African Americans have always been global citizens. The Cuban Revolution of 1959 represented an almost 50 year struggle to change the dynamics of Cuban society. The success of Fidel Castro and Che Guerrvara in defeating Fulgencio Batista ushered in Communist rule on the island. The revolution inspired anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles across the world, including the the Black Power movement in the United States. Below please find a series of links tracing the impact of the revolution on various aspects of the Black liberation struggle.
NOTE--This informational blog is compiled by (with the exception of the introduction and photograph) and reprinted with permission from Abdul Akalimat, PhD.
Commentary
https://www.picturingblackhistory.org/african-americans-anti-racism-and-cuba
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41058664
https://tinyurl.com/2yv5abxd
Key figures
Malcolm X https://tinyurl.com/mr36dtx4 https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/fidel-castro-and-malcolm-x-at-the-hotel-theresa-1960/
Robert Williams https://www.afrocubaweb.com/robert-williams.htm
William Worthy https://tinyurl.com/bdhav89m
Amiri Baraka https://viewpointmag.com/2016/11/28/cuba-libre-1960/
Angela Davis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veqcoxk3keo https://read.dukeupress.edu/radical-history-review/article/2020/136/11/148070/Angela-Davis-in-Cuba-as-Symbol-and-Subject https://tinyurl.com/yc4dvdee
Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) https://snccdigital.org/events/stokely-carmichael-goes-cuba/
Rosemary Mealy https://www.afrocubaweb.com/rosemari-mealy.html
Books
Rosemari Mealy, Fidel and Malcolm X: Memories of a Meeting https://www.blackclassicbooks.com/9781574780581/
Assata Shakru, Autobiography https://www.google.com/books/edition/Assata/tPBiDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=assata+shakur+zed&printsec=frontcover
Timothy Tyson, Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power https://uncpress.org/book/9780807849231/radio-free-dixie/
Abdul Alkalimat and Kate Williams, Roots and Flowers: The Life and Work of Afro-Cuban Librarian Marta Terry González. https://litwinbooks.com/books/roots-and-flowers/
Frank Guridy, Afro-Cubans and African Americans A Transnational Diaspora https://notevenpast.org/tag/afro-cuban-diaspora/
Lisa Brock and Digna Fuertes, eds, Between Race and Empire: African-Americans and Cubans Before the Cuban Revolution https://tupress.temple.edu/books/between-race-and-empire
Simon Hall, Ten Days in Harlem https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571353064-ten-days-in-harlem/
Commentary
Black Alliance for Peace - Hood Communists https://blackallianceforpeace.com/cuba-resources
Black Lives Matter https://www.instagram.com/p/CRU5kYYp-UU/
Movement for Black Lives https://m4bl.org/statements/cuban-people-and-the-spirit-of-the-cuban-revolution/
Conferences
Fisk University November 1973 https://alkalimat.org/397%201973%20conference%20caribbean%20in%20the%201970s.pdf
Malcolm X 1990 https://www.alkalimat.org/brothermalcolm/malcolm_fidel_conf.html
Videos
Malcolm X discusses meeting with Fidel Castro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b34FU53phw
Malcolm and Fidel in Harlem https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/fidel-castro-and-malcolm-x-at-the-hotel-theresa-1960/
Fidel's speech in Harlem 1995 https://www.google.com/search?q=malcolm+x+and+the+cuban+revolution&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVzZjaocX7AhWElIkEHTShCAoQ_AUoAnoECAIQBA&biw=1152&bih=507&dpr=1.67#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:22457c66,vid:2kBgGLHMfnU
Legacy of Fidel Castro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iiqZJF-7cI
Delegations
Students 1974 https://alkalimat.org/254%20viva%20cuba%20-%20down%20with%20u.s.%20imperialism.pdf
Community activists from Toledo, Ohio http://www.murchisoncenter.org/cuba/
Music
Dizzy and Chano Pozo https://www.google.com/search?q=dizzy+and+chano+pozo&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjhooOnpcX7AhW0kYkEHUgxDyMQ_AUoAnoECAIQBA&biw=1152&bih=507&dpr=1.67#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:6de1c967,vid:GvUS2WGSgjQ
Rap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQtwa1bwYWo
Attachments areaPreview YouTube video Angela Davis and Fidel Castro at a Havana Rally (1972)📷📷Angela Davis and Fidel Castro at a Havana Rally (1972)