Centro Cultural Cubano de Nueva York

An illustrated period study by gender historian Raquel Vinat featuring five women from 19th century Havana whose professional accomplishments were a catalyst for fostering change and a feminist consciousness amidst seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the social, economic, family, and personal realms. Their legacy also helped define a national identity under a despotic colonial regime. The women chosen serve as profiles in courage:

Maria Luisa Dolz (1854-1928): first reformist of women’s education and self-proclaimed feminist; a member of the pioneering women who attended the university.
Laura Martínez de Carvajal (1869-1941), pictured above: first Cuban female physician; fought against sexist prejudices which alleged a woman’s inability to absorb scientific knowledge, until then monopolized by male professionals.
Rosalia Herrera (1864-1948): exceptional soprano; first Cuban and first Hispanic woman worldwide to record her voice for the early record labels; although living abroad, she became a fierce advocate of a Cuban cultural patrimony and of the Island’s independence.
Carolina Poncet (1879-1969): first Cuban female anthropologist; outstanding researcher whose solid accomplishments proved the need for Cuban women to enjoy the right to play an active role in the international and national scientific communities.
Juana Borrero (1877-1896): one of the most outstanding Cuban poets and artists of the 19th century; her undervalued legacy is also symptomatic of an unjust and sexist historical bias.

The presentation will be held in Spanish.

Raquel Vinat Mata is Researcher Emerita of Havana’s Instituto de Historia. A scholar on 19^th century Cuba, she is the author of four books on the lives and legacy of Cuban women under colonial rule and the early years of the Republic: Obrerismo femenino en la industria cubana de la aguja; Luces en el silencio; Las cubanas en la posguerra; and Después de la guerra: ¿la paz? In 1983 she co-founded the Chair for Gender Studies at the University of Havana. Her all-encompassing doctoral thesis on the emergence and trajectory of the Cuban feminist movement in the 19^th century remains unpublished, as well as four other books on key aspects of women’s role in Cuban society: Sociabilidad femenina cubana: asociacionismo y liderazgo en el siglo XIX; La mujer normada: redes de opresión y alternativas de resistencia; Presencia femenina en las publicaciones cubanas del siglo XIX; and Vida y acción de las cubanas durante la Reconcentración. During her tenure at the Instituto de Historia, and presently as an independent researcher, she has uncovered invaluable documentation that sheds new light on the social and political consciousness of women in 19^th century Cuba. These not only include first-hand testimonials by white women, but also by slave and free black women. Prof. Vinat’s articles on related topics, including dance and gender, the female musical discourse, religion, woman and the family, cultural identity, and racism have appeared in scholarly journals in Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and Spain.