Challenging assumptions that loyalty to the Spanish empire was the exclusive province of the white Cuban elite, this groundbreaking history brings attention to free and enslaved people of African descent who actively supported colonialism.

Known for much of the nineteenth century as "the ever-faithful isle," Cuba did not earn its independence from Spain until 1898, long after most American colonies had achieved emancipation from European rule. In this groundbreaking history, David Sartorius explores the relationship between political allegiance and race in nineteenth-century Cuba. Challenging assumptions that loyalty to the Spanish empire was the exclusive province of the white Cuban elite, he examines the free and enslaved people of African descent who actively supported colonialism. By claiming loyalty, many black and mulatto Cubans attained some degree of social mobility, legal freedom, and political inclusion in a world where hierarchy and inequality were the fundamental lineaments of colonial subjectivity. Sartorius explores Cuba's battlefields, plantations, and meeting halls to consider the goals and limits of loyalty. In the process, he makes a bold call for fresh perspectives on imperial ideologies of race and on the rich political history of the African diaspora.
 

"Sartorius has presented a thought-provoking and enlightening work that challenges the traditional narrative surrounding the topic under discussion and will force historians to reconceptualize the relationship between racial identity and politics in Spanish Cuba during the nineteenth century. This is an excellent work that should interest any academic concerned with the study of race and loyalty in the imperial context." - H-Caribbean, H-Net Reviews

"[T]his carefully crafted study of Afro-Cubans masterfully teases out 'loyalist" positions toward the Spanish Empire that evolved in 19th-century Cuba. . . . [T]he author comments on central questions of race, citizenship, and the perdurance of empire, whose complexities and implications extend far beyond the ever-faithful island. Recommended. All levels/libraries." - Choice

"“Sartorius has contributed a work of unprecedented importance for the study of the African Diaspora in nineteenth-century Cuba. The well-founded revisions of longstanding assumptions in nationalist history will prove invaluable to future scholarship in the field.”" - The Latin Americanist

"Sartorius has identified a vital and little-understood topic in Cuban, Spanish, and colonial Latin American historiography: the politics of loyalty of Cuba's free population of color in the nineteenth century." - American Historical Review

"Overall, this persuasive account expands the scholarship on Cuban nationalism and provides insights into the parallel narrative of colonial allegiance. It also offers an important model for future studies on race and loyalty in the Caribbean, Latin America, and the broader Atlantic World." - The Americas

"“Ever Faithful is a carefully crafted study of an aspect of nineteenth-century Cuban history that is seldom dwelled upon. Sartorius’s provocative perspective is strengthened by the importance he attaches to Cuba’s variegated political geography…. If Ever Faithful tells a history that is at times uncomfortable, it is not because Sartorius’s historical subjects failed to live up to our expectations. Understanding the persistence and versatility of Empire remains a vital endeavor, even if we do not like what we find.”" - Journal of Latin American Geography

"This book, rich in detail and in the variety of sources used, should open up the discussion of issues on racial identity, nationality, and political allegiances which may have been inhibited by patriotic considerations or priorities." - New West Indian Guide

"“Sartorius expands our understanding of the sociopolitical context that encouraged black Cubans to show their fidelity as a strategy for also contesting their subordination. His book should be read by scholars of empire, race, and resistance in Latin America and the Caribbean during the slavery era.”" - Hispanic American Historical Review

"“David Sartorius’s Ever Faithful is a much-needed correction to the presumption of undifferentiated political goals among African-descended people in nineteenth-century Cuba.”" - Latin American Research Review