Afro-Cuban
Encyclopedia
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans
Cubans
Cubans or Cuban people are the inhabitants or citizens of Cuba. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...

 of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

 thought to emanate from this community. The term can refer to the combining of African and other cultural elements found in Cuban society such as religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

, language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

, the arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

, and class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...

 culture.

Afrocubanismo Movement in the 1920s and 1930s

During the 1920s and 1930s Cuba experienced a movement geared towards Afro-Cuban culture called Afrocubanismo. The movement had a large impact on Cuban literature, poetry, painting, music, and sculpture. It was the first artistic campaign in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

 that focused on one particular theme: black culture. Specifically it highlighted the struggle for independence from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, black slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

, and building a purely Cuban national identity. Its goal was to incorporate African folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

 and rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...

 into traditional modes of art.

History of the Movement

The movement evolved from an interest in the rediscovery of African heritage. It developed in two very different stages. The first stage stemmed from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an artists and intellectuals who were interested in African art and musical folk forms. This stage paralleled the Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...

 in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Négritude
Négritude
Négritude is a literary and ideological movement, developed by francophone black intellectuals, writers, and politiciansin France in the 1930s by a group that included the future Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor, Martinican poet Aimé Césaire, and the Guianan Léon Damas.The Négritude...

 in the French Caribbean
French Caribbean
The term French Caribbean varies in meaning with its usage and frame of reference. This ambiguity makes it very different from the term French West Indies, which refers to the specific, formal French possessions in the Caribbean region...

, and coincided with stylistic European Vanguard (like cubism and its representation of African masks). It was characterized by the participation of white intellectuals like Cubans Alejo Carpentier
Alejo Carpentier
Alejo Carpentier y Valmont was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Carpentier grew up in Havana, Cuba; and despite his European birthplace, Carpentier strongly self-identified...

, Fortunato Vizcarrondo and Lydia Cabrera
Lydia Cabrera
Lydia Cabrera was a Cuban anthropologist and poet.Cabrera was born in Havana; She was an authority on Santería and other Afro-Cuban religions. Over her lifetime she published over one hundred books; little if any of her work is available in English...

, Puerto Rican Luis Palés Matos
Luis Palés Matos
Luis Palés Matos was a Puerto Rican poet who is credited with creating the poetry genre known as Afro-Antillano.-Early years:...

, and Spaniards Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...

 and Roger de Lauria. The African-inspired art that was produced in this early part of the movement was extremely picturesque but lacked a true understanding of black culture. The art tended to represent Afro-Cubans with cliché images like a black man sitting beneath a palm tree with a cigar.

Although the depth of the first stage was shallow, it paved the way for Afro-Cubans to be recognized for their artistic ability. The influence of black writers in Cuba dates back to the early 17th century but it took the participation of the white intellectuals to bring their talent to the foreground.

Once white poets and intellectuals began publishing their work in the 20s with an Afro-Cuban subject matter, other poems and essays by black writers began to be published in the 30s in newspapers, magazines, and books where they discussed their own personal heritage. Afro-Cuban artists began to realize that the movement brought light to the once-marginalized black race and culture. It became a symbol of empowerment and individuality for Afro-Cubans within the established Western culture of the Americas and Europe.

This empowerment became a catalyst for the second stage to be characterized by Afro-Cuban artists making art that truly reflected what it meant to be Afro-Cuban. Beginning in the 1930s this stage depicted a more serious view of black culture like African religions and the struggles associated with slavery. The main protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

 during this stage of the movement was Nicolas Guillen
Nicolás Guillén
Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista was a Cuban poet, journalist, political activist, and writer. He is best remembered as the national poet of Cuba.Guillén was born in Camagüey, Cuba...

.

Results of the Movement

The lasting reputation of the Afrocubanismo movement was the establishment of a New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

 art form that used aesthetics from both European and African culture. Although the actual movement of Afrocubanismo faded by the early 40s, Afro-Cuban culture continues to play a vital role in the identity of Cuba. It has been the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...

 that opened up a space for extended research of African ethnic roots in Cuba. The rhetoric of the Revolution incorporates black history and its contribution as an important stratum
Stratum
In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers...

 of Cuban identity. The Revolution has funded many projects that restore the work of Afro-Cubans in an effort to accommodate an African-driven identity within the new anti-racist Cuban society.

Demographics

According to a 2002 national census which surveyed 11.2 million Cubans, 1.1 million Cubans described themselves as Black
Black
Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...

, while 2.8 million considered themselves to be "mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...

" or "mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...

". Thus a significant proportion of those living on the island affirm some African ancestry. The matter is further complicated by the fact that a fair number of people still locate their origins in specific African ethnic groups or regions, particularly Yoruba
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...

 (or Lucumi
Lucumi people
The Lucumi people are an Afro-Cuban, Afro-Puerto Rican, and Afro-Dominican ethnic group. Many Lucumi claim to be of Yoruba ancestry....

), Igbo
Igbo people
Igbo people, also referred to as the Ibo, Ebo, Eboans or Heebo are an ethnic group living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects; today, a majority of them speak English alongside Igbo as a result of British colonialism...

 and Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

, but also Arará
Arará
Arará is a minority group in Cuba , Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Caribbean who descend from Fon, Ewe, Popo, Mahi and other ethnic groups in Dahomey...

, Carabalí, Mandingo
Mandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....

, Fula, Makua, and others. Nevertheless, and despite the egalitarian project of the Cuban revolution, racial discrimination still exists in Cuba. Many Afro-Cubans complain that they are refused employment in the lucrative tourism industry
Tourism in Cuba
Tourism in Cuba attracts over 2 million people a year, and is one of the main sources of revenue for the island. With its favorable climate, beaches, colonial architecture and distinct cultural history, Cuba has long been an attractive destination for tourists...

