.

Cuban Women’s access to jobs has expanded quite a bit over the past couple of years. The typical jobs available to their nineteenth and twentieth century counterparts are still available for them in addition to the already mentioned new opportunities. Many Cuban women work as live in domestics or nannies, while I lived in Miami I was surprised to see the amount of Cuban women working as nannies for both, American and Cuban families (Jimenez, 218).

Cuban men in Florida are now able to accumulate  significant amount of wealth, they can work as lawyers, doctors and successful business owners.  Cuban women also obtained greater access to jobs, it is common to find a Cuban doctor or lawyers in Miami. The real state business also opened up a lot of job opportunities for Cuban women; currently there are thousands of Cuban women working as real state brokers in South Florida  (Fox, 126).

Cuban women, in the twentieth-first century, are also able to open their own businesses. If you ever visit the popular Calle 8 (8^th Street) in Miami you will find a series of Cuban owned businesses. Cuban women gravitated towards jobs associated with the female gender role, lots of Cuban women have opened day care centers, cleaning companies, laundry centers, dry-cleaners, beauty salons, restaurants, schools etc.

Many Cuban women are currently struggling against the “Americanization”  if their children. Cubans in the United States are fighting to keep their heritage alive and pass it on to their children. Cuban women try to develop a Cuban identity in their children by doing simple things such as cooking traditional Cuban food, talking to them in Spanish and teaching them about their homeland. These efforts help strengthen and unify the community; it also helps them to create a sense of pride towards their culture (Grenier, 65).

I find it really ironic that these people take such a tremendous risk to come to the United States, believing that their lives would take a turn for the best once they get there. But things are not as easy as they think. It is true that the United States offer many opportunities for advancement, it is also worth mentioning the fact that the path leading to these “great opportunities” is a path full of sacrifice and hard work.

Currently, Cubans are facing a great amount of discrimination, many Americans believe that Cubans are occupying their jobs, especially because Cubans work for lower wages. Americans also believe that Cubans represent a burden to the US economy and that they live off of the social welfare (paid by American taxpayers) that corresponds to Americans (Gracia, 122) .

 

Important Cuban Women

• In 1989: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen became the first elected Cuban congresswoman
• Daisy Fuentes (Television host and model), first Latina working for the popular American Network MTV
• Celia Cruz, Cuban salsa artist. Most of her work was in the United States because she was against the Castro government
• Gloria Stefan, Cuban singer and songwriter. She has won 37 Grammy Awards, she was raised in Miami after her family fled the Cuban revolution
• Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. Married to Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg

 

Bibliography:

Córdova, Efrén. 40 años de revolución: el legado de Castro. 1. ed. Miami, Fla.: Ediciones Universal, 1999. Print.

Fox, Geoffrey E.. Working-class emigres from Cuba. Palo Alto, Calif.: R & E Research Associates, 1979. Print.

Gracia, Jorge J. E., and Pablo Greiff. Hispanics/Latinos in the United States: ethnicity, race, and rights. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.

Grenier, Guillermo J., and Lisandro Pérez. The legacy of exile: Cubans in the United States. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2003. Print.

Larzelere, Alex. The 1980 Cuban Boatlift. Washington, D.C.: National Defense University Press, 1988. Print.

Benson, Sonia. The Hispanic American almanac: a reference work on Hispanics in the United States. 3rd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Print.

Jiménez, Alfredo, Nicolás Kanellos, Claudio Fabregat, and Maria Cristina Garcia. Handbook of Hispanic cultures in the United States. Houston, TX: Arte Público Press ;, 1994. Print.

Kanellos, Nicolás, and Cristelia Pérez. Chronology of Hispanic-American history: from pre-Columbian times to the present. New York: Gale Research, 1995. Print.

