Race to Revolution: The US and Cuba during Slavery and Jim Crow - by Horne, Gerald

Abstract

Horne, Gerald (2014) Race to Revolution: The US and Cuba during Slavery and Jim Crow, Monthly Review Press ( New York, NY), + 429 pp. £58.06 hbk, £20.00 pbk. Race to Revolution is an original and compelling account of the history of US-Cuban relations from the perspective of North Americans of African descent, in a period defined by racism. Gerald Horne claims to show that the imposition of Jim Crow style ‘race relations’ by the United States in Cuba following the Spanish-American War (1898) ‘paved the way for the revolution that climaxed on 1 January 1959’ (p. 9). There is no doubt that the profoundly nationalist and anti-imperialist Cuban Revolution responded to the truncated independence of 1898, but Race to Revolution is among the first accounts to attempt to document this connection through the prism of race. This thought-provoking argument challenges readers to contemplate three important themes in the historiography of US-Cuban relations. First, Horne contributes to a long-standing debate over the degree of influence the United States wielded in the consolidation of racism in Cuba. Although it would indeed be ‘short-sighted’ to deny the immense ‘gravitational pull exerted by the mainland’ on the development of racism in Cuba, the claim that the American intervention and subsequent occupation of the island (1899–1902) resulted in the forced implantation of Jim Crow-style racial segregation in Cuba affords the United States an exaggerated role in defining historical experiences on the island (p. 8). The American presence in Cuba did establish certain conditions and limitations within which Cubans operated as they transitioned from colony to republic. Nevertheless, Cuban authorities should not be exonerated for the role they played in the perpetuation and reconsolidation of racial exclusion following the war of independence. In fact there is ample evidence that the racial tensions that manifested under American rule had their roots in debates already taking place within the Cuban Army well before the United States intervention (Ferrer, 1999). Second, Race to Revolution also follows an established historiographical tendency to use the United States as the standard against which the histories of race in Latin America and elsewhere are judged. This is most evident in the book's US-centric periodisation, which resulted in the oversimplification of an incomplete historical narrative of race in Cuba. One of the cornerstones of Horne's argument is that the 1912 massacre of affiliates of the Independent Party of Colour demonstrated the consolidation of Jim Crow in Cuba. Yet, upon closer examination of the secondary literature and available primary sources, it becomes evident that the 1912 massacre did not mark the installation of Jim Crow; rather, it marked the culmination of a much longer trajectory of racial violence against black Cubans that had its roots in the anticolonial struggle, and was exacerbated on the tumultuous road toward the founding of the republic. In fact, leaders of the Independent Party of Colour initially, though unsuccessfully, sought US protection from the persecution by the rural guard and white vigilantes. Attempting to force 1912 into a US-centric periodisation ultimately decontextualised the massacre and eclipsed its significance within a broader trajectory of racism in Cuba. Third, the book's heavy reliance on US sources presents another opportunity to think about how non-Cuban scholars engage with Cuban history. The preference for American-authored and English language sources undoubtedly speaks to the difficulty of conducting research in Cuba. Yet, this decision also has profound consequences for what can be argued. In this case, it skewed the narrative in favour of the United States, at the expense of Cubans of African descent. As such, much of the evidence presented speaks to American perceptions of events in Cuba rather than the ways any specific group of Cubans experienced these historical developments. The perceptions of American onlookers about the nature of race in Cuba do not necessarily reflect realities, as much as the social and political aspirations of these individuals, as shown by David Hellwig (1992) in his study of African American perceptions of race in Brazil. Thus, rather than demonstrating that the installation of Jim Crow helped usher in the 1959 Cuban Revolution, this book shows how certain groups of Americans conceptualised the influence of race and empire on Cuban politics. It is difficult to deny that the United States played an important role in shaping conditions in Cuba throughout the twentieth century. Yet, Americans did not act in a vacuum. As much as Horne sought to critique American racism and imperialism, the unilateral approach to US-Cuban relations reproduced the very inequalities inherent in that troubled relationship. Still, this book provides a worthwhile survey of African American engagement with Cuba.