, where Cubans make in tips weekly what doctors and other professionals make in months.

The percentage of Afro-Cubans on the island increased after the 1959 Cuban revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...

 led by Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

 due to mass migration from the island
Cuban exile
The term "Cuban exile" refers to the many Cubans who have sought alternative political or economic conditions outside the island, dating back to the Ten Years' War and the struggle for Cuban independence during the 19th century...

 of the largely white Cuban professional class. A small percentage of Afro-Cubans left Cuba, mostly for the United States, (particularly Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

), where they and their U.S.-born children are called Cuban American
Cuban American
A Cuban American is a United States citizen who traces his or her "national origin" to Cuba. Cuban Americans are also considered native born Americans with Cuban parents or Cuban-born persons who were raised and educated in US...

s, Hispanic-Americans, and African Americans. Only a few of them resided in nearby Spanish-speaking countries of Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

 and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

.

The Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami says 62% are black. The Minority Rights Group International
Minority Rights Group International
Minority Rights Group International is an organisation founded with the objective of promoting respect for the human rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples around the world...

 says that "An objective assessment of the situation of Afro-Cubans remains problematic due to scant records and a paucity of systematic studies both pre- and post-revolution.

Afro-Cuban descendants in Africa

Countries such as Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

, the home of the Yoruba
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...

 and Igbo
Igbo people
Igbo people, also referred to as the Ibo, Ebo, Eboans or Heebo are an ethnic group living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects; today, a majority of them speak English alongside Igbo as a result of British colonialism...

 cultures, and Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea where the capital Malabo is situated.Annobón is the southernmost island of Equatorial Guinea and is situated just south of the equator. Bioko island is the northernmost point of Equatorial Guinea. Between the two islands and to the...

 experienced and influx of ex-slaves from Cuba brought there as indentured servants during the 17th century, and again during the 19th century. In Equatorial Guinea, they became part of the Emancipados
Emancipados
Emancipado was a term used for an African descended social-political demographic within the population of Spanish Guinea that existed in the early to mid 1900s...

; in Nigeria, they were called Amaros. Despite being free to return to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

 when their tenure was over, they remained in these countries marrying into the local indigenous population. The former slaves were brought to Africa by the Royal Orders of September 13, 1845 (by way of voluntary arrangement) and a June 20, 1861 deportation from Cuba, due to the lack of volunteers. Similar circumstances previously occurred during the 17th century where ex-slaves from both Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

 and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 were offered the same opportunity.

Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...

 also has communities of Afro-Cubans, these are descendants of Afro-Cuban soldiers brought to the country in 1975 as a result of the Cuban involvement in the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

. Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

 deployed thousands of troops to the country during the Angolan Civil War
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict in the Southern African state of Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with some interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. Prior to this, a decolonisation conflict had taken...

. As a result of this era, there exists a small Spanish-speaking community in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...

 of Afro-Cubans numbering about 100,000.

Religion

Afro-Cuban religion can be broken down into three main currents: Santería
Santería
Santería is a syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin influenced by Roman Catholic Christianity, also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla Lucumi, or Lukumi. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yoruba, is also known as Lucumi....

, Palo Monte, and Abakuá
Abakuá
Abakua or Abakuá is an Afro-Cuban men's initiatory fraternity, or secret society, which originated from fraternal associations in the Cross River region of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon...

, and include individuals of all origins. Santería and Abakuá both have large parts of their liturgy in African languages (Yoruba, Igbo and Ñañigo, respectively) while Palo Monte uses a mixture of Spanish and Kikongo. Santería and Palo Monte are largely syncretised with Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....

, though it is generally considered that the African elements outweigh the Catholic ones.

The Abakuá religion is a secret society for men, similar to the freemason orders of Europe (which first integrated white (Spanish) members in the late 19th century). It has not been syncretised with Catholicism and remains close to its origins in south-eastern Nigeria. An important aspect of Abakuá is that while membership is only for men, a host of rules mandates that conditions to be initiated are to be a good son, good brother, good father, good friend, and, above all, heterosexual. There are presently 136 potencies in Cuba; the 136th been recently created named Efí Masongo Obane.

Music

Afro-Cuban music involves two main categories of music, religious and profane. Religious music includes the chants, rhythms
Bata
Bata or Baťa or Baţa or Batá may refer to:* Bata Shoes , a multinational corporation-Places:* Bat, Afghanistan, a place in Afghanistan* Bata, a commune in Arad County, Romania...

 and instruments
Claves
Claves are a percussion instrument , consisting of a pair of short Claves (Anglicized pronunciation: clah-vays, IPA:[ˈklαves]) are a percussion instrument (idiophone), consisting of a pair of short Claves (Anglicized pronunciation: clah-vays, IPA:[ˈklαves]) are a percussion instrument (idiophone),...

 used in rituals of the above-mentioned religious currents, while profane music focuses largely on rumba
Cuban Rumba
In Cuban music, Rumba is a generic term covering a variety of musical rhythms and associated dances. The rumba has its influences in the music brought to Cuba by Africans brought to Cuba as slaves as well as Spanish colonizers...

, guaguanco
Guaguancó
Guaguancó is a sub-genre of Cuban rumba, a complex rhythmic music and dance style. The traditional line-up consists of:* three drums, similar to conga drums: the tumba , llamador , and quinto...

 and comparsa
Comparsa
A comparsa is the band which plays a conga during a Latin American Carnival celebration. It consists of a large group of dancers dancing and traveling on the streets, followed by a Carrosa where the musicians play...

