Latin-American Studies

European explorer Christopher Columbus traveled to Cuban, amongst other destinations in the late fifteenth century. Not long after, Cuba was colonized by the Spanish and many settled there, enslaving many of the natives to raise cattle, sugarcane, and tobacco. When many of the natives died under slavery, the Spanish imported Africans to take their place to work as slaves on ranches and plantations until the abolition of slavery there in 1886. Later, in the early twentieth century, Cuban gained its independence from Spain, even as Spain granted the island to the US in 1898 under the Treaty of Paris. Officially, Cuba was granted independence from the United States in 1902, and thirty years later, an agreement was made that gave the US lease of the Guantanamo Bay naval base. As an independent country, Cuba often had authoritarian political and military figures for rulers. One, Fulgencio Batista, was elected president in 1940, but was voted out four years later. But in 1952, he returned to power by coup and was disliked by those who wanted to follow democratic rule. Seven years after this, Fidel Castro was able to successfully overthrow Batista, ruling in a manner that seemed to some Cubans also inconsistent with promises he made as a new ruler. Based on this inconsistency, many Cubans fled the island.

Creation - Migration
When Castro formally declared Cuba as a communist state and pursued close ties with the USSR, relations with the US soured. Cuba expropriated some properties owned by the US and in response the US imposed an economic embargo on Cuba in the early 1960s. Relations worsened during the Cuban Missile Crisis that pitted the US against Cuba via the USSRs unsuccessful attempt to keep missiles pointed at the US on the island.

Throughout this time, Cubans have continued to migrate to the US. There are about major four waves of immigration since 1959 first wave of about 250,000 that established Little Havana in Florida was right after Castro took over the second wave happened in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a result of Jimmy Carters allowance for about 300,000 Cuban refugees to come over the third wave happened in the early 1980s when Castro allowed Cubans in the US to visit their relatives on the island which resulted in the move of about 125,000 emigrants and the fourth wave happened after the fall of the USSR in the early 1990s, since the island suffered financially from the loss of this economic partner. According to U.S. Census data collected from 2006 to 2008, there are nearly 1,572,138 Cubans in the US. Of these, about 990,000 or almost 68 percent of the total, live in Florida. Of this number, about 360,000 (37 percent) live in Miami City. Other major Cuban communities exist in New Jersey, California, and Texas, but Miami is considered the locus of the Cuban-American community.

Consequences  Fusion, Assimilation, and Discrimination
Most Cubans say they dont want to return to Cuba, and this explains why so many have assimilated into the US culture, although there are pockets of fusion in places like Little Havana Miami that includes many traditional features of the Cuban culture. Most Cuban-Americans are registered voters (78), they have political capital through organizations such as the Cuban American National Foundation, they have higher average incomes than other Hispanic groups, and they have higher levels of education on average above other Hispanic groups. Also, the Cuban-American family resembles the typical America family  two kids, comparatively independent female role contributing to the leadership of the household, and a belief in western religion (namely Catholicism). Even though theyve assimilated, they have also endured discrimination and resistance to their presence here in the US. They are portrayed by the media and perceived in society as unwanted social deviants expelled from a corrupt country that doesnt want them. They are also associated with organized crime in the US and adherents of a voodoo religion, Santeria, in the American public consciousness.

Part II - Journal Entry of a Subordinate Group Member
Im a Cuban-American who lives where I think is the best place for someone like me - Miami. My parents came during first major wave of immigration during the late 1960s when US President Jimmy Carter allowed Cuban refugees to come here. We apparently had other family that came over, but they moved out of Florida and went north to New Jersey when JFK introduced the Cuban Refugee Program that gave money to help with such endeavors. My parents didnt want to go too far north since so many more Cubans were staying in Florida, especially in Miami. Even though shed never admit it, I also think my mom wanted to stay closer to the water just in case our American project didnt work out and we could just make the ninety mile trip back to our home country. I was just a baby when they came, so I dont really remember the trip, but I have seen early pictures from our first years in the States. My dad worked for a construction company and my mom worked as a teacher. I only know about the stories they told me of how difficult it was to start a new life here, but how grateful they are for leaving the island.

Piecing their memories together, it seems to me that my parents came by boat to the shores of Florida. They left the Cuban city of Santo Domingo on a crowded boat across the Straits of Florida to the city of Miami. It was difficult since they didnt speak English at first, but they found a family of exiles who left when Batista ruled who was willing to teach them. They worked for over a year, tutoring with the exiles and then working together at home to build their language skills. By the time I entered elementary school, they both spoke English competently, so well in fact that I never knew they ever struggled with it. For me, it was never difficult because I learned English from my parents and from school. My parents spoke Spanish at home, but usually only when they were angry or frustrated about something.
My dad got a job working construction, many long hours, so I didnt get to see him as much as my mom. She worked, teaching mathematics, but she also spent time with me and my brothers at home. She let me help her grade papers and sharpen pencils for her students. I loved being her little helper and one day she even let me visit her class. I showed up and watched as she wrote a simple addition problem on the chalkboard. But I noticed that when one of the students asked her a question in Spanish, she corrected them and made them speak in English. When we got home, I asked here why couldnt the kids speak Spanish and she told me that theyd be more successful if they didnt. I just took her word for it, even though I thought it was kinda weird knowing that she and papa could and did speak it also, if but on occasion.

Sometimes I think about my long-lost family members back on the Cuban island, many of whom are quite possibly suffering from the embargo that causes massive cases of malnutrition there. I really dont know because we dont talk to anyone back there. Once my parents moved here, they were determined to start a new life  one that permanently separated us from our Cuban connections across the water. Even when Castro allowed Cuban-Americans to visit family back on the island, my parents refused to go. They were done with that place.

I grew up in the great city of Miami and was fortunate to go to college at Florida State University, where I got a degree in Computer Science, but where I also learned more about my Cuban heritage. While studying in college, I got the chance to travel outside my home state, I and came face to face with the reality that Im a minority in the US, even though growing up, I never felt like one. My youth was filled with love, adventure, learning, and fun with mostly people who look like me. And there was always so much to do in little Havana. I loved going to the festivals my favorite is the Three Kings Parade because I love watching the floats, musical bands and characters marching through Calle Ocho.

ince then, Ive come to know what it means to be second generation. Whenever I leave Miami, I feel that people look at me like Im one of those criminals Castro exported here, but Im not I know life isnt fair, but its so frustrating when people look at me and are surprised that I speak English so well, or when they find out that Im a Cuban-American, theyre further surprised that I dont have a stash of Cuban cigars in my pocket. What I am surprised about is how my parents had the strength to create a new life for themselves, and one that resulted in my ability to have two great identities  one American and one Cuban. And even though I have yet to fully grow into what it truly means to have Cuban heritage, I know that I have the rest of my life to figure that out. I have experienced the first chapter of a successful migrant Cuban family book, founded on my parents vigor and the context of Cuban life in Miami. Consequently, I am primed to construct the rest of the story in my own, unique, and colorful voice as Maria Gomez, a fusion of assimilated member of a socially perceived subordinate group member, but also a fusion of all things good both Cuban and American.