This week on Florida Matters, we take a walking tour of a Tampa Bay History Center exhibit highlighting the Cuba-Tampa connection.
Called Cuban Pathways, it explores a relationship that started almost 500 years before South Florida's better known tie to the island.
Host Steve Newborn and curator Brad Massey touch on the influence of Afro-Cuban immigrants who moved to Tampa and the city's role in the Cuba's fight for independence from Spain and later in the island's communist revolution.
At the beginning of the episode, Newborn also visits Parque Jose Marti, a small memorial park for Jose Marti, who was integral to Cuba's independence fight and traveled to Tampa often. Until 2015, it was only the only piece of Cuban-owned land in the United States.
You can listen to the full conversation with Massey by clicking on the “Listen” button above. Or you can listen on the WUSF app under “Programs & Podcasts.”