 (carnival music) as well as several lesser styles such as the tumba francesa. Virtually all Cuban music
Music of Cuba
The Caribbean island of Cuba has developed a wide range of creolized musical styles, based on its cultural origins in Europe and Africa. Since the 19th century its music has been hugely popular and influential throughout the world...

 has been influenced by African rhythms. Cuban popular music, and quite a lot of the art music, has strands from both Spain and Africa, woven into a unique Cuban cloth. The son
Son (music)
The Son cubano is a style of music that originated in Cuba and gained worldwide popularity in the 1930s. Son combines the structure and elements of Spanish canción and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion instruments of Bantu and Arará origin...

is a typical example of this.

Language

Other cultural elements considered to be Afro-Cuban can be found in language (including syntax, vocabulary, and style of speech) and generally held stereotypes of Afro-Cuban culture such as male and female behavior, family structure or general habits. The term Afro-Cuban is rarely taken into the economic sphere, despite the fact that, as in most of the Americas, black Cubans are generally poorer than whites, which translates into class phenomenon along racial lines. The political situation, however, forbids public acknowledgment of the existence of social classes and of racial problems of any kind.

Racial Consciousness

According to anthropologists dispatched by the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, racism is entrenched in Cuba. Black people are systematically excluded from positions in tourism related jobs, where they could earn tips in hard currencies. According to the EU study, black people are relegated to poor housing, and black Cubans are excluded from managerial positions.

Enrique Patterson describes race as a "social bomb" and says that "If the Cuban government were to permit black Cubans to organize and raise their problems before [authorities] . . . totalitarianism would fall". Esteban Morales Domínguez, a professor in the University of Havana, says that "The absence of the debate on the racial problem already threatens . . . the revolution's social project". Carlos Moore, who has authored extensive on the issue, says that "There is an unstated threat, blacks in Cuba know that whenever you raise race in Cuba, you go to jail. Therefore the struggle in Cuba is different. There cannot be a civil rights movement. You will have instantly 10,000 black people dead. [...] The government is frightened to the extent to which it does not understand black Cubans today. You have a new generation of black Cubans who are looking at politics in another way." Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

's victory has raised disturbing questions about the institutional racism in Cuba. The Economist noted "The danger starts with his example: after all, a young, black, progressive politician has no chance of reaching the highest office in Cuba, although a majority of the island’s people are black"

In the years between the triumph of the revolution and the victory at Playa Girón the Cuban government was one of the world’s most proactive regimes in the fight against discrimination. It achieved significant gains in racial equality through a series of egalitarian reforms early in the 1960s. Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

’s first public address on racism after his rise to power was on March 23, 1959 at a labor rally in Havana, less than three months after he defeated Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....

. He is quoted as saying: “one of the most just battles that must be fought, a battle that must be emphasized more and more, which I might call the fourth battle--the battle to end racial discrimination at work centers. I repeat: the battle to end racial discrimination at work centers. Of all the forms of racial discrimination the worst is the one that limits the colored Cuban's access to jobs .“ Castro pointed to the distinction between social segregation and employment, while placing great emphasis on correcting the latter. In response to the large amount of racism that existed in the job market, Castro issued anti-discrimination laws. In addition, he attempted to close the class gap between wealthy white Cubans and Afro-Cubans with a massive literacy campaign among other egalitarian reforms in the early and mid 1960s
Two years after his 1959 speech at the Havana Labor Rally, Castro declared that the age of racism and discrimination was over. In a speech given at the Confederation of Cuban Workers in observance of May Day, Castro declared that the “ just laws of the revolution
ended unemployment put an end to villages without hospitals and schools, enacted laws which ended discrimination, control by monopolies, humiliation, and the suffering of the people.” Although inspiring, many would consider the claim to be premature.”

Research conducted by PH.D researchers Yesilernis Peña, Jim Sidanius and Mark Sawyer in 2003, suggest that social discrimination is still prevalent, despite the low levels of economic discrimination.
After considering the issue solved, the Cuban government moved beyond the issue of racism. His message marked a shift in Cuban society’s perception of racism that was triggered by the change in government focus. ” The government’s announcement easily allowed the Cuban public to deny discrimination without first correcting the stereotypes that remained in mind of those who grew up in a Cuba that was racially and economically divided.
Many who argue that racism does not exist in Cuba base their claims on the idea of Latin American Exceptionalism. According to the argument of Latin American Exceptionality, a social history of intermarriage and mixing of the races is unique to Latina America. The large mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...

 populations that result from high levels of interracial union common to Latin America are often linked to racial democracy. For many Cubans this translates into an argument of “racial harmony”, often referred to as racial democracy. In the case of Cuba, ideas of Latin American Exceptionalism have delayed the progress of true racial harmony.

Most of the Latin population of Tampa in the 1950s was working class and lived in restricted areas, ethnic enclaves in the vicinity of Tampa’s hundreds of cigar factories. Black Cubans were tolerated to an extent in the Latin quarter (where most neighborhoods and cigar factories were integrated), Ybor City and its counterpart, West Tampa, were areas that bordered on other restricted sections-areas for U.S. blacks or whites only. In this Latin qurtet, there existed racial discrimination despite its subtleness.

