Browsing by Author "Fountain, Anne"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item 2019 NEH Summer Institute, The Center for José Martí Studies Affiliate at the University of Tampa: "José Martí and American Thinkers" with Anne Fountain(The University of Tampa, 2019-06-27) Fountain, AnneJosé Martí was a thoughtful and well-informed reader of books, newspapers and articles that reflected the intellectual as well as the political pulse of the United States from 1880 to 1895. His knowledge of U.S. authors and their works affected his life, his political perspectives and his writing. In the nearly fifteen years that Martí lived in the United States, he liberally absorbed ideas and concepts from American writers, especially Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman, but also from proponents of social change such as Helen Hunt Jackson, who championed the cause of North American Indians. Emerson’s ideas permeate Martí’s work after 1882 and are a presence in the Cuban’s most popular poetry, Versos Sencillos. Whitman’s verses reinforced Martí’s deep humanitarian and democratic instincts and confirmed the importance of new poetry for a new hemisphere. American thinkers exerted a significant influence on the Cuban writer, and this presentation will offer notable examples.Item 2019 NEH Summer Institute, The Center for José Martí Studies Affiliate at the University of Tampa: "José Martí and Race in America”(The University of Tampa, 2019-06-27) Fountain, AnneMartí’s time in the United States coincided with the aftermath of Reconstruction, a reliving of Civil War events, and a recounting of the efforts of U.S. abolitionists. Martí reported on brutal attacks against former slaves in the South as well as on the success of educated blacks in the North. His accounts described the racial climate of the time and ideas such as Social Darwinism. Challenges faced by poor immigrants from Europe and by Chinese laborers are also part of the picture. In addition, Martí dedicated numerous chronicles to the plight of North American Indians. This presentation will highlight how U.S. race relations influenced Martí’s plans for racial harmony in Cuba and will offer examples of his evolving perspectives on questions of race and ethnicity. A close look at Cuba and the United States in the context of Martí’s life helps to underscore some important differences between the two slave-holding nations.