"Cuba"
The pageant of 1898
About the author
My name is Charlie Birge, I'm an American Studies major at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. I undertook this project because this story teaches valuable lessons and deserves to be told.
I am an upper/middle class white person, and on this web site I make claims about black people who lived over one hundred years ago. Obviously, my lived experience gives me little authority in understanding and presenting these stories, and this has at times made me uncomfortable with my work. Nevertheless, I still feel that my work has value. As white people, making sense of our privileged position in society begins with understanding our nation’s history. By tracing patterns of oppression through time we learn to identify them today, in our own lives, which is the first step in overcoming them. The more we can do this, the more we humanize each other and ourselves.
My work is thus intended merely as a contribution to an honest conversation about race and an attempt to educate and encourage others (especially white people) to think about their own role in American history. What I present here is not the “truth” about “Cuba” and the history that surrounds it, but one perspective. My position of privilege limits the way I understand and present history, and I welcome conversation and critique.
My social position and the scholarly process
I began this project by reading secondary scholarship (a list of which is available on the "Sources and Notes" page) that provided context and an analytical framework for my primary research, which I conducted at the archives of the Minnesota Historical Society and St. Paul Central Public Library. While my analytical framework comes from other scholars, it is also informed by my own social position, which needs to be acknowledged. My epistemology (or way of knowing the world) is highly congruent with the academic world and the scholarship it produces. This is a result of my socialization process among family, friends, and the education system, and is also influenced by my privileged identities (white, male, middle class, heterosexual, neuro-typical/able-bodied). Thus, presenting this knowledge in theoretical terms is the default for me, and allows me to make sense of it. However, social theories are always limited, and there are certainly other perspectives to my work; I encourage my audience to interrogate the generalized claims I make here.
Also, the archives themselves have been assembled through a process that is not removed from power and biased interests, and thus only represent certain voices and perspectives. Keep this in mind as you read my work, and think about what perspectives are not present in the archives (represented in my project by newspaper articles).
Acknowledgements
This project would not have been possible without the generous support and guidance of Professor Peter Rachleff. He proposed this topic, provided me with reading lists, helped me develop skills in archival research, and provided invaluable feedback on my work throughout the process of the project. Also, my work builds on the work of local historial Dave Riehle. His initial research provided a foundation for my own, and without it this project would not have been possible. Here is a link to his piece on "Cuba" for the Ramsey County Historical Society:
http://www.laborstandard.org/Vol2No1/Cuba_Pageant.htm
I'd also like to thank Paul Nelson, another St. Paul historian, who provided valuable feedback and corrections. His book on Fredrick McGhee was also an indispensible resource.
Feel free to contact me using the form below:
© Copyright 2013 Charlie Birge. All rights reserved.