Haitian Creole among Afro-Cubans

Haitian Creole and culture first entered Cuba with the arrival of Haitian immigrants at the start of the 19th century. Haiti was a French colony, and the final years of the 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution brought a wave of French settlers fleeing with their Haitian slaves to Cuba. They came mainly to the east, and especially Guantanamo, where the French later introduced sugar cultivation, constructed sugar refineries and developed coffee plantations. By 1804, some 30,000 French were living in Baracoa and Maisí, the furthest eastern municipalities of the province. Later, Haitians continued to come to Cuba to work as braceros (hand workers, from the Spanish word brazo, meaning "arm") in the fields cutting cane. Their living and working conditions were not much better than slavery. Although they planned to return to Haiti, most stayed on in Cuba. For years, many Haitians and their descendants in Cuba did not identify themselves as such or speak Creole. In the eastern part of the island, many Haitians suffered discrimination. But according to the Castro regime, since 1959, when he took over, this discrimination has stopped.

After Spanish, Creole is the second most-spoken language in Cuba. In addition to the eastern provinces, there are also communities in Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey provinces where the population still maintains Creole, their mother tongue. Classes in Creole are offered in Guantanamo, Matanzas and the City of Havana. There is a Creole-language radio program.

List of Famous Afro-Cubans

  • Andres Serrano
    Andres Serrano
    Andres Serrano is an American photographer and artist who has become notorious through his photos of corpses and his use of feces and bodily fluids in his work, notably his controversial work "Piss Christ", a red-tinged photograph of a crucifix submerged in a glass container of what was purported...

     - Artist
  • Antonio Maceo
    Antonio Maceo Grajales
    Lt. General José Antonio de la Caridad Maceo y Grajales was second-in-command of the Cuban Army of Independence....

     - Second-in-command of the Cuban Army of Independence
  • Martín Morúa Delgado,President of the Cuban Senate
  • Juan Gualberto Gómez
    Juan Gualberto Gómez
    Juan Gualberto Gómez Ferrer was an Afro-Cuban revolutionary leader in the Cuban War of Independence against Spain. He was a "close collaborator of Martí's," and alongside him helped plan the uprising and unite the island's black population behind the rebellion...

    , 1890s revolutionary leader, close collaborator of Martí
    José Martí
    José Julián Martí Pérez was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist. He was also a part of the Cuban...

    's, served as part of the committee of consultations that drafted and amended the Constitution of 1901, and as a Representative and Senator
  • Víctor Dreke
    Víctor Dreke
    Víctor Emilio Dreke Cruz is a Cuban Communist Party leader of notable African descent, and a former commander in the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces....

     - Cuban Revolutionary and Second-in-Command to Ché Guevara in the Congo
  • Rita Marley
    Rita Marley
    Alpharita Constantia Anderson , better known as Rita Marley, and sometimes called "Nana Rita", is the widow of reggae legend/musician Bob Marley, and a member of the trio the I Threes, Bob Marley's backup singers.-Biography:...

     - Singer, Humanitarian, and widowed wife of Bob Marley
    Bob Marley
    Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...

  • Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés, "Plácido" - Poet
  • Nicolás Guillén
    Nicolás Guillén
    Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista was a Cuban poet, journalist, political activist, and writer. He is best remembered as the national poet of Cuba.Guillén was born in Camagüey, Cuba...

     - Poet
  • Regino Pedroso
    Regino Pedroso
    Regino Pedroso was a Cuban poet....

     - Poet
  • Nancy Morejón
    Nancy Morejón
    Nancy Morejón is one of Cuba's major authors and poets. She has gained recognition for work whose themes are centered on women and the Afro-Cuban experience.-Life history:...

     - Poet
  • Domingo Alfonso - Poet
  • Angel Escobar
    Angel Escobar
    Angel Rubenque Escobar [es-coe-BAR] is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and right-handed batter who played for the San Francisco Giants ....

     - Poet
  • Soleida Ríos - Writer
  • Alberto Guerra Naranjo - Writer
  • Ariel Ribeaux Diago - Writer
  • Ahmel Echevarría - Writer
  • Víctor Fowler - Writer
  • Salvador Redonet Cook - Professor
  • Wifredo Lam
    Wifredo Lam
    Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla , better known as Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cuban spirit and culture...

     - Artist
  • Roberto Diago - Artist
  • Ibrahim Ferrer
    Ibrahim Ferrer
    Ibrahim Ferrer was a popular Afro-Cuban singer and musician in Cuba. He performed with many musical groups including the Conjunto Sorpresa, Orquesta Chepin-Choven and Afro-Cuban All Stars...

     - Singer (Buena Vista Social Club
    Buena Vista Social Club
    The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...

    )
  • Omara Portuondo
    Omara Portuondo
    Omara Portuondo Peláez is a Cuban singer and dancer whose career has spanned over half a century. She was one of the original members of the Cuarteto d'Aida, and has performed with Ignacio Piñeiro, Orquesta Anacaona, Orquesta Aragón, Nat King Cole, Adalberto Álvarez, Los Van Van, the Buena Vista...

     - Singer (Buena Vista Social Club
    Buena Vista Social Club
    The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...

    )
  • Compay Segundo
    Compay Segundo
    Compay Segundo was a Cuban trova guitarist, singer and composer.-Biography:...

     - Singer (Buena Vista Social Club
    Buena Vista Social Club
    The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...

    )
  • Pío Leyva
    Pío Leyva
    Pío Leyva was a Cuban singer and the author of the well-known guaracha El Mentiroso . Leyva was part of the Buena Vista Social Club, and composed some of Cuba’s best known standards....

     - Singer (Buena Vista Social Club
    Buena Vista Social Club
    The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...

    )
  • Rubén González - Pianist (Buena Vista Social Club
    Buena Vista Social Club
    The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...

    )
  • Orlando "Cachaito" López - Bass player (Buena Vista Social Club
    Buena Vista Social Club
    The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...

