Early Cuban Exiles: Memories of Loss, Struggle, and Rebirth

From 1959 to 1973, more than 600,000 Cuban exiles came to the United States in two waves and laid the foundation for the modern Cuban American community. Almost all arrived with only a few clothes and pocket money. Based on interviews with 54 persons about early Cuban exiles, this presentation tells how and why they left Cuba, what they found when they arrived here, and how they built new lives. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the Columbia Journalism School, David Powell worked as a reporter for the Associated Press in New York, Miami, and Tallahassee. After earning a law degree from Florida State University, he practiced law for 30 years. Moved by the stories of Cuban Americans he met through his work, he began interviewing them for his oral history book, Ninety Miles and a Lifetime Away: Memories of Early Cuban Exiles. David and his wife reside in Tallahassee. Registration is required. Program will occur live via Zoom or watch in the library.

This Florida Talks program is a partnership between Florida Humanities and the Leesburg Public Library. Funding for this program was provided by Florida Humanities and sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.