Eusebio Hernández Pérez | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| Other name | "Father of Cuban Obstetrics" | ||||||
| Born | (1853-01-18)18 January 1853 | ||||||
| Died | 23 November 1933(1933-11-23) (aged 80) | ||||||
| Buried | |||||||
| Allegiance |  .svg) Ejército Mambí | ||||||
| Years of service | 1869 1897–1898 | ||||||
| Rank | Brigadier general of health | ||||||
| Known for | Homicultura, contributions to obstetrics | ||||||
| |||||||
| Spouse | Ángeles Mesa de Hernández | ||||||
| Children | Eusebio Adolfo Hernández | ||||||
Eusebio Hernández Pérez (18 January 1853 – 23 November 1933) was a Cubaneugenicist,obstetrician, andmambí in theTen Years' War,Little War, andCuban War of Independence. He reached the rank ofbrigadier general in theEjército Mambí and was professor at theUniversity of Havana. Sarduy Nápoles named him "The Father of Cuban Obstetrics".[1] He andDomingo Ramos Delgado posited the idea of homiculture, which integrated into the eugenics movement with the two diverging in thought.
Hernández was born inColón, Cuba on 18 January 1853[2][3] to Francisco Hernández and Rosario Pérez.[2] On 10 February 1869, he participated in theJagüey Grande Uprising [es] led byGabriel García Menocal, father ofMario García Menocal, during theTen Years' War. He was imprisoned and sentenced to death but escaped at his execution.[3] Prior to his involvement, he was studying for hisBachelor of Arts degree, then finishing at theInstituto de Segunda Enseñanza de La Habana in 1873. In 1874, he began studying medicine at theCentral University of Madrid, which was also interrupted by his participation in the movement.[2] During theLittle War, he supported mambises inMatanzas Province andLas Villas Province as well as promotedCecilio González Blanco [es]. He was the correspondent between rebels inOriente Province andHavana until fleeing to escape arrest.[3]
In October 1880, he was in theColony of Jamaica with his friend,Antonio Maceo. Hernández was his personal and family doctor, delivering his son,Antonio Maceo Marryat.[a] The two kept close correspondence between 1880 and 1887.[4] In 1881, he left forHonduras and arrived inPuerto Cortés withCarlos Roloff. He then worked at theSan Felipe General Hospital [es] and theNational Autonomous University of Honduras.[5] His involvement in theGómez-Maceo Plan, the 1884–1886 attempt to organize further revolution after the failure of the Little War, had him travel toGuatemala andEl Salvador to raise funds and recruit men.[4] Lisandra Pérez suggests Hernández motivatedJosé Martí to attend a 1884 meeting in New York City. Hernández attended these meetings while acting asMáximo Gómez's doctor.[6] He went to Madrid, graduating from the Central University with hismedical license,[2] and after his marriage in 1888, settled in Paris.[4] Until 1892,[2] he studiedgynaecology andobstetrics underAdolphe Pinard.[2][4] In this position, Hernández worked on a method forbreech birth and treatments forplacenta praevia.[7] In 1891, he visitedBerlin to study. In 1893, he returned to Cuba and worked towards hisdoctorate at theUniversity of Havana; he submitted his thesis,Nueva causa de rigidez anatómica del cuello uterino durante el parto, in 1899, at which point he becameDoctor of Medicine. From 1893 to 1895, he was head of gynaecology and obstetrics at the Practical School of Medicine of Havana.[2]
He joined the physical fight again as amilitary doctor during theCuban War of Independence under the command ofCalixto García; during the conflict he was also connected to Antonio Maceo, Máximo Gómez,José Maceo, andJosé María Rodríguez Rodríguez. TheBermuda vessel transported him and 78 mambises[b] to Maraví (nearBaracoa) on 24 March 1896. He later joined thegeneral staff of Gómez aslieutenant colonel, being promoted tocolonel after his performance in theBattles of Saratoga, nearCamagüey. On 21 August, he fought in theAttack on Loma del Hierro under García. Between 21 September and 3 October, he participated in theBattles of Cascorro [es] under Gómez. Between 17 and 28 October, he fought in theCapture of Guáimaro under García. The Government Council appointed himsecretary of foreign affairs, but he resigned due to issues with President in ArmsSalvador Cisneros Betancourt. He rejoined the efforts of his previous generals, fighting in theCapture of Las Tunas from 28 to 30 August andGuisa in November. In January 1898, García sent him to the United States to recover his health as the rebel encampments were in harsh conditions. On 24 August, Hernández was promoted tobrigadier general of health and made representative to theAssembly of Santa Cruz del Sur; while in New York City, he resigned the latter position in 1899 due toAmerican occupation after the1898 Treaty of Paris as an opponent ofAmerican intervention in Cuban affairs.[8] He published a memoir of his experiences entitled El período revolucionario de 1879 a 1895 in 1914.[9]
