Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof - Racial Migrations: New York City and the Revolutionary Politics of the Spanish Caribbean

Racial Migrations

Racial Migrations

NEW YORK CITY AND THE
REVOLUTIONARY POLITICS OF THE
SPANISH CARIBBEAN, 18501902

Jesse E. Hoffnung-Garskof

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Princeton & Oxford

Copyright 2019 by Princeton University Press

Published by Princeton University Press

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All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018965752

ISBN 978-0-691-18353-4

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

Editorial: Eric Crahan and Pamela Weidman

Production Editorial: Leslie Grundfest

Text and Jacket/Cover Design: Pamela Schnitter

Jacket images: (top) Portraits from Rafael Serras Ensayos polticos, sociales y econmicos, Imprenta de A. W. Howes, 1889; (bottom) Birds-eye view of New York with Battery Park in the foreground and the Brooklyn Bridge on the right. Lithograph, 1873. Restored by Adam Cuerden.

Para Paulina, compaera, colega, amor

CONTENTS

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Roughly in Order of Appearance

THE PRINCIPALS

Rafael Serra. Politician, civil rights activist, journalist, educator, and cigar maker. Founder of La Liga. Born in Havana, Cuba, 1858.

Jos Mart. Poet, politician, journalist, and diplomat. Founder and leader of the Cuban Revolutionary Party (189295). Born in Havana, Cuba, 1853.

Sotero Figueroa. Journalist, publisher, and typesetter. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1853.

Gertrudis Heredia de Serra. Midwife and community leader. Married to Rafael Serra. Born in Matanzas, Cuba, 1856.

Manuela Aguayo de Figueroa. Seamstress. Married to Sotero Figueroa. Born in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, 1855.

Juan Gualberto Gmez. Politician, civil rights leader, and journalist. Born in Sabanilla del Encomendador, Matanzas, Cuba, 1854.

Juan Bonilla. Journalist, lodge leader, civil rights activist, and cigar maker. Born in Key West, Florida, 1869.

Gernimo Bonilla. Cigar maker, Odd Fellow, and revolutionary. Born in Havana, 1857.

Francisco Gonzalo Pachn Marn. Poet, journalist, and typographer. Cofounder, with Sotero Figueroa, of the Club Borinquen. War correspondent for Doctrina de Mart. Born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, 1863.

THEIR FAMILIES

Cayetano Heredia and Mara del Socorro del Monte. Parents of Gertrudis. Residents of Matanzas. A man of the Carabal nation and the oldest daughter of Rita del Monte.

Rita del Monte and Sebastin Campos. Leaders of the Lucum cabildo, Fernando VII. Godparents to more than twenty persons in Matanzas. Owners of at least one slave.

Marcelina Montalvo and Rafael Serra (Sr.). Parents of Rafael. Residents of Havana. Born in Cuba.

Chuch Serra. Seamstress and teacher. Rafael Serras aunt.

Mara Rosendo Fernndez and Jos Mercedes Figueroa. The parents of Sotero Figueroa.

Dolores and Francisco Bonilla. Homemaker and shoemaker, respectively. Parents of Juan, Gernimo, and Francisco Bonilla.

Francisco Bonilla. Cigar maker, Freemason, and impresario. Brother of Juan and Gernimo Bonilla.

Ramn Marn. Liberal publisher and educator. Owner of the Establecimiento Tipogrfico El Vapor in Ponce. Uncle of Pachn Marn.

KEY FIGURES

In Puerto Rico

Rafael Cordero. Teacher and cigar maker.

Alejandro Tapia y Rivera. Liberal author and historian.

Jos Julin Acosta. Liberal publisher, author, and politician.

Romn Baldorioty de Castro. Liberal teacher, author, and politician. Founder of the Puerto Rican Autonomista Party.

Pascacio Sancerrit. Liberal author. Head of production at Acostas printing house. Mentor to Sotero Figueroa.

