Jesse McIntosh
Globalization and Resistance
Term Paper
Dr. Houck
4/24/2014
The Year of the Lash: Race and the Wars for Independence from Spain
Cuba is no stranger to revolution and the Cuban Revolution holds a significant place in history. Well-researched and examined from a dizzying variety of angles, the writings on the topic are too numerous to count. Smaller is the amount of analysis given to current Cuban racial politics . However, to understand these politics we must look backwards to the seldom remembered nineteenth-century anti-Spanish revolutionary wars. From Hatuey's short-lived Taíno resistance in 1511 to The Revolution of 1933, the island had already seen numerous revolts against imperialist powers before the insurrection of 1952 to 1959. Through the later half of the 19th century, following the example of other previous Spanish colonies in the Americas Cuba rebelled against Spanish rule, creole leaders united with escaped slaves and free people of color, to end Cuba's status as a colony. The Cuban rebels—mambis (or mambises) fought 30 years in a escalating series of events (which are often reduced in North America exclusively to the four months of the Spanish-American war). Of these events, the most significant were The Great African Slave Revolt of 1825 and the 1844 Conspiracion de La Escalera—known in English as The Staircase Conspiracy. Doubted and hotly debated by numerous scholars as simply a Spanish crackdown on black and mulatto rebels and their sympathizers, this conspiracy directly led to the the three wars for Cuban independence: The Ten Years War (1868–1878), the Little War (1879–1880) and the Cuban War for Independence (1895–1898). In this paper, I will discuss the two key leading slave uprisings, the r...
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...ned and over 400 expelled from the island” and this number rose as O'Donell enacted a program of severe repression across Western Cuba. According to Finch's research 109, 736 people were missing from the census that year, slave beatings increased from 1-2 slaves whipped a month to 20-30, and many of them were kept in “makeshift plantation jails” (Finch 363) The former British consul to Cuba, David Turnbull, who'd been exiled two years prior was accused of being the primary instigator and convicted in absence (Francis 948) as well as famous Cuban poet Placido. By the end of 1848 thousands of people had been convicted or killed and action against slavery had come to a halt. The backlash was so severe that 1844 is even now called “el Año del Cuero” or the year of the last (although an alternate meaning in modern Cuban dialect would be “The Year of Savage Beatings”).
Hatchet is a book about Brian Robeson, who recently has been going through a lot of trouble.
The book Trapped Between The Lash and The Gun is historical fiction. It has a proper setting, characters, plot and dialogue and is based on the time of slavery and slaves
Economically, Cubans “enjoyed one of the one of the highest standards of living in Latin America” (34). This is predominately due to the fact that Cuba exported half its sugar and two-thirds of it total exports into the U.S., and imported three-fourths of their total imports from the U.S. Although the U.S. (35). Although the U.S. boosted the Cuban economy, Cubans resented that they were still living at an economic level lower than Americans. The average Cuban income was one- third the average of Mississippi, the poorest state in the U.S. in th...
The entire struggle that Helg is alluding to in her book is founded within the racial hierarchies and racial ideologies that were formed early on in Cuba’s history. Several aspects of Cuban society (as discussed by Helg) served to foster the racism and the antagonistic attitudes that whites had towards the Afro-Cubans. An acute example of the inequality that the blacks were made to suffer was the denial of citizenship after 1886. According to Helg, Afro-Cubans were denied the titles of "Don" and "Doña" on their identity cards. This was a blatant form of discrimination against because it prevented blacks from being considered as first class citizens, "…despite the fact that they were full taxpayers". (25) What Helg means by this is that even though the Afro-Cubans were participating in the economic spectrum of Cuba, they were still denied access into the political and social arenas.