 Images:

Image 1: http://www.findingdulcinea.com/docroot/dulcinea/fd_images/news/on-this-day/April/On-This-Day–Thousands-Authorized-to-Leave-Cuba-in-Mariel-Boatlift/news/0/image.jpg

Image 2: http://www.uscg.mil/history/gifs/Mariel_Boatlift_1_sm.jpg

Image 3: http://www.miamibeach411.com/ee/images/uploads/mariel-boat-lift.jpg

Image 4: http://repeatingislands.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/mariel650.jpg?w=500&h=307

Image 5: http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/dcblog/Cuban%20migration.jpg

Image 6: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/immigration/truck-raft-1.jpg

Image 7: http://www.techimo.com/forum/attachments/imo-community/14446d1118240867-coast-guard-intercepts-cubans-floating-taxi-tdy_sanders_cubans_050608.275w.jpg

Image 8: http://www.panama-guide.com/images/articles/20120303101735890_1.jpg

Image 9: http://31749149.nhd.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/1/4/14149778/8544902_orig.jpg?329

Image 10: http://clatl.com/freshloaf/files/2009/04/immigrationweb_024.jpg

Image 11: http://patdollard.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Immigration_protest.jpg

In the 50s and 60s…

My second blog will be about the migration tendencies and difficulties faced by Cuban women in the 1950s-1970s. During these thirty years, thousands of Cubans migrated to the United States in search of freedom and the promise of the so called “American Dream”. The blog will show a contrast between the Cuban female emigrants of the nineteenth century and those of the twentieth century.

Compared to the nineteenth century Cuban emigrants, the twentieth century exiles had it easier. Women received a big support from the American government, they had more opportunities to achieve a comfortable lifestyle  and education, they had the opportunity to have a career. The sacrifices endured by the nineteenth century emigrants was higher than the sacrifices endured by the twentieth century emigrants.

The political environment in Cuba during the 1950s can be described as chaotic. High levels of civil unrest and revolutions reigned the island. Fulgencio Batista, might be identified as the responsible figure for the turmoil in Cuba during the 1950s. Batista’s political history begins in 1940, when then president Federico Ladero Bru resigns the presidency.  Batista took advantage of the situation and presented himself as the candidate for the Coalition of Socialists-Democrats (Coalicion Socialista-Democratica) during the  elections. He won the elections and became president of Cuba in 1940 (Rios, 14-19).

Fulgencio Batista

Batista’s presidency lasted four years as established by the Cuban constitution. Ramon Grau San Martin was his successor; Grau San Martin was reelected again in the 1948 elections. During the 1952 elections Batista was a candidate for the presidency, but a series of surveys placed him in the third place and far away from his beloved presidency. Four months before the presidential election, Batista organized a coup d’état using a series of weak arguments against the government. The strong support  that he received from the army allowed him to take down the government; he declared himself “provisional president” (Rios, 25-38).

The next elections took place in 1954. Because of the lack of opposition, Batista became president once again. Batista was accused of violating the basic rights of the Cuban population such as:

• Freedom of Speech
• Free health care
• Free education

These accusations led to the Cuban revolution of 1959 led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. After the success of the revolution, the new president was Manuel Urrutia, until 1976 when Fidel Castro took over the government. During the Batista regime, 10,000-15,000 Cubans entered the United States annually. Most of these emigrants were middle class Cubans and politically and socially alienated people (Benson, 253).

     

(Left: Che Guevara; Right: Fidel Castro)

Cuban’s felt betrayed by the revolution and its leader. Castro’s government was characterized by corruption, murder and abuse of power. As a result, thousands of Cubans migrated to United States. The following is a video that shows some of Castro’s brutalities towards the Cuban people, it looks like it is a news clip from an American network.

Most of the Cuban exiles shared a common belief; they all wanted to see the Communist Cuban government destroyed.  Living in a new country, Cuban exiles faced a new challenge, that of adapting to a new society and culture. Like the nineteenth century Cuban emigrants, the twentieth century emigrants organized small Cuban communities in Florida (mainly Miami, Fort Lauderdale  and Key West) and New York City.

Many Cuban emigrants wanted to create a Cuban identity in the USA; they created organizations to promote a Cuban cultural awareness. Once they arrived in the United States, Cuban emigrants organized communities and named them after the municipios (municipalities) in which they used to live back in Cuba. It was a small tribute to their homeland (Benson, 253).

