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.
Images (in order):
Image 1: http://www.fla-keys.com/news/img/KWCigarFactory_joann-ogonowski%20web.jpg
Image 2: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cigar-factory.jpg
Image 3: http://classicalpursuits.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Cigar_Factory_Reader.jpg
Image 5: http://www.voanews.com/content/cigars_are_on_a_roll_in_us/566166.html
Image 6: http://urwebsrv.rutgers.edu/focus/phototemp/tampa3-sm.jpg
Image 8: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-17C7lpxVFw0/TdX3cdo3DdI/AAAAAAAAATY/Ufysfp5eXDA/s1600/Cuba+Libre.jpg
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