The Immigrant Communities of Florida and José Martí in Cuban Independence and the Dawn of the American Century

FAIN: EH-288012-22

University of Tampa (Tampa, FL 33606-1450)
James Joseph Lopez (Project Director: February 2022 to present)
Denis Alberto Rey (Co Project Director: February 2022 to present)

A four-week residential institute for 30 higher education faculty on José Martí (1853 - 1895) and the immigrant communities of Florida.

This 4-week Level II Institute will study the rise of the U.S. as a global hegemonic power as a consequence of its military intervention in Cuba’s War of Independence (1898) from the perspective of the Cuban émigré communities of Florida, who, from their late-19th century cigar-manufacturing enclaves in Key West, Ybor City, and West Tampa, played a critical role in the anti-colonial struggle against Spain. These communities constitute an extraordinary chrysalis in which to observe and understand the complex cultural and political evolution of the U.S. at the dawn of what is often referred to as “the American century.” The close study of this seminal period from the perspective of the working class immigrants who organized, financed, and in many cases fought and died for a patriotic ideal that they helped inspire and formulate by their example, will enrich any cross-cultural, multidisciplinary approach to the teaching of U.S. History.