The migration waves did not end here. Between 1959 and 1962 more than 155,000 people left Cuba. The migration was slowed because of a flight suspension from Cuba to the United States as a consequence of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. The Cuban missile crisis was a conflict between the United States and Cuba and its ally and fellow communist country, the Soviet Union. After threats of an American invasion of Cuba, the Soviet Union placed short-range missiles in Cuba. The conflict ended when John F. Kennedy promised not to invade Cuba. The crisis only lasted two weeks, and no missiles were ever launched (Kanellos, 246).

(Left: plane view of missiles in Cuba; Right: Fidel Castro (in the left) and Nikita Khrushchev, president of Soviet Union during missile crisis)

In 1965, when the flight suspension was lifted, daily flights brought 257,000 Cubans to the US. The flights were part of a federally sponsored program called “Freedom Flights”. Most of these emigrants were running away from the Castro government and a big portion of them felt hostility towards the Castro dictatorship. Even though they were forced to leave their country, they still felt a strong pride and desire to go back to Cuba, similar to their nineteenth century counterparts (Kanellos, 246).

Despite the large influx of Cuban exiles, a group that was still under-represented in the states; black Cubans.  The 1953 Cuban census revealed that 27 percent of the Cuban population was black or mulatto, but only 2.6 percent of Cubans in the United States were black. Black Cubans chose to stay behind in the island because of the social welfare programs initiated by the Castro administration. These programs improved the quality of life for many black Cubans. Black Cubans also were afraid of the social racism in the United States (Garcia, 207).

The United States received the Cuban immigrants, granted them a refugee status and welcomed them into the country. American president John F. Kennedy initiated the 1973 Cuban Refugee Program, in which he allocated $957 million in relief. The relief was made available in the form of:

• Job training
• Education Programs
• Loans
• Medical Care
• Surplus food distribution
• Emergency relief checks
• Resettlement programs

The amount of government support towards immigrants was unprecedented in America (Garcia, 207).

Cuba established emigration restrictions in which men of military age (fourteen to twenty six) could not leave the country. As a result there was a large over-representation of women and elderly Cuban emigrants. Cuban women adapted to the new society and entered the labor force in great numbers. By 1970, Cuban women were the largest group of women in the labor force in the United States (Browne, 11-14).

Similar to their nineteenth century counterparts, Cuban women were forced to work outside the home in order to ensure the survival of their families. Having to work outside their home was a culture shock for many Cuban women.  In pre-revolutionary Cuba a woman who worked outside the home was considered indecent. The traditional views of Cuban women were similar to those held by the society during the Victorian era. Middle class women were viewed as wives and homemakers, which was the “feminine ideal”.

Cuban women looked for personal achievements in the home not in the workplace. Most middle class Cuban women were able to get an education and start a career, but they were expected to put all that aside once they married. Cuban middle class women could only work during periods of economic crisis and just until the crisis was resolved (Pages, 53).

In the United States, the line that divided classes (amongst Cuban women) was blurred. Social status was no longer middle class Cuban women’s goal, it was soon replaced by economic necessity. Middle class women now had to find jobs, housing, buy groceries and make sure their children were receiving an adequate education (Pages, 55).

Women usually found jobs faster than men because they were willing to work for lower wages. Most of these jobs were semiskilled or unskilled labor that did not require fluency in English. Women took jobs as:

• Factory operatives
• Seamstresses
• Domestic assistants
• Janitors
• Cooks
• Dishwashers
• Waitresses
• Cashiers
• Manicurists

In Miami, the garment and textile industries were also employers of Cuban women. As the amount of Cuban women refugees increased in Miami, the Cuban Refugee Center started providing vocational training.  During these trainings, the women received an introduction to English, hand-sewing, sewing-machine work, clerical office work, nursing assistance, housekeeping and domestic service. Cuban women also received a monthly allowance of $9 to cover transportation, and their children were placed in federally funded day care centers (Garcia, 209).

