News — Afro-Cuban

The Cuban leader Antonio Maceo Grajales is considered the “most popular leader of the nationalist movement.” Maceo was the son of a Venezuelan mulatto and an Afro-Cuban woman.  He joined the independence movement in 1868. During the thirty year period of the Cuban War, he ascended to the rank of general. The Cuban War for Independence was characterized by leadership efforts which erased racial lines and united all Cubans in the independence movement. In this it is significant that African Cubans as well as whites followed Maceo unconditionally. His public pronouncements made clear that he had no tolerance for racism. Maceo refused to sign “El Pacto de Sanjon” (peace accord to the end the Cuban War for independence and accept Spanish rule) because it did not abolish slavery. However, this pact was signed on February 10, 1878 by the “Committee of the Center,” a group of insurgent leaders along with Spanish General Martinez Campos.

Maceo continued to refuse to participate in any agreement which kept Afro-Cubans in bondage. In his first public statement during the second phase of the Cuban War for Independence, Maceo invited the Cuban slaves to join the insurgency.  In 1879 he made a pronouncement regarding what the real goal of the war was. He stated: “[The war] was one for independence, with which [African Cubans] would achieve the emancipation of the three hundred thousand slaves [then] living in Cuba; [the movement’s] flag [was] the flag of all Cubans and its principles [were] the equality of men.” This statement exemplifies the uncompromising stand that Maceo maintained during his participation in the Cuban War.

Maceo distinguished himself not only as an Afro Cuban abolitionist and civil rights champion, but also as a consummate general.  His most notable exploit, which made him famous among Cubans and feared by the Spaniards, was his horseback march wherein he covered more than 1,000 miles in 92 days and sustained 27 encounters against the Spaniards. Ultimately, Maceo would be pursued, captured, and killed on December 7, 1896.  The man known as the “Titan de Bronze” is remembered by one of the statements that embraces his philosophy: “Aqui no hay negritos ni blanquitos sino cubanos (“Here there are not little Blacks or little Whites, only Cubans”).

In the early 16th century, around 1511, Spain colonized Cuba. Cuba produced almost a third of the world’s sugar supply by 1860 through the work of enslaved Africans and other island natives stolen from their land. By the year 1895, Cubans revolted against the Spanish colonial rule on their land, beginning the Cuban War of Independence, fought between 1895 to 1898. At first, the United States stayed neutral, but that changed on February 15, 1898.

The American Battleship USS Maine, docked off the coast of Cuba, exploded and sank, killing over 250 American sailors and soldiers. Spain was blamed for the incident, and the US government declared war against that nation, creating the Spanish-American War, in April 1898.

The U.S. military objective was to defeat Spanish colonial forces and take control of its major colonies, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Major General William Shaftner, the former Commander of the 25th Infantry Regiment, one of the four Buffalo Soldier units in the U.S. Army, was now in charge of U.S. forces in Cuba. He led an expeditionary force of approximately 17,000 men, including nearly 3,000 black soldiers to the island from Tampa, Florida. The expeditionary force also included white soldiers from the 14th Infantry Regiment and a battalion of the 2nd Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment all of whom arrived in Cuba between June 7 and June 14, 1898.

On July 1, Buffalo Soldiers would engage in their first major conflict in Cuba, the Battle of El Caney. The battle was fought for the control of the Cuban town of El Caney. U.S. forces were advancing toward the Cuban city of Santiago, and a group of Spanish soldiers decided to take defensive positions at a blockhouse near El Caney to stop them. The 25th Infantry received orders to support forces advancing on Santiago by attacking El Caney. In all 6,653 American soldiers faced approximately 3,000 Spanish colonial troops and their Cuban allies.

The Battle of El Caney had begun before the Buffalo Soldiers arrived. When they did arrive, they found the 2nd Massachusetts were retreating. Someone gave a yell, and the members of the 25th and all-white 12th Infantry Regiments began heading up the hill to capture the blockhouse Spanish forces were defending. The Spanish successfully resisted the American advance for hours before their officers ordered some of them to surrender and others to retreat. Finally, Private Thomas C. Butler, Company H, 25th Infantry was first to enter the blockhouse and immediately took possession of the Spanish flag for his regiment. He was ordered by a white officer of the 12th Infantry to give it to him. Butler tore off a piece of the flag to show his superiors that he had in fact captured the flag. The soldiers of the 25th Infantry quickly regrouped to support the Battle of San Juan Hill which was going on almost simultaneously.

María Teresa Vera was an Afro-Cuban guitarist, singer, and composer, who is held up as an example of the Cuban “trova” movement. Trova is a rural folk style of music and Vera’s career was extraordinary for a woman of her time. “Viente Anos,” (Twenty Years) is her most well-known song.

She was born on February 6, 1895, in Guanajay, Cuba to a Spanish military man who disappeared from her life, and a Black mother who was a servant in a wealthy Cuban household. The well-off family protected Vera and that is most likely why the granddaughter of slaves could go on to have the highly visible and successful career that she had during her era.

Trova music originated in the Oriente province, centered in the city of Santiago. Trova musicians were traveling artists who performed to earn their living. Like other Afro-Cuban music, Trova’s roots lie in the cabildos of the 17th century, which were self-organized social clubs amongst Cuba’s slave population. Most often these clubs were created around various cultures brought to the island from Africa, so for example, the Yoruba, Congolese, and the Dahomey peoples each formed their own cabildos. Combining influences from Spain (the guitar) with percussion and African rhythms, Trova music was a blending of the cultures of the Caribbean. It is one of the more traditional genres of Cuban music.

Vera first performed publicly at 15. She went on to play the Apollo theater in New York in 1918, and over a 10-year span her various duos recorded more than 140 works. She traveled extensively to perform, and the success of her career help lay the foundations for the international popularity of Cuban music in the 1930s and 1940s. At the height of her popularity, Vera took a multi-year sabbatical from her career, and she was totally silent for three years. It is said that this happened because Vera’s religion (a Yoruba-inspired religious practice) required her to stop. Eventually, Vera was able to continue, and she went on to have another twenty years as a prolific performer.

María Teresa Vera died on December 17, 1965 in Havana, Cuba at age 70.