    )
  • Juan de Marcos González
    Juan de Marcos González
    Juan de Marcos González is a Cuban bandleader and musician, best known for his work with the Buena Vista Social Club.-Biography:Resume....

     - Musical director (Buena Vista Social Club
    Buena Vista Social Club
    The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...

    )
  • Afro-Cuban All Stars
  • Fats Navarro
    Fats Navarro
    Theodore "Fats" Navarro was an American jazz trumpet player. He was a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. He had a strong stylistic influence on many other players, most notably Clifford Brown.-Life:Navarro was born in Key West, Florida, to Cuban-Black-Chinese parentage...

     - Jazz musician
  • Mario Bauzá
    Mario Bauza
    Mario Bauzá was an important Cuban musician. He was one of the first to introduce Latin music to the United States by bringing Cuban musical styles into the New York jazz scene...

     - Jazz musician
  • Chano Pozo
    Chano Pozo
    Chano Pozo was a percussionist, singer, dancer and composer who played a major role in the founding of Latin jazz...

     - Jazz percusionist
  • Arsenio Rodríguez
    Arsenio Rodríguez
    Arsenio Rodríguez was a Cuban musician who played the tres , reorganized the conjunto and developed the son montuno, and other Afro-Cuban rhythms in the 1940s and 50s...

     - Bandleader
  • Ignacio Piñeiro
    Ignacio Piñeiro
    Ignacio Piñeiro Martínez was a black Cuban musician and composer whose career started in rumba, and flowered in the rise of the son. He was one of the most important composers of son music; in total he wrote about 327 numbers, mostly sones.Piñeiro was a brilliant rumbero who worked with musical...

     - Musician
  • Machito
    Machito
    Machito , born as Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, was an influential Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music...

     - Musician
  • Mongo Santamaría
    Mongo Santamaría
    Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez was an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz percussionist. He is most famous for being the composer of the jazz standard "Afro Blue," recorded by John Coltrane among others. In 1950 he moved to New York where he played with Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Fania All...

     - Jazz musician
  • Benny Moré
    Benny Moré
    Benny Moré , or Beny, was a Cuban singer. He is often thought of as the greatest Cuban popular singer of all time. He was gifted with an innate musicality and fluid tenor voice which he colored and phrased with great expressivity...

     - Singer
  • Bola de Nieve
    Bola de Nieve
    Bola de Nieve , born Ignacio Jacinto Villa, was a successful Cuban singer-pianist and songwriter, whose round, black face earned him the nickname by which he was always known....

     - Singer and pianist
  • Pedro "Peruchín" Jústiz - Pianist
  • Chocolate Armenteros - Trumpetist
  • Félix Chapottín - Trumpetist
  • Armando Peraza
    Armando Peraza
    Armando Peraza is a Latin jazz percussionist. Through his long associations with jazz pianist George Shearing, vibraphonist Cal Tjader and guitarist Carlos Santana, he has been internationally known from the 1950s through to the 1990s...

     - Percusionist
  • Orestes Vilató
    Orestes Vilató
    Orestes Vilató is a Timbalero/Bongosero.He went to New York City at the age of 12, after his father was recruited to be in charge of international flights inaugurated by Cubana de Aviación...

     - Timbalero
  • Barbarito Diez - Singer
  • Pello el Afrokán - Percusionist and creator of mozambique (music)
    Mozambique (music)
    Mozambique is a vigorous style of Cuban music and dance derived, like the conga, from music of Cuban street carnivals or comparsas. It was invented or developed by Pello el Afrokan in 1963...

  • Bebo Valdés
    Bebo Valdés
    Bebo Valdés is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger. He was a central figure in the golden age of Cuban music, led two famous big bands, and was one of the 'house' arrangers for the Tropicana Club.Valdés started his career as a pianist in the night clubs of Havana during the 1940s...

     - Pianist
  • Israel "Cachao" López - Bass player
  • Orestes López
    Orestes López
    Orestes López was a Cuban musician and bandleader, often credited with popularizing the musical form Mambo, together with his brother Israel "Cachao" Lopez....

     - Bass player
  • Dámaso Pérez Prado - The King of Mambo
  • Carlos "Patato" Valdes - Conga player
  • Richard Egües
    Richard Egües
    Richard Egües nicknamed "la flauta magica" , was a Cuban flautist and musician, on of the country's most famous artists. Egües was a member of the Orquesta Aragón band which he joined in 1953...

     - Flute player, a member of the Orquesta Aragón
  • Enrique Jorrín
    Enrique Jorrín
    Enrique Jorrín was a Cuban composer, violinist and band director. He is famous as the inventor of a style of Cuban dance music called cha-cha-chá.-Biography:...

     - Violinist and inventor of cha-chá-chá
  • Guillermo Barreto
    Guillermo Barreto
    Guillermo Barreto , was a Cuban drummer who also played timbales who was a major figure in the Cuban music scene for more than fifty years and is, debatably, the one who pioneered Cuban "Be-bop" jazz drumming.-Early...

     - Percusionist
  • Generoso Jimenez
    Generoso Jimenez
    Generoso "Tojo" Jiménez was a famous Cuban trombone player and a pioneer of Cuban popular music. He was also the trombonist for the Cuban bandleader and singer, Beny Moré....

     - Trombonist
  • Chucho Valdés
    Chucho Valdés
    Chucho Valdés is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger. In 1972 he founded the group Irakere, one of Cuba's best-known Latin jazz bands. Together with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Valdés is revered as one of Cuba's greatest jazz pianists...

     - Pianist and leader of Irakere
    Irakere
    Irakere is a Cuban band founded by Armando de Sequeira Romeu Music Director and composer, and by pianist Chucho Valdés in 1973...