Cuban women also worked as teachers in Dade County (Miami). Most refugee children entered in the Dade County School System. Miami Dade County created a Cuban Teacher Training Program to help aspiring Cuban teachers, most of them were women. Most women began as teacher assistants working in the schools during the day and taking English and education courses to obtain their certification at night. After the certification process was completed, the new teachers headed their own classrooms (Garcia, 210).

Cuban Refugee Center in Miami

Cuban women were concerned with their survival and not so concerned about the political turmoil of their island. Cuban female exiles engaged in some anti-Castro organizations, but their involvement was limited to just voicing their distaste of the Castro government. Unlike their nineteenth century counterparts were highly involved it the independence efforts of  the island and did everything in their power to cooperate one way or the other.

Cuban women’s political involvement against the Castro regime flourishes during the 1990s and continues on to present time. My third and last blog will go into specific details of women’s participation in the fight against Cuban communism. Also on the third blog, we will see the shift in the migration laws between Cuba and the United States and the American government’s views on the increasing population of Cuban emigrants.

Bibliography:

Benson, Sonia. The Hispanic American almanac: a reference work on Hispanics in the United States. 3rd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Print.

Jiménez, Alfredo, Nicolás Kanellos, Claudio Fabregat, and Maria Cristina Garcia. Handbook of Hispanic cultures in the United States. Houston, TX: Arte Público Press ;, 1994. Print.

Pagés, Julio César. En busca de un espacio–historia de mujeres en Cuba. La Habana: Ediciones de Ciencias Sociales, 2003. Print.

Ríos, Antolín. Fulgencio Batista, trayectoria nacionalista. Wilmington, N.C.: Ediciones Patria, 1980. Print.

Browne, Irene. Latinas and African American women at work: race, gender, and economic inequality. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1999. Print.

Pictures (in order):

Picture 1: http://www.cosmoloan.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/fulgencio-batista.jpg

Picture 2: http://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/che-guevara.jpg

Picture 3: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gH_d4Tixp9g/UJYVpoFm7AI/AAAAAAAABrk/yXRLK73si1E/s1600/cuba.jpg

Picture 4: https://www.google.com/search?q=fidel+castro&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=dx3bUaLzHoHI9QTX84DADA&biw=1138&bih=553&sei=ex3bUdLsHIG29gT83oDgDw#um=1&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=20th+century+cuban+emigrants&oq=20th+century+cuban+emigrants&gs_l=img.3…97523.106341.0.106492.32.20.3.9.10.0.72.997.20.20.0….0…1c.1.19.img.RjYfBuN03iw&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48705608,d.eWU&fp=5aced1a5861a989b&biw=1138&bih=553&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=cBbmzdCv83u0DM%3A%3BHRAMd0OJ3E-PoM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fimages.fineartamerica.com%252Fimages-medium-large%252Fcuban-refugee-family-in-miami-florida-everett.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffineartamerica.com%252Ffeatured%252Fcuban-refugee-family-in-miami-florida-everett.html%3B900%3B703

Picture 5: http://www.flipflopcaravan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/75196_3601068579320_1051732528_3371063_1830689781_n-640×480.jpg

Picture 6: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/cubamissile101512/c06_01474139.jpg

Picture 7: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/63469000/jpg/_63469153_castro_getty.jpg

Picture 8: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7078/7339287078_fa9e53e446.jpg

Picture 9: http://americansabor.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/gallery_image_detail_small/images/newyork_arrival-immigration_0.jpg

Picture 10: http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2008/12/16/10/356-01.standalone.prod_affiliate.56.JPG

1800s Independence Wars

Immigration laws are currently a hot topic in the US Supreme Court. Americans’ feeling towards immigrants are quite divided, some believe that we should offer asylum to the immigrants, while others believe that they are damaging the economy and jeopardizing jobs for “real” Americans. Today, most of the immigrant population comes from Latin America; this blog will focus in the transition of Cuban women to the United States. I thought it would be a good idea to give a little bit of the historical background of the island before I began my discussion.

