"In the general interest of all conscious women": Race, Class, and the Cuban Women's Movement, 1923–1939

Abstract

This article examines the evolution of racial and class dynamics in the women's movement during the 1920s and 1930s. In particular, it traces the evolution of the feminist leadership between the 1923 First National Women's Congress and 1939 Third National Women's Congress, with specific consideration of how elite and middle-class white organizers formed alliances with black women from a range of class backgrounds. Though scholarship has emphasized the increasing collaboration of elite and working-class women in support of suffrage, labor reform, and social welfare programs during the rise of popular movements in this period, this article argues that race played a critical role in how many feminists reimagined their platform. By 1939, black female leaders emphasized their disparate experiences before national audiences while attempting to unify all Cuban women on behalf of democratic reform. The article thus shows how African-descended women helped build a cross-racial political alliance that would demand institutional reform during the 1940 Constitutional Assembly.