SOURCE: "José Martí, Cuban Independence and the North American Economic, Political and Social Agenda," in José Martí in the United States: The Florida Experience, edited by Louis A. Pérez, Jr., Arizona State University Center for Latin American Studies, 1995, pp. 43-55.

In the essay that follows, Ronning focuses on Martí's response to the Cuban community located in Florida's Key West. Ronning asserts that in Key West Martí found "proof . . . that Cubans could govern themselves freely."

Two topics figures prominently in the public and private writing as well as in the speeches of José Martí after his first visit to Key West and the formation of the Cuban Revolutionary Party. The social interaction of Cubans in their community of Key West told him much about the future prospects of Cuba as a progressive independent nation. Second, socio-economic conditions and social interaction within the United States as a whole...