Blog #2 - 100 Years of the Afro-Cuban Movement

Artists are historically known to use their work to push the boundaries and challenge the status quo. They can use art as a medium to affect policy, shed light on social issues and express their individual opinions. Cubans have struggled in so many various social issues and many have used art as a method to spur change in economic and social discrimination. Specifically, black Cubans have struggled since African slave labor was brought to the island. The beginning to ending racial injustices, economic and social discrimination within the black community was the Afro-Cuban Movement.

Initially, the Afro-Cuban movement was for artists to reconnect with their African heritage. It flourished in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The movement influenced Cuban literature, paintings, poetry, music, and sculptures. It was the first artistic movement in Cuba to be focused on one subject, black culture. The movement was very powerful since Cuba had abolished slavery only 40 years prior. During the years following the abolishment of slavery, black Cubans struggled to attain equal rights in the workplace and society in general. The Afro-Cuban movement parallels with the Harlem Renaissance. Nicolás Guillén, a Cuban poet and activist, was heavily influenced by the American civil rights movement. He recognized the inequalities during the American Civil Rights movement as the issues within his home country, Cuba. Guillén was a journalist and became a lifelong friend after interviewing Langston Hughes, who greatly influenced his later work. The heart of this movement was to recognize the African Heritage of Cubans. This movement was pivotal in the creation of Cuba’s cultural identity. Black music, art, and religion were not socially accepted and the movement was used to normalize and provide representation to a culture that is that of millions of Cubans shared.

Another movement impacted Cuban society similar to the Afro-Cuban movement, was the artistic avant-garde. Cubans before 1959 were familiar with American popular culture, such as films, magazines, and music. At the end of the first decade of the Revolution, influences brought from the US were discouraged and banned. The embargo had a significant effect on the art and culture of Cuba. The artistic avant-garde was the beginning of when Castro allowed Cubans to sell their artwork. The Project Antillano in the late 1970s, was a project that was a continuation of the effort for black Cubans to reprimand social inequalities within a Revolutionary society.

Now, the Cuban government supports and promotes culture in their education. Art is a pillar of the country’s international identity. The Afro-Cuban movement that began in the late 1920s, now almost 100 years later the movement is still prevalent, though the Cuban government has evolved and the stories and works of black Cubans are accepted; art is part of life in Cuba, and art is how Black Cubans were heard.

1. Do you think art can actually create social change in a communist society?
2. Did the Afro-Cuban movement actually impact culture or were there many other factors that had a greater influence?
3. Do you think we will see the impacts of the Afro-Cuban movement in everyday life, such as the markets or tourist industry?