Constructing the Citizen: The Public Uses of History and Civics in Cuban Schools, 1899–1920

This paper seeks to investigate the teaching of the History of Cuba, and of Moral and Civics, in public schools in Cuba from 1899-1920. The selected period includes the years during which “certified teachers” taught. Certified teachers arose as part of the public education system institute during the first military occupation by the United States (1899-1902). The paper ends in 1920, the year that the first class of teachers educated in the normal schools of the Republic graduated. The paper compares the uses of history teaching in schools in Cuba and Puerto Rico during the U.S. military occupation. First, the paper reviews the characteristics of the certificate teachers: their origin and training, and their sex, age, and skin color. Then the paper turns to the theoretical debates and polemics surrounding the meaning of teaching Cuban history and Moral and Civics, putting them in conversation with the nationalist discourses and concepts of identity expounded by pedagogues and intellectuals of the era. Finally, the paper explores the everyday experiences of the teachers themselves as they imparted both subjects. Methodologically, the paper employs various documentary sources, such as scholarly pseudonyms, surveys of primary school students, children’s drawings, teachers’ diaries, exams, and photographs from the era.