Juan Morel Campos. Musician and composer associated with the musical style known as danza. Author, with Sotero Figueroa, of Don Mamerto.

In Matanzas

Gabriel de la Concepcin Valds (Plcido). Artisan and poet. Accused of conspiracy and executed by the Military Commission in 1844.

Pilar Poveda. Midwife and community leader. Sentenced to a year of labor by the Military Commission in 1844. Mother-in-law of Plcido.

Miguel Failde. Tailor, composer, and musician associated with the musical style known as danzn.

Martn Mora Delgado. Artisan, journalist, and politician. Ally and mentor of Rafael Serra, who later became a bitter rival.

In Havana

Saturnino Martnez. Spanish-born labor leader, journalist, and cigar maker. Editor of La Aurora. Employed in the same workshop as Rafael Serra.

Nicols Azcrate. Liberal lawyer, journalist, and politician. Ally of Saturnino Martnez and supporter of Juan Gualberto Gmez.

Count of Pozos Dulces (Francisco de Fras). Cuban aristocrat, agronomist, intellectual, and journalist. Editor of El Siglo.

Gonzalo Castan. Conservative journalist and colonel of the pro-Spanish militia, the Voluntarios. Killed in Key West in 1871.

Fermn Valds-Domnguez. Medical doctor, socialist, and close boyhood friend of Jos Mart. Chief of staff for General Mximo Gmez during the final war of independence.

Antonio Bachiller y Morales. Professor at the University of Havana and secretary of the Economic Society of Cuba. Later a member of the Cuban Junta in New York.

Benjamn Cspedes. Physician. Author of Prostitution in the City of Havana.

In Key West

Salom Rencurrel. Lodge leader and cigar maker. Neighbor of the Bonillas and a member of the Sandoval household in New York. A supporter of Doctrina de Mart.

Juan Mara Reyes. Factory reader, journalist, and politician. Writer for La Aurora and El Siglo in Havana. Editor of El Republicano in Key West.

Jos Margarito Gutirrez. Cigar maker, labor leader, and journalist. Principal author of the Protest of the Cubans of color in Key West, in 1881. Correspondent for La Fraternidad.

THE COMMUNITY

Lorenza Geli and Magn Coroneau. Cubans who arrived in New York as domestic servants in wealthy households. Later members of La Liga, and witnesses to the marriage of Gernimo Bonilla and Isabel Acosta.

Lafayette Marcus. Seaman, waiter, and caterer. One of the first Cubans of African descent to settle independently in New York. Founder of the Sol de Cuba Masonic lodge.

Magdalena Sandoval. Cuban migrant. Member of the St. Philips Episcopal Church. Matriarch and domestic manager of the household at 89 Thompson Street.

Germn Sandoval. Cuban cigar maker and community leader. Founder of the Logia San Manuel. Resident of 89 Thompson Street and later 231 East Seventy-Fifth Street. Married to Magdalena Sandoval.

Philip White and Elizabeth Guignon. Prominent members of the St. Philips Episcopal Church. Hosts of society functions and literary soirees. Philip was a pharmacist and a member of the Brooklyn Board of Education.

Carlos and Sarah Crespo. A clerk in a cigar store and a seamstress, both Cubans, who lived in the home of Philip White and Elizabeth Guignon. Members of the St. Philips Episcopal Church.

Charles A. Reason. Engraver, officer in the Sons of New York, and nephew of Charles L. Reason.

Harriet Reason. Landlady at several properties on West Third Street. After the death of her husband, Charles A. Reason, she married the Cuban violinist Alfredo Vialet.

Charles L. Reason. Mathematician, educator, and civil rights leader. Principal of the colored grammar school on Manhattans West Side.

Bibin Pealver and Carolina Roger. Confectioner and seamstress, respectively. Parents of Pastor Pealver, whom they sent to New York to study at the school of Charles L. Reason in 1876.

Pastor Pealver. Violinist and band leader who played functions in both African American and Cuban clubs and societies. A founding member of La Liga.