From the Factory to the Party: Black Female Workers and the Emergence of the Havana Women Stemmer's Union, 1940-1948

Abstract

This article examines how a group of black female workers in the tobacco industry developed their class identity due to being marginalized as women, black individuals, and members of the working class. They were involved in the crucial task of stripping tobacco leaves for bulk export, often seen as unskilled work with low pay. By analyzing various sources, including workers' press, population censuses, and contemporary testimonies, the article reflects on how the experiences of key black women in the 1940s, such as Inocencia Valdés, Amparo Loy, and Teresa García, reshaped gender and class identities associated with this work. It also highlights the need to address racism as a significant issue. Despite increased union organization, engagement with the state and employers, and transition to communist activism, the stories of these women, popularly known as “las negras,” challenge the idea of a linear narrative of the Cuban tobacco working class. Instead, they illustrate the simultaneous creation of various forms of social stratification along racial and gender lines.