For four hundred years Spain ruled over an immense and profitable global empire that included islands in the Caribbean, Americas, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. After the Napoleonic Wars (1808-1815) many of Spain’s colonies followed the US’s lead, fighting and winning their independence. These revolts, coupled with other nations chipping away at Spain’s interests, dwindled Spain’s former Empire. By 1860, only Cuba and Puerto Rico were what remained of Spain’s former Empire. Following the lead of other former Spanish colonies, Cuban fighters started their campaign for independence, known as the Ten year war (1868-1878). This war developed into a Cuban insurgency which fought a guerilla war against the Spanish occupation.2
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, tensions in Cuba were rapidly rising. The Cuban Ten Year’s War from 1868 to 1878 had sparked a fire for independence from Spain with the natives. In 1892, José Julián Martí y Pérez formed El Partido Revolucionario Cubano, or the Cuban Revolutionary party. The Cuban independence movement known as Ejército Libertador de Cuba began in February of 1895 with the motto, “Independencio o Muerte” (Independence or Death). Multiple minor battles between Cuba and Spain took place that year. (Library of Congress)
Comment on the consequences for the United States with regard to the statement made by Eric Foner in the text, “Thus, two principles central to American freedom since the War of Independence – no taxation without representation and government based on the consent of the governed – were abandoned when it came to the nation’s new possessions. The struggle of Cuba to gain its independence from Spain, which began in 1895, has captured the attention of many Americans. Spain’s brutal repressive measures to halt the rebellion were graphically portrayed to the U.S. public by American newspaper publishers, William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. This caused the national mood to shift. Hearst and Pulitzer exaggerated the actual events in Cuba and how the Spanish brutally treated their prisoners by adding sensational words to catch the emotions of readers.
Perez, Louis A., Cuba Under The Platt Amendment, 1902-1934. 1986 University of Pittsburgh Press, Pa.
Throughout this piece Marti uses metaphors to describe both the revolution and Cuba’s culture. Marti also uses these particular metaphors to describe the dictatorship, socio-economic status, prejudices, and the indigenous peoples of Latin America, a very important element needed to understand Cuban identity (Retamar). Although difficult to read, Marti made many compelling remarks and critiques in this piece. “Our America”
Thomas, Hugh. The Cuban Revolution. New York, NY: Harper & Row Publishers. 1971. (755 pages).
...er the revolution, the mentality of the people of San Domingo was foreover changed. Slavery would never be accepted again by the inhabitants. "Any regime which tolerated such practices was doomed, for the revolution had created a new race of men" (242). This new race of men were aware of their self-importance. "There was no need to be ashamed of being a black. The revolution had awakened them, had given them the possibility of achievement, confidence and pride. That psychological weakness, that feeling of inferiority with which the imperialists poison colonial peoples everywhere, these were gone" (244).
The film, “Cuba, an African Odyssey” by Jihan El Tahri depicts a very significant time period in African history. The film focuses on Africa’s liberation movements which were heavily supported by Cuba, under the leadership of Fidel Castro. Cuban intervention was crucial for the progressive decolonization process of Africa, which brought independence to many parts of the continent, and exemplified the positive power of internationalism.
In 1895, American citizens took notice of a Cuban revolt against their corrupt Spanish oppressor. The Cuban insurgents reasoned that if they did enough damage, the US might move in and help the Cubans win their independence. Not only did Americans sympathize with the Cubans upon seeing tragic reports in the newspaper, but they also empathized that the US once fought for their own independence from Britain. If France didn’t intervene, the Americans probably would not have won their freedom. As if this did not rally enough hate for the Spanish among the American Public, fuel was added to the flame by the Spanish General (“Butcher”)
The word “slavery” brings back horrific memories of human beings. Bought and sold as property, and dehumanized with the risk and implementation of violence, at times nearly inhumane. The majority of people in the United States assumes and assures that slavery was eliminated during the nineteenth century with the Emancipation Proclamation. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth; rather, slavery and the global slave trade continue to thrive till this day. In fact, it is likely that more individuals are becoming victims of human trafficking across borders against their will compared to the vast number of slaves that we know in earlier times. Slavery is no longer about legal ownership asserted, but instead legal ownership avoided, the thought provoking idea that with old slavery, slaves were maintained, compared to modern day slavery in which slaves are nearly disposable, under the same institutionalized systems in which violence and economic control over the disadvantaged is the common way of life. Modern day slavery is insidious to the public but still detrimental if not more than old American slavery.
The film gives an overall accurate picture of these events, though it adds and takes away some pieces of it. The Africans had been captured in Africa, then smuggled into Cuba. At the time the trading of slaves was illegal due to a treaty signed in 1817. The treaty forbid the trading of slaves between Britain and Spain. The mutiny itself occurred in July, 1839 just north of Cuba. La Amistad, the ship they were being carried on, was soon taken captive by them. Those they did not kill were...