November 22, 2010 | CUNY Lecture Series, Graduate Center Two
Cuban revolutionaries, Félix Varela and José Martí, would find
both prosperity and purpose in New York City during the 1800s.
“They were drawn to Gotham because of its tolerance for
political expression,” says Carmen Boullosa, a Distinguished
Lecturer at City College, “and by the possibility of winning
moral and financial support.” Varela, a Catholic priest who fled
a death sentence by the Spanish crown, went on to publish a
Spanish-language newspaper in New York that advocated the
independence of Cuba and the abolition of slavery, and Martí, a
beloved poet and essayist, became a national hero of the Cubans.
Boullosa explores the historical and cultural connections of the
Spanish-speaking world with New York City during the past two
centuries, in a panel moderated by Mike Wallace and presented by
the Gotham Center for New York City History at the CUNY Graduate
Center. Listen Now >>