Cuban immigration to the United States
[1] The Louisiana Purchase and the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, Spanish Florida, including the present day state of Florida and, at times, Louisiana and adjoining territory, was a province of the Captaincy General of Cuba (Captain General being the Spanish title equivalent to the British colonial Governor).
The year 1869 marked the beginning of one of the most significant periods of emigration from Cuba to the United States, again centered on Key West.
The reasons are many: the introduction of more modern techniques of elaboration of snuff, the most direct access to its main market, the United States, the uncertainty about the future of the island, which had suffered years of economic, political and social unrest during the beginning of the Ten Years' War against Spanish rule.
It was an exodus of skilled workers, precisely the class in the island that had succeeded in establishing a free labor sector amid a slave economy.
However, the second half of the 1890s marked the decline of the Cuban immigrant population, as an important part of it returned to the island to fight for independence.
[2] In the mid-to late 19th century, several cigar manufacturers moved their operations to Key West to get away from growing disruptions as Cubans sought independence from Spanish colonial rule.
There, children learned folk songs and patriotic hymns such as "La Bayamesa", the Cuban national anthem.
In 1885, Vicente Martinez Ybor moved his cigar operations from Key West to the town of Tampa, Florida to escape labor strife.
[3] Inspired by revolutionaries such as Jose Martí, who visited Florida several times, Tampa-area Cubans and their neighbors donated money, equipment, and sometimes their lives to the cause of Cuba Libre.
[4] After the Spanish–American War, some Cubans returned to Cuba, but others chose to stay in the U.S. due to the physical and economic devastation caused by conflicts on the island.
The majority of the 100,000 Cubans came for economic reasons due to (the Great Depression of 1929, volatile sugar prices, and migrant farm labor contracts).
[citation needed] Subsequently, the flow of Cubans to the United States fluctuated, due to both the domestic situation in the 40s and 50s in Cuba, and U.S. immigration policies, plus intermittent anti-immigrant sentiment.
[citation needed] The Cuban population officially registered in the United States for 1958 was around 125,000 people, including descendants.
[6] Operacion Pedro Pan developed when children arrived in Miami and were met by representatives of Catholic Charities.
In order to provide aid to the immigrants, the United States Congress passed the Cuban Adjustment Act in 1966.
With their Cuban-owned businesses and low cost of living, Miami, Florida and Union City, New Jersey (dubbed Havana on the Hudson)[8][9] were the preferred destinations for many immigrants and soon became the main centers for Cuban American culture.
[14] One aspect to notice when studying Cubans in the U.S. is the heterogeneity of class, race, education, gender, family composition, and values.
[15] The first wave of immigrants left Cuba, and came to the U.S. in anticipation of economic restrictions, agrarian reform laws, and Cuban nationalism.
[16] This period of emigration was also called the golden exile because most Cubans who left in this wave were upper and middle class.
Many Cuban immigrants departed from the southern and western coasts and arrived at the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico while others landed on Isla Mujeres.
