When we think about Latinx Florida, we often imagine Cuban immigrants who fled the regime of Fidel Castro in the 1950s and 1960s. But decades before Miami became Havana USA, a wave of leftist, radical, working-class women and men from prerevolutionary Cuba crossed the Florida Straits, made Ybor City the global capital of the Cuban cigar industry, and established the foundation of latinidad in the sunshine state. In this talk, Sarah McNamara—historian and author of Ybor City: Crucible of the Latina South (UNC Press)— examines the history of immigrant and U.S.-born Latinxs who fought for survival across three generations and against the backdrop of a reconstructed southern order. From Latinas who organized strikes, marched against fascism, and criticized U.S. foreign policy, this history highlights the underexplored role of women’s leadership within movements for social and economic justice as it illustrates how people, places, and politics become who and what they are.

Bio: Sarah McNamara is associate professor of History and core faculty in the Latina/o/x & Mexican American Studies Program at Texas A&M University. She is a Tampa native and her family is from Ybor City.