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Overall Reyita’s message is her struggle for equality as a poor, black, Cuban woman. Despite all the obstacles produced by racism, sexism and poverty, Reyita stands firm on the belief that integration and social mobility stem not only from the elite, but also from ordinary Afro-Cubans like herself.

• As a young girl, the renaissance masters impeccable skill and composition fascinated her but she could never relate because they depicted primarily a White male hierarchy and the idealized subordinated woman immersed in Eurocentric conception of beauty.
• Together, they started ReglaSoul, a holistic wellness project aimed to empower Afro-Cubans with a more conscious lifestyle.
• “I have learned that photographers have a great responsibility to the communities that we document.” For visitors to the island, she suggests exploring beyond just Havana.

The question of the possible choice and the subsequent anguish then underlies from one scene to the other, silently directing glances, steps, gestures and destiny. The subtlety with which Larsen brought to the reader the tragic experience that surrounds both these mestizo women and their immediate surroundings remains in Hall’s film.

Passing for white or the true colors of Cuban miscegenation

I write for several online magazines includingPikara Magazine, Global Voices, Hablemos de sexo y amor. In March 2015, I founded the online magazine Azúcar & Kalt, which is all about Hannover, the city where I reside now; and is the city’s first magazine in Spanish.

• Race determined her family’s entry point into Cuban society, their liberation from slavery, and their continuing fight against discrimination.
• “I started Negra Cubana Tenía Que Ser in June of 2006, and it became the first ever Cuba-based blog oriented around the topic of race.”
• By 1838, at their peak, there were nearly 400,000 slaves on the island.
• Every emotion, attack, perception, and so on, that a person feels has a rooted issue that I address in my work.
• She abandoned her post as UNESCO ambassador and returned to Cuba to establish the Cuban Human Rights Committee, focusing on arbitrary detentions and the release of political prisoners.
• Lo Llevamos Rizo is a project that began in 2015 by Susana Pilar to create events and provide resources to celebrate and care for natural afro hair.

Que Negra offers products to treat, hydrate, and keep healthy natural curls. Erly got the idea for the product line after wanting to give young girls celebrating their quinceñera a different, healthier option than the harsh chemicals used to straighten hair. Erly believes that Cubans need to rely less on outside exports, and focus on what they already have—everything from the line is sourced and produced locally in Ciego de Avila, where Erly is from.

Reclaiming Our Identity: Q&A with Afro

Because in my experience the true Black woman has been gravely overlooked in society. Through media bias and self-objectification we have become some sort of over-sexualized, aggressive, uneducated “thing” in society. Black women and all women from the African diaspora are beautiful, strong, intelligent and should be seen on a high pedestal. He is determined to weave Afro-Cuban history in with the free, after-school art classes that he and other young adult black visual artists offer Black children in their street-level gallery along Old Havana’s El Prado. Unlike in the United States following slavery’s end, there were no separate schools or Historically Black Colleges and Universities established to educate those who had been enslaved. Following the 1959 Cuban revolution, institutional racism and the color line was supposed to be erased. The Directory was created precisely for those who have irregular access to the internet in Cuba; especially, for the group Afrocubanas.

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Reyita exposes a perspective of an Afro-Cuban woman, which had remained silent until the publication of her testimony. Reyita’s testimonial biography forms part of Cuba’s testimonial literature, a genre that gives voice to the voiceless. In the 1940s Reyita mentions her community participation with the formation of the Popular Socialist Party, the then name of the Communist Party). She depicts meeting leaders of the Party and discussing their fight for equality between blacks and whites, as well as men and women. More precisely it would read «Passing for white or the true colors of miscegenation for some non-white folk in Cuba”.

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Like the protagonists, the writer and the filmmaker have also been mestizo women of light complexion, the fruit of biracial couples in which the Afro-descendant story was never fully known by them. Since then, race is one of the topics most of my research is about; particularly, how black women are represented in the media and in the arts. Belkis Ayón was one of Cuba’s most prominent artists, known best for her stark black-and-white images based on the age-old Abakua society.

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That in itself deserves to be presented in a beautiful light that is meant to educate people who never knew of it before. My art is very personal and has a lot to do with not only addressing racism, but colorism, and shadism as well.

From the 1500s, Spanish colonizers brought about 8,000 Africans, largely from West Africa, to Cuba as slaves, to work the sugar plantations. By 1838, at their peak, there were nearly 400,000 slaves on the island. But even when it did, Black Cubans were shut out of education and schools.

“We have seen great disparities in terms of access to food, medicine, support with mental health issues, prenatal and postpartum support, and much more. ReglaSoul hosts free workshops, events, and courses to combat these problems and empower community members.” Mariela Castro Espín is a renowned LGBTQ activist on the island and directs the Cuban National Center for Sex Education . She’s also the daughter of Raul Castro, Fidel Castro’s brother and Vilma Espín. While homosexuality was previously perceived as capitalist decadence and punished with terrible conditions in labor camps, the LGBTQ rights movement have helped to change this reality.

That is why what many call “the race,” because they choose to consider it a reality and not a historical, political and socio-economically determined construction, cannot in appearance be “improved” in the United States. Francisco’s art features abstract and figurative portraits that primarily center on Afro-Cubans. One of my greatest souvenirs, a painting of a young boy with ebony skin and piercing eyes, is from his home studio. “I realized very early that I wanted to draw all the time, because I cared about it so much. I’ve dedicated my life to developing my skills.” His pieces can currently be viewed at Galería Victor Manuel, in Havana, and his studio, which is open by appointment. “I’m interested in showing Afro-Cuban history and culture through my art, because it is my history, my culture,” he explains.

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Eventually she created more experiences – Afro Cuban food, religion, art and dance, and the more tourists who came to visit, the more requests she got for Afro Cuban goods and souvenirs. She then began working with artists and artisans in her community to create just that, and in 2019 opened a storefront in Old Havana selling Afro Cuban goods. Asela de los Santos Tamayo is known for her contributions to the Cuban Revolution and the island’s world-renown education program.