  • Jorge Varona - Trumpetist
  • Carlos del Puerto - Bass player
  • Jorge Alfonso, el Niño - Percusionist
  • Anga Díaz
    Anga Díaz
    Miguel 'Angá' Díaz , was a Cuban percussionist. With his explosive soloing and inventive five conga patterns, Angá was widely acclaimed as one of the world's greatest congueros...

     - Percusionist and former member of Irakere
    Irakere
    Irakere is a Cuban band founded by Armando de Sequeira Romeu Music Director and composer, and by pianist Chucho Valdés in 1973...

  • Germán Velazco - Sax player
  • Orlando Valle, "Maraca" - Flutist
  • Lázaro "el Fino" Rivero - Bass player
  • Tata Güines
    Tata Güines
    Tata Güines was a Cuban percussionist on the tumbadora, or conga drum, as well as a composer. He was important in the first generation of Afro-Cuban jazz....

     - Percusionist
  • Changuito
    Changuito
    Changuito is a Cuban percussionist.-Biography:Quintana was born in 1948 in Casablanca, Cuba. As a child he played professionally in bands such as Havana Jazz , with his musician father, and with La Pandilla de los Cabezas de Perros...

     - Percusionist and former member of Los Van Van
    Los Van Van
    Los Van Van is a Cuban band led by bassist Juan Formell, it is one of the most recognized post-revolution Cuban bands, while Juan Formell has arguably become the most important figure in contemporary Cuban music....

  • Ignacio Berroa
    Ignacio Berroa
    Ignacio Berroa is a jazz drummer.In 1980 Ignacio left his country during the Mariel Boatlift, moved to New York and joined Dizzy Gillespie’s quartet in 1981 becoming the drummer of all the important bands Gillespie formed until his death in 1993.Ignacio Berroa has been recognized by many as one of...

     - Drummer
  • Lázaro Ros
    Lázaro Ros
    Lázaro Ros was an Afro-Cuban singer. His music borrowed much from Africa, as he performed music of the Lucumí culture, of the Yoruba people from modern-day Nigeria, and of the Arará culture of the Dahomeyan people from modern-day Benin...

     - Singer
  • Pablo Milanés
    Pablo Milanés
    Pablo Milanés Arias is a Cuban singer-songwriter and guitar player. He studied at a conservatory in Havana. He is considered one of the founders of the Cuban nueva trova, along with Silvio Rodríguez and Noel Nicola...

     - Singer
  • Gerardo Alfonso - Singer
  • Carlos Alfonso
    Carlos Alfonso
    Carlos A. Alfonso is a former minor league baseball player and manager, as well as a former minor and major league coach...

     - Bass player and leader of Síntesis
  • X Alfonso - Singer
  • Yusa
    Yusa
    Yusa is a Cuban singer and songwriter, born in the Buena Vista district of Havana, Cuba. Her music is recognised worldwide : in 2003, she was nominated at the prestigious BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards in two categories...

     - Female bass player
  • Peruchín Jr. - Guitarist
  • Gonzalo Rubalcaba
    Gonzalo Rubalcaba
    Gonzalo Rubalcaba is a Grammy Award-winning Cuban jazz pianist and composer.Gonzalo Julio Gonzalez Fonseca was born in Havana, Cuba, May 27, 1963, into a musical family rich in the traditions of the country’s artistic past...

     - Jazz pianist
  • Celia Cruz
    Celia Cruz
    Celia Cruz was a Cuban-American salsa singer, and was one of the most successful Salsa performers of the 20th century, having earned twenty-three gold albums...

     - Singer
  • Addys D'Mercedes
    Addys D'Mercedes
    Addys Mercedes formerly known as "Addys D'Mercedes" is a Cuban pop and worldmusic singer living between Germany and Spain.She made her UK debut in 2001 at the Guildford Festival and since then has undertaken two British tours.- Life :...

     - Singer
  • Yotuel Romero
    Yotuel Romero
    Yotuel Omar Manzanarez Romero is an singer, actor and musician current lead singer and co-writer of the 2003 Latin Grammy Award winner Platinum album selling rap group Orishas. Among other recordings, Emigrante won the 2003 Latin Grammy Award for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Album...

     - Singer
  • Jon Secada
    Jon Secada
    Jon Secada is a Cuban-American singer and songwriter. Secada was born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Hialeah, Florida. He has won two Grammy Awards and sold 20 million albums since his English-language debut album in 1992. His music fuses funk, soul, pop and Latin percussion...

     - Singer
  • Sen Dog
    Sen Dog
    Sen Dog is a Cuban-American rapper, and member of rap group Cypress Hill. He is the older brother of fellow rapper Mellow Man Ace.Sen Dog has been developing his own solo career in addition to his work with Cypress Hill...

     of rap group Cypress Hill
    Cypress Hill
    Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first Latino hip-hop group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 18 million albums worldwide...

  • Mellow Man Ace
    Mellow Man Ace
    Ulpiano Sergio Reyes , better known as Mellow Man Ace, is an American rapper. He is best known for his hit single "Mentirosa"...

     - Rapper
  • Teófilo Stevenson
    Teófilo Stevenson
    Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence or Teófilo Stevenson is a former Cuban amateur boxer. He is one of the only three boxers to win three Olympic gold medals, alongside Hungarian László Papp and fellow Cuban Félix Savón....

     - Amateur boxer
  • Félix Savón
    Félix Savón
    Félix Savón Fabre is a Cuban heavyweight boxer, a winner of three gold medals at the Olympic Games. Savón is considered a legend in amateur boxing and has won six world titles....

