A native of Pinar del Río Province in Cuba, Paulina Pedroso and her husband Ruperto became one of the many Cubans who first migrated to Key West where they worked in the Cigar industry. There, they met the Cuban poet José Martí, with whom they became close friends. In 1892, Paulina and Ruperto moved further north to Ybor City in mainland Florida. There, they continued working in the Cigar industry alongside many Cubans. They also owned a boarding house located on the corner of 8th Ave and 13th Street. Not too long after that, fate brought the Pedrosos and José Martí together again. When Martí visited Ybor City, he stayed at the Pedroso home which he used as his headquarters, and it is said that many Cubans used to gather outside the Pedroso home to get a glimpse of Martí, and the flag of the Cuban Republic used to be displayed on the side of the Pedroso home. José Martí eventually died at the Battle of Dos Ríos in May 1895.
Paulina and Ruperto never stopped participating in the cause for Cuban Independence. Around 1900, they founded, alongside several other Afro-Cubans in Ybor City, the Free Thinkers of Martí & Maceo Society (Los Libres Pensadores de Martí y Maceo), which eventually became La Union Martí-Maceo in 1904. Following a factory strike in 1910, Paulina returned to her native Cuba where she eventually passed away several years later. She was inducted into the Florida Woman’s Hall of Fame, and is best remembered as being referred to by José Martí as his “beloved black mother”. The old Pedroso home no longer stands today, but the site where it stood is today the José Martí Park where the house and the Pedroso couple are memorialized with a historic marker. Paulina Pedroso deserves to be remembered as one of the many Cuban heroines who contributed towards the cause of Cuban Independence, and the old Pedroso home will forever be memorialized as a place that played a role in the cause of Cuban Independence.
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