As I read and made the adequate research for this project I was really surprised to see the active role taken by women during the Cuban revolution. It would have been easier for them to just ignore what was happening in Cuba, especially those that had families to care for. Many expatriated women contributed even more than the men (in my personal opinion) to the “Cuban cause”. The support of expatriated Cuban women was vital to the independence efforts of the Cuban population. I do not imagine myself doing what these women did if war broke out right now! These women deserve everybody’s respect and recognition, no matter where you are from; they stood up and fought for what they believed and they succeeded.

1800s in the Midst of Cuban Independence from Spain

Cuba was discovered by Spanish explorers in 1492 and colonized in 1511. Spanish missioners took it upon themselves to civilize the Taíno (name given to the natives that inhabited most Caribbean islands) population that inhabited the island; as with the rest of its colonies, Spain wasted no time in exploiting the Taínos to their advantage and profit from their hard labor. The island produced a lot of money mainly from the production of tobacco, coffee and sugar which they exported back to Spain and nearby colonies. Due to the increase in demand for these products, the government faced a shortage of labor, thus they resorted to the slave trade from Africa in order to acquire cheap labor. By the nineteenth century, Cuban plantations were the most important producers of sugar and coffee. Despite growingg social discontent, the slave trade continued until the nineteenth century when Spain outlawed the slave trade in its colonies.

The following is a video of a poem called “Mujer Negra” (Black Woman) by Cuban poet Nancy Morejón. It has English subtitles and it talks about how female slaves were treated at the time. I found it really interesting, the video is really long but the actual poem starts at minute 1:37 (You should skip to it)  and ends at minute 4:40.

Spain lost most of its colonies in America. Cuba and Puerto Rico were the only two colonies they had left. A series of events led to the start of the Ten Years’ War (1868-1878), which signaled the beginning of the Cuban revolutions. The Ten Years’ War was fought between Cuba and Spain from 1868 to 1878; the Cuban rebels were highly motivated by the 1776 American independence. Cuban independence and abolition of slavery were the primary goals of the war. The war came to an end in 1878 with the Pact of Zanjon; neither one of the war’s goals were met. Some of the causes behind the Ten Years’ War include:

• The Spanish government increased the taxes on the island without consulting its people.
• The government also kept a tight control on the commerce of the island which greatly affected the economy of the Cuban people.
• Spain used the taxes collected from Cuba to their own benefit, neglecting the needs of the Cuban population.
• Big gap between haves and haves-not
• Cubans were not allowed to form part of the Cuban government
• No freedom of Speech

Now that we have an idea of the political and social turmoil in the island we can move on to the waves of migration to the United States in the midst of the independence wars and the women’s role in it.

At the time, workers could move freely between Cuba and the United States. After the first attempt at independence in the 1868 Ten Years’ War, Cubans migrated to the United States and Europe. At least 100,000 Cubans had left the island by 1869. These émigrés were looking for better economies, the wealthier part of the émigrés fled to Europe, while the middle class merchants went to cities in the United States. Middle class Cubans were relocating throughout the United States but they seem to have had a preference for Florida and New York City.

Middle class cigar manufacturers moved to Key West (Florida) and opened cigar factories there, in order to avoid the tariffs and trade regulations set by U.S government. Émigrés brought with them their wives. Cuban women had to work outside their homes to help support their families. The typical jobs for these women were: seamstresses, laundresses, servants, cooks, midwives, peddlers, grocers and boardinghouse keepers.

 

Cuban women in Florida had a higher employment rate than women back in Cuba. Women also started working in cigar factories, while men usually performed highly skilled tasks such as cutting, filling, rolling etc.,  women performed the least skilled tasks such as being tobacco- strippers. As time passed by, women eventually gained more access to the skilled tasks.

       

Many Cuban émigrés still believed they would eventually return to their homeland when things calmed down. Even though they were in another country, their patriotism was still alive and they fully supported the Cuban cause by helping the independence efforts. The Cuban Independence War started in 1895 and ended in 1898 with the Treaty of Paris. The Cuban Independence War was the final conflict between Cuba and Spain, and it led to the Cuban independence .During the Ten Years’ War and the Cuban Independence War, many Cuban exiles raised money for the rebels and recruited volunteers for filibustering expeditions. Rebel leaders that were forced to leave the island sought refuge in the Cuban communities in the United States; Cuban women in Tampa went as far as opening up their homes to the rebels.

