Afro-American Solidarity with Cuba

' X Then the Cuban people waged their V V first major battles against despotism and oppression in 1868, progressive AfroAmerican people in the U.S. honored their responsibility to support the struggle for Cuban independence. This 19thcentury expression of Afro-American internationalism was a prologue to later events, and most importantly, a guide to the future.2 The bases of black American support for the Cuban independence struggles of the 1870s are relevant to a consideration of our responsibility to stand in solidarity with the Cuban revolution now, in the era of the 1970s. Moreover, as we struggle for meaningful transformation of U.S. society, there is much that we can learn from Cuba.