Activity 5: Compare political cartoons with 1898 newspaper articles

Read the newspaper article, “Do we need Cuba?”, first published in the Philadelphia Manufacturer, then republished by the Evening Post (March 21st, 1898). Answer the following questions:

1. What elements or themes appearing in both cartoons do you see represented in the newspaper article?
2. Do you see similarities in the meanings conveyed in both the “Easter Greetings from the Pearl of the Antilles” and “First Class in the United States” cartoons, and the Evening Post’s editorial “Do we need Cuba”?
3. What do the cartoons offer that the newspaper article does not?
4. What does the newspaper article offer that the cartoons do not?
5. Does the newspaper help you better understand the meaning conveyed by the cartoonists? If so, in what ways?
6. Do you see similarities in the meanings conveyed in both the “Easter Greetings from the Pearl of the Antilles” and “First Class in the United States” cartoons, and the Evening Post’s editorial “Do we need Cuba”?

1. Read José Martí’s response to The Philadelphia Manufacturer and Evening Post’s editorial, entitled “For the Vindication of Cuba“. Answer the following questions:
2. Can you find Martí’s moments of praise for the United States? Where are these moments located in his narrative? Can you find similar moments in the political cartoon collection? Provide an example.
3. Can you find Martí’s moments of denunciation of United States’ imperial practices? Where are these moments in his narrative? Can find similar moments in the political cartoon collection? Provide an example.
4. If instead of writing a response to the newspaper article, Marti was responding to a political cartoon, how different would this response be? Which source would offend him more, the cartoon or the article “Do we need Cuba”?