A Nation for All: Race, Inequality, and Politics in Twentieth Century Cuba

Abstract

After 30 years of anti-colonial struggle against Spain and four years of military occupation by the United States, Cuba formally became an independent republic in 1902. The nationalist coalition that fought for Cuba's freedom, a movement in which blacks and mulattoes were well-represented, had envisioned an egalitarian and inclusive country - a nation for all, as Jose Marti described it. But did the Cuban republic, and later the Cuban revolution, live up to these expectations? Tracing the formation and reformulation of nationalist ideologies, government policies, and different forms of social and political mobilization in republican and post-revolutionary Cuba, de la Fuente explores the opportunities and limitations that Afro-Cubans experienced in such areas as job access, education and political representation. Challenging assumptions of both underlying racism and racial democracy, he contends that racism and anti-racism co-existed within Cuban Nationalism and in turn, Cuban society. This coexistence has persisted into the 21st century, despite significant efforts by the revolutionary government to improve the lot of the poor and build a nation truly for all.