On 9 January 1899, he returned to Cuba to pay respects to the deceased García by the request of his son,Carlos García Vélez. He continued to combat annexionist calls and supported progressive causes.[10] There was public outrage at thesuffrage grants drafted by the American administration in 1900, which only lent the right to men who owned at least $250 in assets and were literate. They were deemed as worse than those in theAutonomy Charter of Cuba of 25 November 1897 that establisheduniversal manhood suffrage.[11][12] Hernández was a member of the Cuban commission that collaborated with the administration on this policy,[c][13] but agreed with the dissidents.[11] Since 1899, he worked as a professor of obstetrics at the Clinic of the University of Havana.[2]
During the1901 general election of theRepublic of Cuba, Hernández was a candidate for theLiberal ticket; he supporteduniversal health care,women's rights,welfare, and theright to education.[10] Afterward he ran forthe vice presidency along withBartolomé Masó's bid.[14] He did not support PresidentTomás Estrada Palma but also detested those in the1906 August Revolution. In a 1907 speech during theProvisional Government of Cuba's administration, he demanded sovereignty be restored and declared that since the beginning of the 19th century,geopolitics had been consumed byAmerican imperialism.[10] During the1908 Cuban general election, he was the Liberal candidate for vice president underJosé Miguel Gómez but ceded the position toAlfredo Zayas.[15]
In 1911, withDomingo F. Ramos Delgado (1881–1961), another student of Pinard, he publishedHomicultura (English:Homiculture). They posited an expansiveeugenicist concept based on Pinard'spuericulture;[7][16] it outlined a national project for maternal and child health, which were seen as linked,[17] and "took aholistic view of view of influences on human development, linking 'human fitness to a nation’s capacity for peace, order, and prosperity.'"[16] The proposal applied foreign policies such as GermanKinderschutzen [de], centers for women who recently gave birth; Frenchgouttes de lait [fr], distribution centers forpasteurized milk; Frenchcrèches, and the French Roussel Law, which monitoredwet nursing. Its intended immediate effect was to reduceinfant mortality.[17] They also published for general audiences in the journalVida Nueva. In 1913, the National Homiculture League was founded and included people such asFrancisco Carrera y Jústiz andMaría Luisa Dolz. To spread the idea, Hernández taught a class on homiculture andpreventative sexual health at theJosé Martí Popular University [es]. Proposals in La Habana Province[d] that stemmed from homiculture included prenuptial medical examinations, and legal protection for women, and campaigns for improved working conditions andchild nutrition.[16] Homiculture did not receive attention from the government until PresidentMario García Menocal established the Children's Hygiene Service, which accepted Hernández and Ramos's proposals: inspections on wet nurses and milk andtubercularsanatoriums. The service did not live up to the expectations of the pair as it was limited to Havana and acted as a means of surveillance on women, schools, and daycares. Hernández's wife, Ángeles Mesa de Hernández, along with other Havana women formed the Ladies Committee for the Protection of Children in 1914; it served the poor children of working women as a daycare and source of nutritious food. However, the government did not provide financial support. Hernández consistently followedneo-Lamarckian eugenics but Ramos increasingly turnedMendelian towards the 1920s.[18] Ramos established the Pan American Central Office of Eugenics and Homiculture which had its first international conference in 1927. 28 delegates, representing 16 countries, and other unofficial members attended; included were MexicanRafael Santamarina Sola (1884–1966), PeruvianCarlos Enrique Paz Soldán [es], and AmericanCharles Davenport. Ramos, supported by Davenport, suggested awhite supremacist code entailing the classification of non-white immigrants and indigenous people as inferior and promoted policies offorced sterilization andracial segregation,as done in the United States. The code was unpopular and the Argentine, Costa Rican, Mexican, and Peruvian delegates in particular contested.[19] In addition to positing homiculture, Hernández modified theTarnierforeceps andFarabeuf'spelvimeter, and developed method for an open-airsymphysiotomy.[2]
In 1923, he founded theJosé Martí Popular University [es] withJulio Antonio Mella; his last public appearance was when Mella's ashes were spread.[20] Hernández's son, Eusebio Adolfo Hernández, was a professor ofsocial sciences here. He also participated in theSoviet solidarity movement with his father.[21] In 1926, he became a member of theCuban Academy of Sciences and French Society of Obstetrics. That year, Hernández self-diagnosedcolon cancer and went to Berlin for his successfulcolostomy. On 23 November 1933, he died in Havana frompulmonary edema. He was veiled in the Cuban Academy of Sciences rather than theAugla Magna (University of Havana) [es] due to pressure from PresidentRamón Grau. He was buried inColon Cemetery, Havana and was awarded theGrand Cross of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and the Order of theNational Red Cross [es]. On 18 January 2016, his remains were moved to the veterans' area of the cemetery in a ceremony headed byJosé Ramón Machado Ventura,Ramón Espinosa Martín [es],Roberto Morales Ojeda, andEusebio Leal.[22]
Source:[23]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
