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The Death of Jose Marti

Back in the day on May 19th, 1895, the Cuban poet and revolutionary Jose Marti died trying to liberate his beloved island from Spanish Colonialism. Born in Havana in 1853, Marti quickly realized his talents for writing and put them in service of the anti-colonial struggle. At just the age of sixteen, his passionate voice took sides in the Ten Years’ War against the Spanish as he was convicted of treason and sedition as a result. After Marti’s sentenced was reduced, he was exiled from Cuba in what was to be a common condition throughout his life. Between stays in Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, and finally the United States, the poet was only able to revisit his homeland but for a few times, the last of which being a fateful invasion attempt to liberate Cuba from the yoke of Spanish colonialism. A year prior to Marti’s demise, he pondered his own mortality in the poem, “A Morir,” saying “I wish to leave the world/ By its natural door/ Do not put me in the dark/ To die like a traitor/ I am good, and like a good thing/ I will die with my face to the sun.”

And so it was written…

For Uprising, this is your truth professa’ saying it’s no mystery why they conceal our people’s history!