School boys at the newly constructed school at the former Moncada military barracks in Oriente

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Manuscripts and Archives > Andrew St. George papers (MS 1912) > Series II: Photographs > Cuba > Cuban Revolution and aftermath > School boys at the newly constructed school at the former Moncada military barracks in Oriente


10020867

Description

Title
School boys at the newly constructed school at the former Moncada military barracks in Oriente
Creator
From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created
1960
Description
These images are of young school boys during morning assembly at the newly constructed school at the former Moncada military barracks in Oriente. It was at this barracks that Fidel’s ill-prepared armed force attacked on the 26th of July 1953, resulting in a massacre of most of its members. Fidel’s subsequent guerrilla movement took the 26th of July as its name in honor of the dead and wounded from that famous attack. Although Fidel claimed that he would convert military barracks into schools, that conversion ironically entailed the creation of highly militarized schools such as this one. These photographs show the boys carrying their metal trays for breakfast and assembling to march, military-style, into the dining area. At this time, many of these boys would likely have come from poor, marginal families near the Sierra Maestra. This explains their disheveled appearance and the fact that at least one of them (a black boy) is not wearing shoes. One photograph is captioned: “II. MILITARY FEVER GRIPS CUBA. Barracks-type drill discipline is applied to all but the youngest children in Castro’s Cuba. Here peasant boys recruited from the Sierra Maestra region are shown in front of a school center, partly completed (right) but largely still under construction (left and right rear.) This school center, a surprisingly large and modern construction project among the roadless Sierra Maestra foothills (the nearest settlement is tiny El Cerro, and the nearest town of any size, Manzanillo, is a hundred miles away) will eventually house 20,000 farm children. The boys shown here, part of the first contingent of 500 already living and studying at the school center, spend their day under supervision of Cuban rebel army drill instructors, and - under Communist Chinese pattern the Cuban Army appears to be imposing on rural education - only half their day is spent in school; half is spent in work out among the canebrakes.”
Provenance
Purchased from Jean Szentgyorgyi by the Latin American Curator, June 2009; transferred from the Latin American Curator to Manuscripts and Archives, 2012.
Extent of Digitization
This object has been partially digitized.
Language
English

Item Location

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives
Call Number
MS 1912
Search for Additional Digitized Material in This Collection
Container / Volume
Box 46, folder 9

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Access And Usage Rights

Access
Public
Rights
The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.
Citation
Andrew St. George Papers (MS 1912). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.

Identifiers

Orbis Record
9060277
Object ID (OID)
10020867

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