LA MASACRE RACISTA DE 1912, 2/02 Extract from Cuban edition.

Aline Helg works with Gloria Rolando on a film about the 1912 massacre: Roots of My Heart / Raices de Mi Corazon

The 1912 Massacre

Aline Helg

Aline Helg is currently at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She has written a most important book, the subject of 3 awards:

Our Rightful Share : The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886-1912, University of North Carolina Press, 1995  

In Our Rightful Share, Aline Helg examines the issue of race in Cuban society, politics, and ideology during the island's transition from a Spanish colony to an independent state. She challenges Cuba's well-established myth of racial equality and shows that racism is deeply rooted in Cuban creole society.

Helg argues that despite Cuba's abolition of slavery in 1886 and its winning of independence in 1902, Afro-Cubans remained marginalized in all aspects of society. After the wars for independence, in which they fought en masse, Afro-Cubans demanded change politically by forming the first national black party in the Western Hemisphere. This challenge met with strong opposition from the white Cuban elite, culminating in the massacre of thousands of Afro-Cubans in 1912. The event effectively ended Afro-Cubans' political organization along racial lines, and Helg stresses that although some cultural elements of African origin were integrated into official Cuban culture, true racial equality has remained elusive.

Our Rightful Share is the winner of 3 awards: the American Historical Association's and the Association of Caribbean Historians' awards.  It just won the the 1998 Gordon K. Lewis Memorial Award from the Caribbean Studies Association, given "to an outstanding book that addresses a Pan-Caribbean problem issue."

Aline Helg served as advisor to Gloria Rolando on her film dealing with the Independents of Color and the 1912 massacre: "Roots of My Heart."

Reviews

Review in the Latin America Resource Review, The African Experience in Latin America, Volume 2 Issue 2:

Our Rightful Share:
The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886-1912

Aline Helg. University of North Carolina Press, 1995 Aline Helg examines the issue of race in Cuban society, politics, and ideology during the island's transition from a Spanish colony to an independent states. She challenges Cuba's well-established myth of racial equality and shows that racism is deeply rooted in Cuban Creole society. Helg argues that despite Cuba's abolition of slavery in 1886 and its winning of independence in 1902, Afro-Cubans have remained marginalized in all aspects of society. After the wars for independence in which they fought en masse, Afro-Cubans demanded change politically by forming the first national black party in the western hemisphere. This challenge met with strong opposition from the white Cuban elite, culminating in the massacre of thousands of Afro-Cubans in 1912. The event effectively ended the Afro-Cuban's political organization along racial lines, and Helg stresses that although some cultural elements of African origin were integrated into official Cuban culture, true racial equality has remained elusive.

Review at Trinity College
www.trincoll.edu/~jdivney/race.htm