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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Before the Spanish-Cuban-American War of 1898, Protestantism and Cuban nationalism coexisted relatively comfortably and even naturally, the function of a Protestant movement under Spanish colonialism that, unlike the rest of Latin America, was run not by North American or English missionaries, but by Cuban ministers. After United States intervention in 1898, U.S. interests were imposed on virtually every sector of Cuban society, including organized Protestantism, influencing Cuba's development for at least the next half-century. Preempted by U.S. intervention, Cuban nationalism, in both its ecclesiastical and secular dimensions, endured and intensified with the deepening of Cubans' dependency on the U.S. Politically, Cuban nationalism was expressed in growing protests and demands for a more genuine independence by abrogating the Platt Amendment and otherwise ending U.S. interventionism. Ecclesiastically, Cubans pushed for a greater role in Protestant church affairs, and toward Cubanization of the Church. Protestant missions thus confronted a rising nationalism within and outside the Church. By 1920, eastern Cuba, the cradle of Cuban independence, became the epicenter of this struggle.
1 Clymer, Kenton J., Protestant Missionaries in the Philippines, 1898–1916: An Inquiry into the American Colonial Mentality (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1986), pp. 114–115.Google Scholar Clymer’s masterful analysis includes the important distinction between the ecclesiastical and political dimensions of nationalism which missionaries confronted in foreign fields. Clymer’s work here has in no small way influenced my own.
2 Ayala, César J., “Social and Economic Aspects of Sugar Production in Cuba, 1880–1930,” Latin American Research Review 30:1 (1995); p. 110;Google Scholar see also Buell, Raymond Leslie, et al., Problems of the New Cuba: Report of the Commission on Cuban Affairs (New York: Foreign Policy Association, Inc., 1935).Google Scholar
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
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10 A Suárez, J.M. Hernandez, Á. Alonso to W.R. Lambuth, “Letter of the Cuban Preachers to the Secretary of the Board of Missions,” 1909, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD.
11 B.F Gilbert to Candler, 14 September 1907; Gilbert to Candler, 3 December 1907; Easton Clements to Candler, 4 October 1909; Hubert Baker to Candler, Santiago, 7 October 1909; Clements to Candler, 25 September 1911, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD. Missionaries reacted incredulously to Cuban protests, labelling some Cuban pastors “mercenaries” and suggesting that such reform initiatives were “more dangerous” than “open persecution.”
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15 See reports from the American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) Annual Report of the Board, and Actas de la Convención Bautista de Cuba Oriental (CBCO).
16 Ramos, pp. 24–25. Mission schools characteristically attracted much greater numbers of Cuban students than the churches did converts, at times by as much as several hundred percentage points. The principal missions in eastern Cuba accounted for well over 10,000 students by the late 1930s. Mission reports and correspondence strongly suggest that Cuban graduates of these schools, most of whom did not become Protestants, nonetheless lent their support in numerous ways, from financial aid for Protestant buildings to presidential endorsement of Protestant schools and programs. For a more comprehensive discussion of the above, see Yaremko, Jason, “United States Protestant Missions in Eastern Cuba, 1898–1935: Salvation and Conflict in the Cradle of Independence” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Manitoba, Manitoba, 1996).Google Scholar
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21 Candler to H.H. White, 11 January 1929, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD.
22 Ibid.
23 Sterling Neblett to Lavens M. Thomas, 24 January 1929, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD.
24 Candler to Hubert W. Baker, 8 June 1906, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD.
25 O.E. Goddard to Easton E. Clements, 29 May 1931; O.K. Hopkins, Sterling Neblett to O.E. God-dard, 22 June 1931, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD.
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30 Ibid.
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35 Emma P. Martínez to B. Willis Beede, Puerto Padre, 6 July 1930, Wider Ministries of Friends United Meeting Papers, Lilly Library, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana (Hereafter, WMFUMP).
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38 ABHMS Annual Report, 93rd Sess., 1926 (New York, 1926), pp. 64–65.
39 ABHMS Annual Report, 94th Sess., 1927 (New York, 1927), pp. 43–44.
40 Clements to Goddard, 27 July 1926, Cuban Conference Correspondence, United Methodist Church Archives, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey (Hereafter, UMCA).
41 Ibid.
42 Neblett to Candler, 14 September 1928, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD.
43 Neblett to Candler, 5 July 1928; Neblett to Candler, 14 September 1928; Neblett, “Committee on Nationalism—Cuba to the General Committee on Nationalism, Summary of Answers to the Questionaire,” 3 October 1928, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD.
