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Racial Migrations: New York City and the Revolutionary Politics of the Spanish Caribbean

Online ISBN:
9780691185750
Print ISBN:
9780691183534
Publisher:
Princeton University Press
Book

Racial Migrations: New York City and the Revolutionary Politics of the Spanish Caribbean

Jesse E. Hoffnung-Garskof
Jesse E. Hoffnung-Garskof
University of Michigan
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Published online:
23 January 2020
Published in print:
7 May 2019
Online ISBN:
9780691185750
Print ISBN:
9780691183534
Publisher:
Princeton University Press

Abstract

In the late nineteenth century, a small group of Cubans and Puerto Ricans of African descent settled in the segregated tenements of New York City. At an immigrant educational society in Greenwich Village, these early Afro-Latino New Yorkers taught themselves to be poets, journalists, and revolutionaries. At the same time, these individuals built a political network and articulated an ideal of revolutionary nationalism centered on the projects of racial and social justice. These efforts were critical to the poet and diplomat José Martí's writings about race and his bid for leadership among Cuban exiles, and to the later struggle to create space for black political participation in the Cuban Republic. This book presents a vivid portrait of these largely forgotten migrant revolutionaries, weaving together their experiences of migrating while black, their relationships with African American civil rights leaders, and their evolving participation in nationalist political movements. By placing Afro-Latino New Yorkers at the center of the story, the book offers a new interpretation of the revolutionary politics of the Spanish Caribbean, including the idea that Cuba could become a nation without racial divisions. A model of transnational and comparative research, the book reveals the complexities of race-making within migrant communities and the power of small groups of immigrants to transform their home societies.

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