Ramsey County History – Winter 1999: “‘300 Afro-American Performers:’ The Great Cuba Pageant of 1898: St. Paul’s Citizens Support the Struggle for Civil Rights”

‘300 Afro-American Performers:’ The Great Cuba Pageant of 1898: St. Paul’s Citizens Support the Struggle for Civil Rights

Author: Dave Riehle

In November 1898 the Twin Cities African-American community put on a grand show of patriotic enthusiasm, entitled “Cuba,” celebrating the U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War. Its cast of hundreds and supporting crew of even more touched almost every middle class black family of Minneapolis and St. Paul. This piece very ably describes the event and the complicated politics, national and racial, in which it took place.

PDF of Riehle article