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... fluid in the Oriente where there was already a large free black population before 1886. The Oriente held the largest black population on the island and was the site of initial rebel activity in both the Ten Years' War and the War for Independence. The Ten Years' War was never successful in becoming an island-wide revolt and part of the reason for this may be attributed to the effectiveness of Spanish propaganda that the Oriente blacks were planning a race war to establish an independent black republic.
Some white separatist leaders were persuaded to lay down their arms under the Spanish pressure (Ferrer 1991: 41). In the early 1890 s Afro-Cuban journalists claimed that blacks were too weak and passive to effect a war against white rulers, whether Spanish or Cuban (Ferrer 1995: 254). Their argument was that such a war would counter the gains of the Ten Years' War under the exemplary black leadership of Antonio Maceo and Guillermo Montana. Ferrer (1995: 274) argues that while Spanish propaganda of a race war succeeded in dissuading potential supporters in the early 1870 s in Camaguey and in 1879 - 1880 in Oriente, in 1896 Havana the claim was not successful.
Doctors and lawyers from the white elite joined the movement and revaluate their negative views of black insurgents. Help (1995: 234) offers a different interpretation and argues that the propaganda of the threat of a race war was perpetuated by the white Cuban elite after the Spanish were defeated, and it was still in force until the racist massacre of 1912, which quashed any future political organizing by Afro-Cubans for some time. Spanish accusations that blacks were planning a race war were exposed as divisive strategies by Mart and other white separatists, but to the detriment of the separatist cause, racism was used as a tool to effect the form which the war was to take. When Mart died in May of 1895, Toms Estrada Palma, a pro-annexationist, took over the PRC leadership. Civilian and military divisions became more tense, and the civilian arm of the military began to reaffirm white supremacy in the naming of the constituent assembly and in the policy of officer promotion.
The provisional government, with Salvador Cisneros Betancourt as President, held the economic interests of plantation holders to preserve traditional social hierarchies over what had been expressed as the goals of the revolution by the military, namely, the destruction of traditional social inequalities. When Maceo effected significant victories in the West in January of 1896, the provisional government distrusted his motives and claimed he had a hidden dictatorial plan. Maceo was clearly worried about this as he had criticized Juan Gualberto Get's ociedades de color because they could feed such accusations. As Prez (1983: xvii) has argued, in 1895 there was a recognition among many separatists that class and racial inequalities were not only caused by Spanish colonial rule, but were ingrained in the Cuban social system. That such inequalities surfaced within the separatist forces, especially towards the end of the war, are not so surprising when it is understood that racial equality was a myth created by white Cubans to create popular support, believed by Afro-Cubans, and was to some extent realized inside the ranks of the insurgent armies. In 1896, the provisional government awarded commissions to civilians holding academic degrees or certain administrative positions.
This policy conflicted with the merit system that had evolved in the military ranks where soldiers would be promoted according to their valor and experience. Since this translated into more white officers, notwithstanding the fact that many of the black officers had been killed in battle, Afro-Cuban soldiers such as Ricardo Barely Oviedo felt resentment towards white elites who had not made many sacrifices but had higher positions (Ferrer 1995: 279). Negative feelings were also fueled by the fact that many blacks were given menial positions. Adding coals to the fire, in 1897, the foremost surviving black leader of the revolution, Quite Bandera had his command stripped by his own army through a court-martial procedure. Ferrer (1998) makes the point that his censure was a complex form of discrimination that had as much to do with the white separatists' fear of the Oriente-version of multiracial insurgency as with the rejection of his blackness and humble origins. Ferrer (1995: 330) argues poignantly that the discourse making the practice of racism anti-Cuban caused friction between the Afro-Cuban soldiers and their white superiors, since the former were held to a double standard.
The discourse against racism was directed against the Afro-Cubans to control their potential political aspirations, but white separatists were not held to the same standard. Ironically, while Afro-Cuban soldiers fought to create a new Cuban society, the victories of the war led to changing allegiances of white civil sectors, whose leaders undermined the military's authority and reshaped the war to favor their own social and economic interests. After 1896, white planters from the central and western regions together with the autonomist's allied with the separatists. Afro-Cubans fought to undo the system of white privilige that had been the hallmark of colonial society, but with the change in the separatist leadership and the cooperation by the United States, a massive reinvestment in the sugar industry occurred and traditional social hierarchies were reaffirmed under the direction of the new colonial power. Prez (1983: xviii) asserts that the U. S.
intervention of 1898 prevented the seizure of power of the Cuban revolutionary army and reaffirmed the traditional social hierarchies. As Benedict Anderson (1983: 160) observes, "One should therefore not be much surprised if revolutionary leaderships, consciously or unconsciously, come to play lord of the manor. " What distinguishes the Cuban case however, is that the two foremost revolutionary leaders, Maceo and Mart died in battle, so we cannot know whether the social aims of the popular movement would have been realized under their leadership to transform Cuban society. It is important not to lose sight of the civilian / military division which emerged after Mart's death because the vision of nationalist unity espoused within the military ranks differed considerably from the vision of post-colonial Cuba envisioned by the new annexationist leadership of the PRC and the white Cuban, planter elite. Nonetheless, as has been discussed, views regarding the Afro-Cubans' role in the revolution was a divisive issue within the ranks of the white separatists as well as a thorny problem for outspoken Afro-Cubans. The sacrifices made by Afro-Cubans in the War of Independence were great because they held a strong vision for a more egalitarian society, reinforced by white revolutionary party propaganda; however, their hopes led to disillusionment at the conclusion of the war with the reimposition of oppressive colonial-style status hierarchies. Bibliography: References Anderson, Benedict 1983.
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. New York: Verso. Ayala, Can 1995. "Social and Economic Aspects of Sugar Production in Cuba, 1880 - 1930. " Latin American Research Review 30 (1): 95 - 124. Ferrer, Ada 1991. "Social Aspects of Cuban Nationalism: Race, Slavery and the Guerra Chiquita 1879 - 1880. " Cuban Studies 21: 37 - 56. 1995. To Make a Free Nation: Race and the Struggle for Independence in Cuba, 1868 - 1898. Unpublished PhD.
Dissertation, University of Michigan. 1998. "Rustic Men, Civilized Nation: Race, Culture, and Contention on the Eve of Cuban Independence. " Hispanic American Historical Review, Forthcoming. Help, Aline 1995. Our Rightful Share: The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886 - 1912. University of North Carolina Press. Kaplan, Amy 1993. "Black and Blue on San Juan Hill, " in Cultures of United States Imperialism, ed. Amy Kaplan and Donald E.
Pease, 219 - 236. Durham: Duke University Press. Prez Jr. , Louis A. 1983. Cuba Between Empires, 1878 - 1902. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. Scott, Rebecca J. 1985. "Class Relations in Sugar and Political Mobilization in Cuba, 1868 - 1899. " Cuban Studies 15 (1): 15 - 28. 1994. "Defining the Boundaries of Freedom in the World of Cane: Cuba, Brazil, and Louisiana after Emancipation. " American Historical Review 99 (1): 70 - 102.
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Research essay sample on Social And Economic Afro Cuban
