Was Cuba majority white before the Communist revolution?

[Jibaro]

I know there was a white flight from Cuba with numbers in the millions in the aftermath of the revolution but were they the majority before it? I have been to Cuba since my paternal family is from there and can confidently say it’s still 40-45% white (including off-white people). I don’t know what the demographics would look like if theoretically the whole diaspora retuned to the island.

[Andullero]

I know there was a white flight from Cuba with numbers in the millions in the aftermath of the revolution but were they the majority before it? I have been to Cuba since my paternal family is from there and can confidently say it’s still 40-45% white (including off-white people). I don’t know what the demographics would look like if theoretically the whole diaspora retuned to the island.

I'd say yes. The end of the Spanish-American war didn't slow down the impetus of Spanish immigration to the island, on the contrary, it would only incentivize it, specially since conditions back home were less than ideal. One of my grandparents was among the people wanting to ride that wave, but he ended up being shipwrecked here in Azua and going native, so to speak, lol.

[Tooting Carmen]

Cuba is not Argentina/Uruguay and never has been.

[Andullero]

Cuba is not Argentina/Uruguay and never has been.

Their importation of slaves didn't take Saint-Dominguan/Jamaican/Barbadian/Martinican levels, though, specially since their plantation complex took flight after the Royal Navy started implementing the ban on the trade (circa 1807).

[Daven]

I think it was. But something like 55% or around that. Havana was indeed whiter and probably one of the whitest cities in Latin America easily. Now is mostly mulatto/pardo with a large white and black population.

My theory is that Cuba was as euro as Argentina when it comes to the national average (around 77%-78% european). We know now it's like 70%.

I don't believe that the revolution was what decrease the numbers of pure whites anyways (except for places like Havana where there was a clear white flight). It was more the intermixing between cubanos of all colors. Also the natality rate among whites could be another reason. It just sounds unrealistic to say Cuba became mulatto because of the white Cubans fleeing to Miami. You just need to give a look at the numbers.

[Tooting Carmen]

Their importation of slaves didn't take Saint-Dominguan/Jamaican/Barbadian/Martinican levels, though, specially since their plantation complex took flight after the Royal Navy started implementing the ban on the trade (circa 1807).

Then why are there many more pure Black Cubans than pure Black PRs and possibly even Dominicans?

[Andullero]

don't believe that the revolution was what made Cuba less white (except for places like Havana where there was a clear white flight). It was more the intermixing between cubanos of all color.

Yeah, very few people seem to realize that the regime controls the island's demographics with an iron fist, and that means getting all segments of the population down the very same level as far as family size goes.

[Tooting Carmen]

It was more the intermixing between cubanos of all colors. Also the natality rate among whites could be another reason.

Now that is romantic bollocks - Cuba actually had the most rigid racial segregation before 1959 anywhere in Latin America, even if it still wasn't quite at Southern US or South African levels of repression.

[Andullero]

Then why are there many more pure Black Cubans than pure Black PRs and possibly even Dominicans?

Because the color line stiffened there than on these two islands. Spain was on the verge of implementing that stiffer rule here first with the Codigo Negro Carolino of 1785, but the Haitian revolution sent all that to the crapper.

[Daven]

Now that is romantic bollocks - Cuba actually had the most rigid racial segregation before 1959 anywhere in Latin America, even if it still wasn't quite at Southern US or South African levels of repression.

Cuba still has a large mixed population. Granma is all pardo with not so many whites and pure blacks like Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, Artemisa/Mayabeque (former Havana province), Cienfuegos, etc. Havana has also a large mulatto/pardo population (with less native than Granma). Light griffes are super common in Guantanamo and Santiago (also in Havana of course). The whitest parts of Cuba are likely Mayabeque, Artemisa, Pinar del Rio and Matanzas.