José Martí, the United States, and Race

A national hero in Cuba and a champion of independence across Latin America, José Martí produced a body of work that has been theorized, criticized, and politicized. However, one of the most understudied aspects of his life remains his time in the United States and how it affected his attitudes toward racial politics.

Martí saw first-hand the treatment of slaves in the Cuban countryside and as a young man in Havana had mourned the death of Lincoln. But it was in New York City, near the close of the century, where he penned his famous essay “My Race,” declaring that there was only the human race.

In the United States he encountered European immigrants and the labor politics that accompanied them, and he became aware of the hardships experienced by Chinese workers. Martí read in newspapers and magazines about the mistreatment of Native Americans and the adversity faced by newly freed black citizens. Anne Fountain argues that it was here—confronted by the forces of manifest destiny, the influence of race in politics, the legacy of slavery, and the plight and promise of the black Cuban diaspora—that Martí fully engaged with the specter of racism. Examining his entire oeuvre rather than just selected portions, Fountain demonstrates the evolution of his thinking on the topic, indicating the significance of his sources, providing a context for his writing, and offering a structure for his treatment of race.