American Experience

Professor Ada Ferrer presents a series of lectures exploring 500 years of relations between Cuba and the United States. A Cuban American herself, Professor Ferrer’s deeply personal account of Cuban history focuses on the experiences of the island’s inhabitants, not just the centuries of geopolitics that have shaped their fate. In the 18th and 19th centuries, these forces were rooted in sugar and slavery. In the 20th century, they were defined by Cuban efforts to shake off U.S. political domination and to claim independence—a struggle that began long before Fidel Castro’s rise to power.

Professor Ferrer has conducted research in Cuba since 1990. Her book, Cuba: An American History, won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 2022. Her essay, “My Brother’s Keeper,” published by The New Yorker, tells the story of her family’s relationship with the Cuban Revolution. Professor Ferrer is Julius Silver Professor of History and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University.