The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and his delegation met privately with President Fidel Castro of Cuba during a March 2006 visit to the island nation. Also pictured in the photo are Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, National Assistant to Min. Farrakhan, far left in black suit; Student Minister Abdul Akbar Muhammad, International Representative of the Nation of Islam, in red tie; Activist and scholar Conrad Worrill, middle in blue and singer, songwriter James Mtume.

HAVANA, Cuba—Acclaimed actor and activist Danny Glover was 13 in 1959 when he heard about the Cuban Revolution.  “My mother and father were postal employees.  I watched them celebrating the victory of the Cuban Revolution. 

I remember Dave Johnson, who was a very young man at the time, was the president of the (American Postal) union.  Every time you saw him, he wore a hat like Fidel,” he told The Final Call. 

Actor and activist Danny Glover, in hat,
touring the Slave Museum in Matanzas
in Cuba. Photo: Michael Spencer

“I’m 77 now and the Cuban Revolution outside of the Civil Rights Movement and all the other revolutions was significant.”  He’s been to Cuba countless times.

The American government was furious with the Cuban Revolution and in 1960 the U.S. imposed its first set of economic sanctions, banning exports to Cuba except for food and medicine.

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The sanctions against the tiny island 90 miles from Miami have gotten progressively more severe.  However, Black Americans, engaged in their own struggles in America, wanted to know more about this country that vowed to end systemic racism.

According to The New Republican, months before the U.S. embargo, while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, Comandante Castro and his delegation were mishandled by the management at the Shelbourne Hotel, which allegedly demanded an exorbitant advance ahead of the Cuban delegation’s stay.

Soon, New York tabloids were circulating reports that these “uncouth primitives” had “killed, plucked, and cooked chickens in their rooms at the Shelbourne and extinguished cigars on expensive carpets.” Comandante Castro and his delegation promptly checked out.

Nation of Islam Minister Malcolm X welcomed them to Harlem’s Hotel Theresa (the Waldorf of Harlem).  “I think you will find the people in Harlem are not so addicted to the propaganda they put out downtown,” said Minister Malcolm X, according to several media outlets.

Fidel Castro replied, “I admire this. I have seen how it is possible for propaganda to make changes in people. Your people live here and they are faced with this propaganda all the time and yet they understand. This is very interesting.”

At the time, Harlem was the bedrock for an exceptionally strong sense of Black political vitality. The streets buzzed with activism as Black nationalists, civil rights supporters and others mobilized to protests inequalities and organized to demand their rights. 

Harlem residents were in awe of Fidel, who had outlawed segregation in schools, beaches, swimming pools, hotels and other facilities (both public and private) and committed his new government to racial equality.

James Early has been a friend of Cuba for over 50 years.  He’s an activist and former director of the Cultural Heritage Policy Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution and a former board member of TransAfrica. 

“I’m almost 78 years old and in my generation, many African Americans beyond those who were into jazz began taking on African names. They began to look for their connections to Mother Africa,” he told The Final Call. 

Actor and activist Danny Glover, in hat, touring the Slave Museum in Matanzas in Cuba. Photo: Michael Spencer

“I did my undergraduate work in Spanish and began to search for my African roots here in the Americas. The Cuban revolution was very significant because of the large number of African descendants brought there,” he said.

“I came to Cuba for the first international conference about the independence of Puerto Rico.  During my 32 years at the Smithsonian Institution, I helped to establish relations in the cultural front.

Cuba has one of the founding collections at the National Museum of Natural History dating back in the late 1800s.  The relationship had previously been with the scientists and sports people.”

For Mr. Early, Cuba was the right place for his activism.  He was intrigued by Cuba’s dedication and commitment to advancements for their people and others around the world despite the embargo. He recognized the many contributions Cuba has made to the world.

“Cubans are human beings like everybody else,” he said.  “I don’t want to romanticize Cuba, but the revolution started with six million people, and now it’s 11 million people in the world.  No other place on the face of the earth has contributed to humanity on the scale of teaching doctors and sending medical brigades as Cuba has done.”

The Honorable Minister Louis  Farrakhan and a Nation of Islam delegation visited President Castro and Cuba in March 2006 to study disaster preparedness. The reason for the trip was to learn and the delegation learned a lot, explained Minister Farrakhan in remarks he delivered during a news conference in Havana, Cuba, on March 27, 2006, that was published in The Final Call.  

The visit was organized not because of fear of terrorism but because America is under divine chastisement with natural disasters lashing the country, he continued.

“Our hope is that the blockade will be lifted and the Cuban people will begin to flourish,” said Minister Farrakhan.

In 2009, seven members of the Congressional Black Caucus visited Cuba and met with Fidel Castro and his brother Raul who at that time was the country’s president.

“This is a moment where we need to review our policies as it relates to the embargo against Cuba—and first, allow American citizens to travel to Cuba. Many people don’t realize, but this has been a 50-year-old embargo. It has not worked, and in fact it has done just the opposite,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) told NPR in a April 9, 2009, interview about the trip.

President Fidel Castro, on left side of table, speaks with members of the Nation of Islam delegation in 2006. On the right side of the table from left to right are: Brother Leonard F. Muhammad, Mother Tynnetta Muhammad, Mother Khadijah Farrakhan and Minister Farrakhan. Photos: Final Call file

The embargo has isolated the United States, she explained.

“When you look at the majority of countries in the world, they have diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba. Fifteen countries—all the countries, actually, in Latin America—do business with Cuba. And I say it’s time to talk to Cuba.

It’s very important that a country 90 miles away have access to the American people. It’s important that the American people have access to the Cuban people in terms of education, cultural and trade exchanges, and it’s a policy that’s flawed and it doesn’t make any sense and we need to change it and change it soon,” she said.

In 2016, then-President Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928 and the first one since the Cuban Revolution ended the rule of the pro-American regime in 1959. President Obama arrived for what he called “a historic visit.”

After landing, according to news reports, President Obama used a Cuban phrase meaning “what’s up?” when he posted on Twitter (now called X): “¿Que bolá Cuba? Just touched down here, looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people.”

Fidel Castro’s death later that year pained many around the world. Minister Farrakhan released a statement hailing the revolutionary leader.  “Long live the memory of Fidel Castro,” he wrote. “Long live the Cuban people who have endured this savage blockade for over 50 years. 

And may we be on the side of those who admit that we were once blind, but it’s our time to see as the confusion of Western heads of state and government is so clear that they are going blind. They will continue to break apart as the poor, the weak, the Black, the Brown and the Red will continue to rise by the grace of Allah (God).”

This is an installment in a series of articles by The Final Call from Cuba while covering the International Decade for People of African Descent conference, Cuba and the Cuban people.