Tampa cigar workers : a pictorial history / Robert P. Ingalls and Louis A. Pérez, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ingalls, Robert P., 1941-

Contributor:

Pérez, Louis A., Jr., 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cigar makers--Florida--Tampa--History.

Cigar makers.

Cuban Americans--Employment--Florida--Tampa--History.

Cuban Americans.

Cigar industry--Florida--Tampa--History.

Cigar industry.

History.

Cuban Americans--Employment.

Florida--Tampa.

Physical Description:

233 pages : illustrations ; 27 cm

Place of Publication:

Gainesville : University Press of Florida, [2003]

Summary:

From the founding of Ybor City in 1886 to the dispersal of Tampa's Latin population in the years following World War II, Tampa Cigar Workers documents the history of the Cuban, Spanish, and Italian immigrants who created the cigar industry in Tampa and the extraordinary multi-ethnic community that flourished around it. More than 200 photos capture this community's personalities and way of life while commentary drawn from newspaper accounts, oral histories, and archival documents identifies and explains each photograph's historical place and significance. In linking the photographs with historical text, the authors allow the cigar workers to tell their own story, in the language of their day. The rich photographic record around which the book is organized communicates the lives of these workers not only in the workplace but also in their vibrant Ybor City and West Tampa neighborhoods. The book depicts the making of cigars, the work culture, local support for the Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898), unions and strikes, community institutions such as mutual aid clubs, leisure activities, and social practices surrounding courtship, marriage, and death. Highlighting the diversity of the cigar workers' community, the authors present an inspiring and deeply moving story of how these immigrants carved out their space in Tampa while struggling to survive economically and defending their ideals and way of life.

Contents:

The World of Tampa Cigar Workers 1

1. Arrival of the Cigar Industry 15

2. The Struggle for Cuban Independence 34

3. The Boom of the 1890s 45

4. Making Cigars 58

5. Early Strikes 89

6. Mutual Aid Societies 107

7. Workers at Play 129

8. The Roaring Twenties 146

9. Battles of the Twenties and Thirties 172

10. Decline of the Cigar Industry 205.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-233).

ISBN:

0813026024

OCLC:

50333742