     - Amateur boxer
  • Alexis Rubalcaba
    Alexis Rubalcaba
    Alexis Rubalcaba is a retired boxer from Cuba, who competed in the Super Heavyweight division. He twice represented his native country at the Summer Olympics: in 1996 and 2000. One of his biggest achievements in amateur boxing was winning the gold medal at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg,...

     - Amateur boxer
  • Kid Chocolate
    Kid Chocolate
    For the boxer of the same nickname see Peter Quillin.Eligio Sardiñas Montalvo , better known as Kid Chocolate, was a Cuban boxer who enjoyed wild success both in the boxing ring and in society life during a span of the 1930s.-Biography:Eligio Montaldo, also nicknamed The Cuban Bon Bon, learned how...

     - Boxer (Former World Featherweight & Junior Lightweight Champion)
  • José Nápoles
    José Napoles
    José Ángel Nápoles, nicknamed Mantequilla , is a Cuban-Mexican boxer and former world welterweight champion, who is frequently ranked as one of the greatest fighters of all time in that division...

     - Boxer (Former World Welterweight Champion; also known as 'Mantequilla' Nápoles).
  • Joel Casamayor
    Joel Casamayor
    Joel "El Cepillo" Casamayor Johnson is a Cuban boxer, who turned pro after defecting to the United States on the eve of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The nickname "El Cepillo", literally translated to "the brush", comes from his uppercut, which rakes his opponents across the face...

     - Boxer (WBC Lightweight Champion)
  • Sugar Ramos
    Sugar Ramos
    Ultiminio Ramos is a Cuban-Mexican boxer who is better known as Sugar Ramos. Ramos fought out of Mexico where he was adopted as a national hero...

     - Boxer (Former WBA Featherweight Champion)
  • Sergio Oliva
    Sergio Oliva
    Sergio Oliva is a bodybuilder known as "The Myth". This sobriquet was given to him by bodybuilder/writer Rick Wayne. Wayne had begun calling Oliva "The Myth" ""....

     - Body builder (Only bodybuilder to have ever beaten Arnold Schwarzenegger
    Arnold Schwarzenegger
    Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....

     in a Mr Olympia competition)
  • Tony Oliva
    Tony Oliva
    Tony Pedro Oliva is a former Major League Baseball right fielder and designated hitter. He played his entire 15-year baseball career for the Minnesota Twins . He batted left-handed and threw right-handed...

     - Three-Time batting champion
  • Javier Sotomayor
    Javier Sotomayor
    Javier Sotomayor Sanabria is a Cuban former track and field athlete who specialized in the high jump and is the current world record holder. The 1992 Olympic champion, he was the dominant high jumper of the 1990s; he is the only person ever to have cleared 8 feet . He is widely regarded as the...

     - Holds world record in high jump
  • Ana Fidelia Quirot
    Ana Fidelia Quirot
    Ana Fidelia Quirot is a female athlete from Cuba, who specialised in the 800 m but was also successful over 400 m....

     - Athlete
  • Gipsy Moreno - Athlete
  • Regla Torres
    Regla Torres
    Regla Torres Herrera is a Cuban volleyball player who has won three Olympic gold medals with her first being at the young, for volleyball, age of 17. She has played on the international circuit since she was 14...

     - Volleyball player
  • Gilbert Arenas
    Gilbert Arenas
    Gilbert Jay Arenas, Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association . He plays as a point guard and shooting guard....

     - NBA
  • Cristóbal Torriente
    Cristóbal Torriente
    Cristóbal Torriente was a Cuban outfielder in Negro league baseball with the Cuban Stars, All Nations, Chicago American Giants, Kansas City Monarchs and Detroit Stars over a career that lasted from 1914 to 1928, plus a single game in 1932.-Negro league career:Torriente was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba...

     - Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame
  • Martín Dihigo
    Martín Dihigo
    Martín Magdaleno Dihigo Llanos was a Cuban player in baseball's Negro leagues and Latin American leagues who excelled at several positions, primarily as a pitcher and second baseman...

     - Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame
  • Orestes Kindelán
    Orestes Kindelán
    Orestes Kindelán Olivares is the most prolific home run hitter in the history of post-revolutionary Cuban baseball, well known as "El Cañon de Dos Rios" and one of the offensive stars of the Cuban national baseball team, which won numerous World Cups and two Olympic gold medals during his tenure...

     - The most prolific home run hitter in the history of amateur Cuban baseball
  • José Contreras
    José Contreras
    José Ariel Contreras Camejo is a right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who is currently with the Philadelphia Phillies...

     - MLB
  • Orlando Hernández
    Orlando Hernández
    Orlando Hernández Pedroso , nicknamed "El Duque", is a former Cuban right-handed baseball pitcher....

     - MLB
  • Liván Hernández
    Liván Hernández
    Eisler Liván Hernández Carrera is a Cuban professional baseball pitcher. He is the half-brother of pitcher Orlando "El Duque" Hernández.-Playing career:...

     - MLB
  • Alexei Ramirez
    Alexei Ramírez
    Alexei Fernando Ramírez is a Major League Baseball second baseman and shortstop for the Chicago White Sox...

     - MLB
  • Brayan Peña
    Brayan Peña
    Brayan Eduardo Peña is a catcher for the Kansas City Royals.-Early years:Peña was a member of the Cuban National 18 and under team as a youth. He graduated from Espa Julio Trigo Junior College in Costa Rica...

     - MLB
  • Tony Pérez
    Tony Pérez
    Atanasio Pérez Rigal , more commonly known as Tony Pérez, is a former Major League Baseball player. He was also known by the nickname "Big Dog," "Big Doggie," and "Doggie."...

