Happy birthday, José Julián Martí Pérez. He was born on January 28, 1853, and died on May 19, 1895. Martí was short, stood 5 feet 6 inches, and weighed about 140 pounds. He died young, fewer years than I have been blessed to celebrate, but no one has impacted our America more than Martí.
Martí was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. During his life, he was a journalist, poet, essayist, journalist, professor, publisher, political theorist, and a revolutionary. Through his writings and political activity, he became a symbol for Cuba's bid for independence against Spain in the 19th century and is referred to as the Apostle of Cuban Independence.
The ideologue of continental unity, the man who united wills in the Cuban Revolutionary Party to make the necessary war against Spanish colonialism, and one of the first to denounce the expansionist essence of American capitalism, always had his eyes fixed on Our America.
From where, if not from the heart, from the very heart of the American earth came out his voice full of tenderness and hope, in constant defense of the oppressed, and overflowing with love of freedom.
Jose Marti http://www.pbs.org/video/latino-americans-jose-marti
José Martí: El ojo del canario https://youtu.be/ff8amV9VWCo
José Martí on the Great New York Snowstorm of 1888 via @thenation https://www.thenation.com/article/jose-marti-great-new-york-snowstorm-1…
Tampa, Florida: Untold Stories by E.J. Salcines - Jose Marti https://youtu.be/XpRD1s0pebk
165 years later, his words and actions still matter.