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In
1902, Tomás Estrada Palma set foot on the
island of
Cuba for the first
time in almost twenty-five years. José Martí's
successor as head of the Partido Revolucionario
Cubano, Estrada Palma was living in exile in
Central Valley,
New York when he was
elected Cuba
's first president in 1901.
Once elected, he renounced his naturalized American
citizenship and traveled to his homeland, landing
in Gibara, Oriente on
April 20, 1902 . Estrada Palma
traveled across
Cuba for three
weeks, getting reacquainted with the island and
giving Cubans a chance to see in person the man
they had elected as their first repúblican president.
He reached Havana
on
May 11, 1902 and was inaugurated eight
days later on
May 20, 1902 .
This
photograph depicts Estrada Palma's caravan as
he marched across
Cuba .
At the head of the group is a rider carrying the
flag of Bayamo, Estrada Palma's hometown and birthplace
of Cuba
's struggles for independence.
Estrada Palma rides in a black carriage at the
center of the photograph. It is part of
the Tomás Estrada Palma Collection of the Cuban
Heritage Collection (CHC) of the
University of
Miami Libraries .
This collection was donated to the CHC by Estrada
Palma's grandson, Tomás Douglas Estrada Palma,
in 1995. Along with this photograph, the
collection contains other pictures of Tomás Estrada
Palma and his family as well as personal letters
and other documents. |
