Black And White Into Cuban example essay topic

Writing Cuba To Independence During the Little War, fought for the independence of Cuba, Spain used propaganda to cast that the war was not a struggle for national independence but one for black supremacy. Spain manipulated the idea of a national war, with the objective to fight colonialism, into a race war with the objective of blacks uprising against whites. Cuban independence activists, therefore, campaigned diligently-mainly through writing-to negate Spain's representations. Writings of the Ten Years War were conceived as lessons or guidelines to help pave way to a new revolution.

Writings also helped reevaluate the image of the black insurgent into one that was more heroic and less threatening than that of the image depicted by Spain. Like their white counterparts, writers of color were critical in constructing these representations, but theirs were more active for black citizenship and therefore, differed from the portrayals of the passive insurgent created by white intellectuals. Whatever the difference in representation however, the writings of the harmless black insurgent as well as the nation's struggle for independence, where blacks fought alongside with whites in union, invalidated Spain's arguments about the racial dangers of rebellion and the impossibility of Cuban nationhood. Essays and memoirs of the Ten Years War were written by authors who saw their works as writings for a new generation of Cubans. They sought to motivate patriotism with stories of courageousness, and achieve new successes through the telling of past mistakes and failures. They wanted to depict the first war in a way that would inspire activists to prepare for the next one, and by doing so, writings of the old war became a medium in which the course of a new revolt would be influenced.

Writing then became more then just words on paper; it became a weapon that was fundamental to the strategy of insurgency (115). Spain, in an attempt to suppress insurgency, was spreading the propaganda that if Cuba revolted, its colored supporters would transform the struggle for an independent republic into a racial domination by blacks. Therefore a strategy was needed to reevaluate the black insurgent who was depicted by Spain as the leader of the dreaded race war and the black republic. Through reexamination, separatist writers were able to neutralize that figure into an acceptable component in the making of the Cuban nation. One transformation is of a slave named Ramon, who went from being the cause of the death of Carlos Cepedes', the leader of the first insurrection, to a faithful and trustworthy servant.

The reformulation of the story-that Ramon was honorable and innocent, and wept desperately over Cepedes' death-erased any former accounts of an ungrateful slave who betrayed his master and his country (118). The black insurgent was not only portrayed as safe and un threatening, but also heroic and patriotic. Writers created characters that were fearless warriors; who sacrificed their own lives rather than denounce their compatriots and serve the interests of Spain. The black insurgent was also depicted as obedient to his Cuban nation, loyal to his former master, and thankful for his freedom given. For instance, Ramon Rao's character Jose Antonio Leg on did not resist the authority of Spain to free himself but rather to consecrate the wishes of his master. In this manner, his rebellion suddenly became less intimidating because it was not to serve his own personal objective but instead was an outcome of his master's will.

As for freedom, Jose Antonio had neither demanded nor promoted himself to a Cuban soldier or citizen. Rather, it was his benevolent master upon the master's death, who freed him. Therefore, freedom was cast as a gift from the white leadership, and the black slave knowing that it was a gift, was thankful. In the overall picture then, black insurgents were written as characters that obediently complied with their duties as servants to the Cuban nation, and therefore neither politically nor socially could pose the threat of assembling a black republic. Manuel Sanguily stated that though "many men of color had fought for Cuban independence in 1868, the Revolution, in its character, its essence, its aspirations, was the exclusive work of the whites. The man of color was called by them and by them placed, for the first time [... ] in a position to figure, to lend eminent services, and to distinguish himself as much as whites" (123).

Therefore, the revolution was thought to be the salvation that brought the blacks back to humanity and the sole act that saved them from slavery. It was on the basis of this concept that patriot intellectuals dismissed the idea of racial conflict because blacks would always be in debt and devoted to the white leaders of the revolution that became their savior. In fact, the very idea of black Cubans as "grateful sons of the revolution" was the foundation on which the image of the black rebel, who recognized the sacrifice of his white master and who repaid that sacrifice with redemptive labor, was constructed (125). This grateful and appreciative slave then, could serve only Cuba, and never threaten it with his own political agenda of a black republic. These concepts written in political essays offered skeptics evidence that a new rebellion could be generated without producing racial mayhem. As nationalist writers preached racial silence and advocated the image of a passive black insurgent however, colored writers encouraged political action, especially on the issue of racial identification, and the construction of citizenship for the coloreds.

Through the publishing of black newspapers, Juan Gomez launched the movements for black civil rights (129). Therefore, calls for racial unity and racial silence competed with calls for political mobilization on the basis of race; the ways in which white and nonwhite intellectuals constructed the role of the black insurgent differed in opinions. The struggle of the Ten Years War redeemed Cuba and freed the African slaves, for which the liberated slaves were grateful for. It was Juan Gomez himself who invented the idea of black Cubans as "grateful sons of the Revolution" (125). It was the degree of gratitude owed by the liberated slaves that differed between the beliefs of black and white writers.

Black Cubans argue that they were not obliged to display appreciation, for they were not given freedom, but instead had fought as hard and long as whites to win that freedom (134). Even though blacks demanded equal rights, they wanted equal rights as Cubans and not as blacks who dominated and controlled the nation. Through the disagreements of whether or not the war had indebted the blacks however, came the agreement that black and white insurgents did indeed fight alongside each other in war, and all for one cause-the cause of Cuba. It was this cause that linked the blacks and whites in union, for the two different races shed blood together in the same battlefield to fight the same enemy for the same ideal of an independent Cuba.

The revolution in the early 1890's thus created the basis of Cuban nationhood, where the blacks and whites became brothers, and it was this union that made the nation possible. "The nation-born of the physical, moral, and spiritual embrace of black and white men-transcended race and converted black and white into Cuban" (127). That image and that concept, developed by both black and white activists, were the very arguments that negated and disproved Spain's colonial claims that future rebellions would turn into race wars making it impossible for Cuba to be independent. In conclusion, Spain while trying to manipulate white Cubans into remaining loyal to Spain by stirring up rumors of race wars, were counteracted by pro-independence activists.

Separatists campaigned assiduously-through writing-to disprove Spain's declarations that Cuba, separated by race, could never be an independent nation. Writings of the war, and the experiences shared by both blacks and whites, helped unite the two races. No longer was there a black or white race; there was only a Cuban nationality. Therefore, nationalists were able to dispute Spain's claims on the basis of this racial transcendence and national unity that were forged in union during the war.