Key West

José Dolores Poyo (1836-1911) was an activist, publisher, social critic, fundraiser, and foundational figure in the campaign for Cuban independence from Spain. His leadership and his mantra—"adelante la revolución" (forward the revolution)—mobilized an insurrectionist movement in Key West. His multidimensional grassroots work and his newspaper El Yara, the longest-lived Cuban exile newspaper of the nineteenth century, gave hope to a people who aspired to be liberated from the bonds of colonialism.