Many expatriated women supported the war by organizing nationalist clubs and publicizing in favor of independence, some of the organizations included:

• Hijas del Pueblo in New Orleans
• Junta Patriótica de Damas in New York City
• Liga de las Hijas de Cuba in New York City
• Hijas de la Libertad in Key West and Cuba
• Discipulas de Marti in Tampa

(Discipulas de Marti)

These organizations supported the Cuban cause by raising money to buy supplies for the rebels and by organizing rallies to get supporters for the cause.  The organization Liga de las Hijas de Cuba sent a petition with over 300 signatures collected from Cuban women, to the French author Victor Hugo requesting his support for the Cuban cause. By 1890s, some of the revolutionary leaders, such as Jose Marti, started visiting the Cuban communities abroad to collect financial support.

In 1892, Jose Marti announced the foundation in Key West of the PRC, Partido Revolucionario Cubano. Soon afterwards, hundreds of chapters (or juntas) opened up throughout the United States. Cigar workers donated an entire day’s worth of pay regularly to the cause. Women cigar workers followed the men’s footsteps and donated a day’s worth of their salary as well. This was a greater sacrifice for the women due to the salary difference; women were paid significantly less than men.

Women played a vital role in the opening and maintenance of the PRC organizations in the United States, 25% of these organizations were women’s clubs. Women named these clubes femeninos (feminine clubs) after revolutionary heroes, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, Jose Marti, Calixto Garcia and Carolina Rodriguez were some of the most popular names. Women saw themselves as playing different roles in the revolution, and the name that they chose for their organization reflected their roles:

• Protectoras de la Patria (Protectors of the Nation)
•  Auxiliadoras de la Revolucion (Helpers of the Revolution)
•  Hermanas de Marti (Sisters of Jose Marti)
•  Obreras de la Independcia (Workers of  Independence)
•  Protectoras del Ejercito (Protectors of the Army)

Women in charge of leading the organizations were usually related to important male revolutionaries. Working class women were part of the clubs, but the leadership of the clubs fell on middle class women, mainly because did not have to work so they had more time to dedicate to the organization. These clubes femeninos organized auctions, raffles, dances, picnics etc. to help raise money for the revolution. Women were in charge of these events and they had to prepare the food, sewed the banners, write speeches and organize entertainment.

Finding time to organize these events was quite a challenge for most working class women, but their passion was so strong that they effectively balanced raising a family, working outside their homes and contributing to the cause. Since the number of Cubans looking for refugees in their communities increased towards the end of the nineteenth century, Cuban women took in homeless, they organized soup kitchens, collected food and clothes, took in widows and orphans, wounded soldiers and victims of the war. Some women even housed weapon ammunition and medical supplies in their homes.

The Treaty of Paris, in which Spain relinquished its control over Cuba and Puerto Rico, signaled the end of the Cuban revolution. Expatriated Cubans were happy to be independent  and they were happy that the war was finally over but most of them were skeptical about going back home. The war destroyed the Cuban economy and they did not want to jeopardize the safety of a stable paycheck for the uncertainty waiting for them back home, those who left came back quickly after.

 

Bibliography:

Stoner, K. Lynn. From the house to the streets: the Cuban woman’s movement for legal reform, 1898-1940. Durham: Duke University Press, 1991. Print.

Benson, Sonia. The Hispanic American almanac: a reference work on Hispanics in the United States. 3rd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Print.

Alvarez, Abel. Cuba: población y economía entre la independencia y la revolución. Vigo: Universidade de Vigo, Servicio de Publicacións, 1999. Print.

Jiménez, Alfredo, Nicolás Kanellos, and Claudio Fabregat. “Cuban Women in the United States.” Handbook of Hispanic cultures in the United States. Houston, TX: Arte Público Press ;, 1994. 203-205. Print.

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