Cuba: An American History

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.



Cuba: An American History focuses on the history of Cuba and explains how that history has been shaped by US policy over the centuries. Ferrer argues that the US has historically acted like an imperial power toward the island nation and illustrates how it has exercised its power economically and politically. She identifies three overlapping stages in this relationship, each of which reinforced Cuba’s subordination and fueled its people’s resentment toward the US.

The first stage was the US’s support for Cuba’s sugar plantations and for its economy that was largely reliant on enslavement; this set the stage for American intervention on the island. Ferrer explains that when the US became an independent nation in 1776, Cuba remained a Spanish colony. However, the US quickly began to express an interest in controlling Cuba. She cites John Quincy Adams’s description of the island as “the apple of the eye of a young United States” (77), referencing his belief that Cuba would inevitably come under US control. The economies of both countries relied on the trade in enslaved people, and this tied them together. For instance, even after Britain and Spain outlawed enslavement, Cuba and the US collaborated to maintain Cuba as a hub for the trading of enslaved people.