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