Partido de Independiente de Color (Cuba, 1908-1912)

Founded in August of 1908 by veterans of Cuba’s War for Independence, El Partido de Independiente de Color (PIC) became the Caribbean’s first 20th century black political party.  Created to support and facilitate Afro-Cubans’ integration into their country’s social and political spheres, the party also … Read MorePartido de Independiente de Color (Cuba, 1908-1912)

Martín Morúa Delgado (1856-1910)

Born in 1856, Martín Morúa Delgado gained prominence as an Afro-Cuban writer and Cuba’s first black Senate president after the country’s war for independence against Spanish rule in the 1890s.  Son of an African-slave mother, Ines Delgado, and Spanish father, Francisco Morúa, Martín Morúa Delgado … Read MoreMartín Morúa Delgado (1856-1910)

African Americans and Cuba’s First Experiment in Castro-Era Tourism: The Joe Louis Commission in Post Revolutionary Havana, 1959-1960

In the article below University of California, Riverside historian Ralph Crowder describes this fascinating but little known attempt by Joe Louis and Fidel Castro to encourage middle class African American tourism to Cuba  in the first year of the new regime. When Fidel Castro successfully … Read MoreAfrican Americans and Cuba’s First Experiment in Castro-Era Tourism: The Joe Louis Commission in Post Revolutionary Havana, 1959-1960

Black Composers and Musicians in Classical Music History

Utilizing the research of Professor Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, historian William J. Zick in the article below provides vignettes which comprise an overview of various composers and musicians of African ancestry who performed in Europe, North America, and Latin America … Read MoreBlack Composers and Musicians in Classical Music History

Robert F. Williams (1925-1996)

Robert Franklin Williams was a militant civil rights leader whose open advocacy of armed self-defense anticipated the movement for “black power” in the late 1960s and helped inspire groups like the Student National Coordinating Committee, the Revolutionary Action Movement, and the Black Panther Party. Williams … Read MoreRobert F. Williams (1925-1996)