44 Ibid.
45 Ibid.
46 Neblett to Candler, 5 July 1928, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD.
47 Neblett, Representative of the Committee on Nationalism in Cuba, to the General Committee on Nationalism, report, April 16, 1929, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD.
48 Ibid.
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51 Ramos, pp. 29–34.
52 Goddard to Hopkins, Neblett, 13 August 1931, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD.
53 Maurice Daily to Alfred W. Wasson, 31 October 1939, Cuban Conference Correspondence, UMCA.
54 Emma P. Martínez to B. Willis Beede, Puerto Padre, 15 April 1928, WMFUMP.
55 Martínez to Beede, Puerto Padre, 23 November 1930; Martínez to Beede, Puerto Padre, 24 December 1930; Martínez to Beede, Puerto Padre, 31 August 1931, WMFUMP.
56 Emma P. Martínez to B. Willis Beede, Puerto Padre, 23 November 1930, FHC.
57 Evans to W.G. Gram, Camagüey, 22 May 1929, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD.
58 A. Suárez, J.M. Hernandez, A. Alonso, to W.R. Lambuch, “Letter of the Cuban Preachers,” 2 October 1909, ESCD; Robert Routledge to Charles S. Detweiler, 17 October 1924, ABHMS Correspon-dence, Cuba, ABHS.
59 Actas de la CBCO, 1932, pp. 103–106, 119, 125 and 131; Actas de la CBCO, 1935, p. 112; Rout-ledge to Detweiler, Cristo, 18 April 1938, ABHS.
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62 Ibid.
63 Henry Cox to Merle L. Davis, 7 April 1939, WMFUMP.
64 Ibid.
65 Parallels between the Cuban and Philippine mission experiences at some levels prove striking. See Clymer, Protestant Missionaries in the Philippines, 1898–1916.
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76 Letter (n.a.) to E.H. Rawlings, 10 August 1925; Neblett to Wasson, 20 May 1936; “Reverend and Mrs. Daily are now serving in the Eastern District of Cuba,” Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS) newsletter, 1 March 1940, Cuban Conference Correspondence, UMCA.
77 ABHMS Annual Report, 97th Sess., 1930 (New York), p. 69–70.
78 ABHMS Annual Report, 1940, (New York, 1940), p. 49.
79 AFBFM Annual Report, 1932 (Richmond, 1932), pp. 23–24.
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82 Martin to Samuel Haworth, 23 February 1925; Martin to Eva and Samuel Haworth, 29 October 1925, Martin and Haworth Family Papers, FHC.
83 Susan Martin to Zenas Martin, 17 July 1907, Martin and Haworth Family Papers, FHC.
85 “The Memory Books of Sylvester and May Mather Jones,” 1900–1960, p. 263, Sylvester and May Mather Jones Papers, FHC.
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89 ABHMS Annual Report, 1928 (New York, 1928), pp. 39 and 56; ABHMS Annual Report, 1930 (New York, 1930), pp. 45–46; MECS , Anuario Cubano, 1927, Registro oficial de la Conferencia Anual de Cuba de la Iglesia Metodista Episcopal del Sur (AC) (Habana, 1927), pp. 62–63 and 68; MECS, AC, 1931 (Habana, 1931), p. 32; AFBFM Annual Report, 1931, pp. 23–27.
90 “El General Machado oyo misa en el pueblo del Cobre,” El Mensajero 7 (July, 1926), p. 15; “Mensajeros de Santiago de Cuba,” El Mensajero 8 (August, 1926), p. 15.
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97 AFBFM Annual Report, 1935 (Richmond, 1935), p. 12.
98 Goddard to Candler, 27 April 1928, Warren Aiken Candler Papers, ESCD.
99 See chapters 5 and 6, in Jason M. Yaremko, “United States Protestant Missions in Eastern Cuba, 1898–1935.”
100 Santana, Alfredo, “El esperanza de Cuba,” El Mensajero 11 (June 1924), p. 8; Actas de la Convención Bautista de Cuba Oriental (CBCO), Estadisticas Anuales, 1924, pp. 94–97; Actas de la CBCO,1925, p. 155.Google Scholar
101 Actas de la CBCO, 1925, 155; Actas de la CBCO, 1928, pp. 75–82.
102 Ibid.
103 Neblett, , Methodism’s First Fifty Years, p. 170.Google Scholar
