The site is divided into four sections, based on the important parts of the story of "Cuba."  Each section has a main introductory page that briefly lays out the themes that are explored.  The sub-pages contain detailed information, context, and analysis that also relate this aspect of "Cuba's" story to other historical material. The layout of the site shows what history is all about, and why it is exciting: a single moment or event opens up new stories and unexpected connections between people, places, and ideas, that change the way we think about both the past and the present.

 

The first section is about the Patronesses of "Cuba," the St. Paul women who organized and sponsored the event.  In this section, you can learn about St. Paul and its black community in the 1890s, view a map of the city and see where these people actually lived, learn about the black middle class in 1898, and learn about Fredrick McGhee, an extraordinary turn of the century black St. Paulite.

 

The second section explores the American Law Enforcement League of Minnesota, the civil rights organization for whom "Cuba" was raising money.  This section covers racial politics both in St. Paul and at the national level in the 1890s, and the concept of racial uplift.  It also contains a page about black nationalism, another important ideology in black politics in the early 20th century.

 

The third section discusses the events of the pageant itself: what were they? what do they mean? what can we learn about American society, past and present, from studying this performance?  The sub-pages contain my in-depth analysis on the pageant.

 

​The final section explores the debate among prominent black St. Paulites about whether the pageant's cakewalk was a negative representation of black people. It also puts this debate in conversation with the present.