“The Path of Progress”: Protestant Missions, Education, and U.S. Hegemony in the “New Cuba,” 1898–1940

Abstract

In the wake of the Spanish-Cuban-American war in 1898, Protestant missions from the United States landed in Cuba to deliver the word of the Gospel, combat the old colonial Catholic Church, and help “civilize” Cubans. Postwar Cuba attracted various North American interests. However, eastern Cuba, known as the “cradle of independence,” was seen by both religious and secular U.S. interests as a “virgin field”: historically isolated and little-influenced by either religious or secular corporations. While Protestant missionaries organized and erected churches, they also established various types of philanthropic institutions such as hospitals, schools, and colleges. Spreading the word of the Gospel—traditionally the principal evangelical approach—was not the only means for combating blasphemy and reaching individuals. Protestant missions in early republican Cuba adopted several methods of evangelization.1 Of all these, U.S. churches in the newly-opened mission frontier of eastern Cuba, put the greatest emphasis on education.