José Martí(Jan. 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895)

and the Spanish-American

War

A WebQuest for Grade 8I

Click on the interactive map of Cuba

http://www.esenciaexperiences.com/cuba_map.php

José Martí• Cuban national hero and an

important figure in Latin American literature

• In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist.

• Through his writings and political activity, he became a symbol for Cuba’s bid for independence against Spain in the 19th century

Statue of José Martí on horseback in New York's Central Park

José Julián Martí y Pérez• Born in Havana Cuba, he was the son of poor Spanish immigrants. • Martí quickly committed himself to the cause of Cuban

independence, publishing his first newspaper La Patria Libre (Free Fatherland) in 1869.

• He was arrested on charges of treason and was sentenced to six years at hard labor.

• He was freed after serving only 6 months and moved to Spain where he wrote in support of Cuba’s independence.

• He lived in New York from 1881 until his return to Cuba in 1895 writing and speaking on behalf of the Cuban independence movement.

• He was killed in battle against Spanish troops at the Battle of Dos Ríos in Cuba on May 19, 1895.

• He is often referred to as El Apostol de la Independencia Cubana [the Apostle of Cuban Independence)

José Martí

• His writings on the concepts of Cuban nationalism fueled the 1895 - 1898 Cuban War of Independence from Spain.

His Writings included…

A grain of poetry suffices to season a century-written for the Dedication of the Statue of Liberty (1887)

Life on earth is a hand-to-hand mortal combat... between the law of love and the law of hate.

A nation is not a complex of wheels, nor a wild horse race, but a stride upward concerted by real men.

Mankind is composed of two sorts of men — those who love and create, and those who hate and destroy.

Cultivo Una Rosa Blanca• I cultivate a white rose• In July as in January• For the sincere friend• Who gives me his hand

frankly• And for the cruel person

who tears• out the heart with which I

live,• I cultivate neither nettles

nor thorns:• I cultivate a white rose

• Cultivo una rosa blancaEn julio como en enero,Para el amigo sinceroQue me da su mano franca.

• Y para el cruel que me arrancaEl corazon con que vivo,Cardo ni ortiga cultivo,Cultivo una rosa blanca.

• - Una poema de José Martí

Versos Sencillos (Simple Verses)

• Yo soy un hombre sincero

• De donde crece la palma,

• Y antes de morirme quiero

• Echar mis versos del alma.

• Mi verso es de un verde claro

• Y de un carmín encendido:

• Mi verso es un ciervo herido

• Que busca en el monte amparo

Versos Sencillos (Simple Verses) – Part II

• Cultivo una rosa blanca• En julio como enero,• Para el amigo sincero• Que me da su mano

franca.

• Con los pobres de la tierra

• Quiero yo mi suerte echar:

• El arroyo de la sierra• Me complace más que

el mar.

Guantanamera

• Click on the picture or the following link to hear Guantanamera by The Sandpipers – note the lyrics from José Martí Versos Sencillos

• http://youtu.be/Jm1anurhbeg

The U.S. declares War on Spain• The Cuban struggle for

independence had captured the American imagination for years, and newspapers had been agitating for intervention with sensational stories of Spanish atrocities against the native Cuban population, intentionally sensationalized and exaggerated.

• The US Consul-General cabled Washington fearing for the lives of Americans living in Havana.

• In response, the battleship USS Maine was sent to Havana in the last week of January. On February 15, 1898, the Maine was rocked by an explosion, killing 258 of the crew and sinking the ship in the harbour. The cause of the explosion has not been clearly established to this day.

• The U.S. congress formally declared war on April 25.

U.S.S. Maine

Remember the Maine!

The Ten-Week War• After losing the Philippines

and Puerto Rico, which had also been invaded by the US, and with no hope of holding on to Cuba, Spain sued for peace on 17 July 1898.

• On December 10, 1898, the US and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, recognizing Cuban independence from Spain.

• The U.S. purchased the Phillipines, Guam and Puerto Rico from Spain

Theodore Roosevelt as a “Rough Rider”-an American soldier fighting in Cuba for CubanIndependenmce