New Academic Department Honors Cuban Independence Fighters of Color

The Martyrs of 1912 Honorific Department was set up at Santiago’s Antonio Maceo Studies Center having in mind that this eastern city was the epicenter of an armed protest by the Independent Party of People of Color on May 20, 1912 and which was cruelly crashed by the Spanish rulers.

Doctor in Pedagogical Sciences Manuel Fernandez, elected president of the department, said that along with the study of the historic event and recalling the victims of racism in the east of Cuba, they expect to take a critical look at racial discrimination in the country.

This cannot be a department only for scholars, it needs to involved the people in the neighborhoods and the students so that they understand that racism is incompatible wit human condition, Fernandez said.

The director of the Antonio Maceo Studies Center, Carmen Montalvo, explained that the new academic department will promote the studies on the neocolonial period (1902-1958) and particularly the 1912 massacre of the members of the Independent Party of People of Color and the black citizens.

Many of the members of that party were members of the Cuban Independence Army and established links with the Maceos, a family of outstanding independence fighters.
The new department will include renowned scholars of social sciences and artists. It will promote research studies and their results and will call lectures, workshops, and other academic events.