Forging Diaspora: Afro-Cubans and Arican-Americans in a world of Empire and Jim Crow

This book is capital to understand the historical linkage between two distinct phenomena as race relations in Cuba and Unite States; the best part is its ability to illustrate and organize the historical development of this relationship, with all its complexity. It's not less important the effort of the author to put aside his ideological or political identity, so any person from any background can work with this book; because this, it’s specially recommendable a Spanish translation, for Cuban people understanding its own situation, besides their political background.

At this special moment, Cubans needs to reconstruct their own history and culture, and specially blacks among them; just because black Cubans have lost all their own references, under the weight of the foundational mythology of the revolution. Because this tragedy, black Cubans have lost their own and separate history, on the sense that black Americans haven’t; when that history contains essential points of interests, like Morúa Delgado, the Black Associations, and —more important— the impact on their development of phenomena like Tuskegee University and the Garveyism.

Little we know about the special relationship between Juan Gualberto Gómez and Booker T. Washington; and thus, what that means for the shape black development was having in the republican, besides the grip of the Communist Party. Of course, any history needs a lot of references, and very few times is enough with a sole book to cover its needs; but this is one of those cases when a book may not suffice but gives a lot of what is needed to understand history.