La Union Marti-Maceo is a historic social club inYbor City, Florida established byAfro-Cubans.[1] It opened in 1904 after white and black cigar workers were forced by Florida law to segregate their social clubs during theJim Crow era.[2] It is a site on Florida's Black Heritage Trail.[3][4] It is at 1226 East 7th Avenue. The ornate clubhouse was demolished during an urban renewal redevelopment program in the 1960s, and its headquarters was proposed for sale to address financial difficulties in 2018.[5]
The club was inaugurated with a dance in October 1900.[6]
Susan Greenbaum's book, More than Black: Afro-Cubans in Tampa, U Press of FLhttps://upf.com/book.asp?id=9780813024660, contains information that refutes several statements here. The club was actually formed on Oct. 26, 1900. The 1904 date refers to a merger with a similar Afro-Cuban club in West Tampa, which altered the name, but members were all the same. Originally Tampa's Black and White Cubans formed an integrated club in 1899, El Club Nacional Cubano (also known as the Oct. 10 Club). Black members were ejected in 1900, after the officers were threatened by the KKK, or so I was told by an elderly member. At that time it was still not against the law for social clubs to be integrated, although it was strongly discouraged. Jim Crow laws were passed in a succession, only later covering this situation. Paulina Pedroso was not the "organizer" but her husband Ruperto and two dozen other men were. Women were not allowed to belong at that time, and they were not allowed to be voting members until the 1970s.
27°57′37.5″N82°26′45.5″W / 27.960417°N 82.445972°W /27.960417; -82.445972