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

This NEH Institute seeks to heighten awareness of how immigrant communities have helped usher in political transformations both at home and abroad, and to accentuate the rich and complex cultural world established by the Cuban, Sicilian and Spanish immigrants around the cigar industry in turn-of-the-century Florida. The story of Key West, Tampa and Ybor City provides an extraordinary case study of a whole range of issues that intersect at this place in time: issues regarding national identity, labor rights, racial and gender equality, political action, revolutionary ideology, postcolonial struggle and U.S. foreign policy and military intervention in Latin America and beyond. The study of this remarkable convergence will provide participants with an ample, interdisciplinary array of topics to explore and incorporate into their work as teachers and scholars.