A Brief History of Cuba U.S. Relations- Project Idea Seeds

By Lauren Baker

I found this very interesting, as I felt a definite bias in this video when I compared it to the video we watched a few weeks ago, Black in Latin America: Cuba. I felt that the video (perhaps because it was significantly longer) illustrated a picture that was more objective in regards to U.S.-Cuba relations, while it certainly pointed to the fact that the U.S. was responsible for what transpired. This video blatantly states that the U.S. was looking for a fight, used Cuba for its own interests, and hints that the U.S. is responsible for the Soviet Union/Cuba union, and essentially the Cuban Missile Crisis. I find the different views very intriguing, and certainly makes me questions the narratives we have been taught in history classes in the United States. 

On this note, I have some new project idea seeds. We were discussing having different people from both countries write letters to one another, but now I feel that we can specify what kind of letters are being written in attempts to illustrate the different stories we have been taught in each country. This can also illustrate the generational gap between people, both in the U.S. and Cuba. We know that younger people usually tend to be more open to restoring diplomatic ties, but why? Older people's words can display a view of history that we haven't seen before, or add a missing piece to a massive puzzle. There have been several years that the countries have not been in communication- specifying the kinds of letters, or designing the project in a way that addresses these issues will be very effective This video gave me a little more direction in terms of the content of mine and Sharon's project.