“’We are not the People of Destitute Vagrants or Immoral Pigmies’:

The United States’ Effeminizing Portrayal of Cuban Men at the Run-up to the Cuban Revolution of 1895

Paul Braun (College of Journalism, University of Florida)

With the intention of encouraging national policy to absorb Cuba into the United States, newspapers from the era perpetuated a machismo attitude that American men could do what Cuban men could not do for themselves – free Cuba from Spain. Defending Cubans, José Martí’s impassioned letter to the editor of the New York Evening Post of March 25, 1889 (quoted above), hails today as a signpost piece for Cuban political sovereignty and cultural independence to remain free of U. S. interference and exploitation. Martí’s letter, “A Vindication of Cuba: To the Editor of the Evening Post,” exists because he felt compelled to rebuke the Post which had run verbatim an editorial from the Philadelphia Manufacturer portraying Cuban men as effeminate and drawing the conclusion that Cuban men were incapable of fighting a winning war against Spain. The letter stands as evidence of a pattern that eventually propelled the U. S. into the Spanish-American War in 1898. This study provides a chapter in Caribbean culture and history by focusing on social-change factors that affected the decision of the U. S. to go to war with Spain. This study advances academic knowledge by strengthening the prevailing American attitude surrounding the era of the Spanish-American War, a landmark juncture that started the U.S. on its journey toward globalization. This study also is important because its evidence opens discussion about a specific journalistic approach used by the media on a massive scale to affect U.S. policy that brought wide-scale ramification to the world stage. This image-shaping portrayal of Cubans in the late 1880s and early 1890s antedated the 1898 war-over-circulation between William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, generally regarded as the impetus behind inciting war fever that drove the U. S. into combat with Spain in 1898.

Paul Braun - College of Journalism, University of Florida

Paul Braun is a PhD student in the College of Journalism at University of Florida. Paul’s research interests are Caribbean literature and culture and Cuban history, inspired from his 20 years experience as a ship’s captain throughout the islands. Previous work includes an examination of poet Jose Martí’s unlikely, but true, invasion of Cuba in a rowboat—so he could lead the revolution of 1895, which freed the island from Spain. Paul and his wife live on their cattle farm in north Florida. They have two grown children. Paul’s first foray in professional writing was 1971. He built a raft, sailed down the Ohio River, and sold stories to local newspapers. Educational degrees: BA, English, Indiana Un; MBA, Un of South Florida; MA, History and MA, English, Valdosta State Un; MA, Journalism, Un of Florida.