Cuban "Chug" Boat Project: Documenting Hope and Resolve

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Maritime archaeologists at the University of West Florida embarked on a project to record a collection of small boats and rafts that provided a conduit to freedom for unknown Cuban citizens. Since the 1980s, the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden has acquired 10 refugee vessels and placed them in an outside exhibit. Many of the home-built vessels arrived in the Florida Keys or the Dry Tortugas in conjunction with the Mariel Boatlift in 1980. Others followed in the wake of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1996—the “wet foot, dry foot policy.” After arriving in Florida, many of these vessels were sunk, burned, or dismantled. These vessels testify to the struggle of the refugees and social conditions in Cuba; the unique collection is worthy of saving, documenting, and exhibiting. When viewed as a group, the watercraft are a tribute to the ingenuity and resolve of the hopeful immigrants.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2023 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow