Studying “Abroad” in the Empire: Higher Education and Cuban, Puerto Rican, Hawaiian, and Filipino Students in the Continental United States, 1898–1917

My poster explores the rise of educational programs at US colleges, universities, and industrial schools for Cuban, Puerto Rican, Hawaiian, and Filipino students in the wake of the Spanish-American War. In 1898, the United States annexed several islands in the Caribbean and Pacific, including Puerto Rico, Hawai’i, the Philippines, and began the first US occupation of Cuba. For US colonial administrators, establishing schools and other educational programs—including at the collegiate level—was a top policy priority. Within this environment, the US government, American colonial administrators, philanthropic organizations, private corporations, and the schools themselves all focused on attracting gifted students to US colleges, universities, and industrial schools. Some students from overseas were sent to or chose to attend schools for Black or Native students, like the Tuskegee Institute or the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. The specific goals of these programs varied, but all aimed to foster relationships between the US and its territories while promoting democratic, capitalist, and pro-US attitudes. Studying these programs, their promoters, and their participants adds to scholarly conversations about imperialism and education, the racialization of colonized subjects, the history of higher education in the early 20^th century, and the ways that Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Hawaiians, and Filipinos adapted to and contested US imperial rule.

My poster depicts the geographical movement of students from overseas US territories and occupied nations as they traveled to the continental US to attend high school and/or college. The poster features a map of the lower 48 states with labeled points on some of the US institutions attended by Cuban, Puerto Rican, Hawaiian, and Filipino students. Maps of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawai’i, and the Philippines surround the lower 48 map, with labeled points showing where the students were living before their study trips. I highlight the story of one student from each place, and include a photo of each of them, or, when unavailable, a historical photo of the institution they attended. Each student’s story showcases one of the various paths to higher education for people living overseas in places under US occupation at this time: private philanthropy, government programs, university-led recruitment, or individual initiative (i.e. students chose to attend a US college independently). All mapping was completed using QGIS.