     - MLB (Hall of Fame)
  • Laz Alonso
    Laz Alonso
    Lazaro "Laz" Alonso is an American film and television actor. He is best known for playing Tsu'tey in James Cameron's science fiction film Avatar. He is also well known for his role as Fenix "Rise" Calderon in the film Fast & Furious. Alonso has had roles in other films such as Jarhead, This...

     - Actor (This Christmas)
  • Christina Milian
    Christina Milian
    Christine Flores , better known by her stage name Christina Milian , is an American singer-songwriter, actress, dancer, and model....

     - Actress
  • Gina Torres
    Gina Torres
    Gina Torres is an American television and movie actress. She is known for her roles in science fiction and fantasy. She has appeared in many television series, including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys , Xena: Warrior Princess , the short-lived Cleopatra 2525, as well as Alias , Firefly Gina...

     - Actress
  • Rosario Dawson
    Rosario Dawson
    Rosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...

     - Actress
  • Faizon Love
    Faizon Love
    Faizon Andre Love is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for roles in the films Friday, Elf, Made, and Couples Retreat.-Life and career:...

     - Actor
  • Lola Falana
    Lola Falana
    Lola Falana is an American singer, dancer, and actress of Cuban and African American descent. Falana's father left Cuba to become a welder in the United States, where he met his wife...

  • Luis Moro
    Luis Moro
    Luis Moro is a Cuban-born American actor, filmmaker, and writer. He first gained notability for co-writing, producing and acting in the film Anne B. Real, which was nominated for two Independent Spirit Award...

     - Actor/Filmmaker
  • Matt Cedeño
    Matt Cedeño
    Matt Cedeño is an American actor and former male fashion model.He was born in Moses Lake, Washington to an Afro-Cuban father and an Irish-English mother. He became a model doing gigs in Milan, Spain, New York and Los Angeles, which Cedeno juggled, along with academics, until he finished school...

     - Actor/Model
  • Renny Arozarena
    Renny Arozarena
    Renny Arozarena is a Cuban actor, born in Havana in 1971.He started acting as a child, making his professional debut on the stage in leading roles in Andoba, Santa Camila de la Habana Vieja, Romeo et Juliette, Othello, among others. He is now director of a theatre group...

     - Actor
  • Juan Almeida Bosque
    Juan Almeida Bosque
    Juan Almeida Bosque was a Cuban politician and one of the original commanders of the Cuban Revolution. After the 1959 revolution, he was a prominent figure in the Communist Party of Cuba; at the time of his death in 2009, he was a Vice-President of the Cuban Council of State and was its third...

     - Politician and composer
  • Esteban Lazo Hernández
    Esteban Lazo Hernández
    Juan Esteban Lazo Hernández is a vice-president of the Cuban Council of State and a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.- References :...

     - Politician
  • Juan Gomez Gonzalez Garcia Hernandez - Luchador (Masked Wrestler)
  • Pia Conde
    Pia Conde
    Pia Conde is a Swedish journalist and television presenter at SVT.She started her career at TV4 hosting the daily news broadcast TV4Nyheterna, and later the Sunday breakfast television programme Söndagsmorgon....

     - Swedish journalist and TV-personality
  • Laz Alonso
    Laz Alonso
    Lazaro "Laz" Alonso is an American film and television actor. He is best known for playing Tsu'tey in James Cameron's science fiction film Avatar. He is also well known for his role as Fenix "Rise" Calderon in the film Fast & Furious. Alonso has had roles in other films such as Jarhead, This...

     - Actor

Human rights and democracy activists

  • Jorge Luis García Pérez
    Jorge Luis García Pérez
    Jorge Luis García Pérez is a human right and democracy activist in Cuba.Antúnez was jailed for 17 years from 1990 to 2007. Other dissidents have referred to Antúnez as Cuba's Nelson Mandela....

     - the famous democracy activist spent 17 years in jail
  • Guillermo Fariñas
    Guillermo Fariñas
    Guillermo Fariñas Hernández is a Cuban doctor of psychology, independent journalist and political dissident in Cuba. He has conducted 23 hunger strikes over the years to protest various elements of the Cuban regime. He has stated that he is ready to die in the struggle against censorship in...

  • Oscar Elías Biscet
    Oscar Elías Biscet
    Óscar Elías Biscet González , is a Cuban medical professional and a noted advocate for human rights and democratic freedoms in Cuba. He is also the founder of the Lawton Foundation....

  • Orlando Zapata Tamayo
    Orlando Zapata Tamayo
    Orlando Zapata Tamayo was a Cuban mason, plumber, and political activist and prisoner who died after fasting for more than 80 days.-Political affiliation:...

     - Famous prisoner who died fasting to protest unjust imprisonment and torture of political prisoners. Has become a martyr among human right activists.

See also

  • Afro-Latin American
    Afro-Latin American
    An Afro-Latin American is a Latin American person of at least partial Black African ancestry; the term may also refer to historical or cultural elements in Latin America thought to emanate from this community...

     - Central and South America
  • Black Hispanic and Latino Americans - the United States
  • Cabildo (Cuba)
    Cabildo (Cuba)
    Cabildos de nación were African ethnic associations created in Cuba in the late 16th century based on the Spanish cofradías that were organized in Seville for the first time around the 14th century...

  • Emancipados
    Emancipados
    Emancipado was a term used for an African descended social-political demographic within the population of Spanish Guinea that existed in the early to mid 1900s...

  • MPLA
  • Angolan Civil War
    Angolan Civil War
    The Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict in the Southern African state of Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with some interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. Prior to this, a decolonisation conflict had taken...

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