Rhythms of Race

“A fascinating account of an understudied form of labor migration in an equally understudied period of U.S. immigration history.” — American Historical Review

“Makes significant contributions to pan-ethnic studies about Cubans and Latinos in the United States.” — Journal of American History

“This significant study helps elucidate the multiple evolving meanings of Cubanidad and Latino/a identity in the US.” — CHOICE

“Demonstrates that Cuban musicians and diverse audiences shaped what it meant not just to be (Afro) Cuban but also Latin or Hispanic within the United States.” — Florida Historical Quarterly

“A very thoroughly researched work and the first to deal deeply with the topic, Abreu’s book is a very necessary contribution to Cuban and Latino scholarship.” — International Migration Review

“A valuable addition to the Latino music-making historiography.” — Journal of Southern History

“A much-needed contribution to the understanding of the establishment of Cuban identity in the United States, which — until now — has been largely focused on the self-presentation of the Cuban-American community that developed in southern Florida following the 1959 revolution. Christina Abreu persuasively excavates the earlier development of Cuban, Afro-Cuban, and Hispano/Latino identity in the 1940s and 1950s.” — Raul A. Fernandez, University of California, Irvine

“In this exceptional work of historical analysis, Christina Abreu’s nuanced, insightful argument draws on a range of compelling materials — some of which, thanks to her outstanding research discoveries, readers will be encountering for the first time. This is a remarkable, painstaking reconstruction of the story of music and race in Cuban America from 1940 to 1960 as it played out in the everyday spaces and institutions of halls, dance floors, and print culture.” — Antonio López, The George Washington University