Paulina Hernández Hernández

She was born in Consolacion del Sur, Pinar del Rio, and in 1888 she married Ruperto Pedroso. That same year they traveled to Key West, Florida and later moved to Tampa where on November 25, 1891, they received Jose Marti in their home.

Not only did Jose Marti live in Paulina's house, but she cared for him when he was very ill. Moreover, as true patriots, on many occasions they told Martí that they were willing to help the revolutionary cause in any way possible, and they even offered to mortgage their house. It was thus that on January 30, 1895, Martí sent Gonzalo de Quesada with a letter asking for their help.

Here comes another brother, and you know that I only call that way someone who has a broad and pure heart (…) We are in times of great magnitude and difficulty, and he goes to a glorious service (…)

(…) And if in order to fulfill the obligation he carries, it happens—which I do not believe probable—that he has to ask you for, in the end, the great sacrifice that you have offered me so many times—do it, whatever it costs! Without that our entire work could come crashing down (…) I never remember neither Paulina nor Ruperto without feeling a smile in my heart.

If it is necessary, do everything, give the house. Do not ask me. A man like me does not speak this way without reason (…)

According to letters and documents from that time, it is known that Paulina mortgaged her house and a lodging house, that relatives of hers died, and that in a deplorable state of poverty, sick and blind, she returned to Cuba in 1906. Nothing more is known of her husband. A complete mystery, and as a result of forgetfulness and government bureaucracy, she was not helped. So Paulina died on May 21, 1913, alone at Corrales No. 221, at 58 years old, poor and a victim of arteriosclerosis according to her death certificate. The support of the Republic never came.

She loved Marti like a son, and to commemorate the second anniversary of his death, she wrote in the newspaper Cuba de Tampa on May 18, 1897:

I loved you as a mother, I revere you as a Cuban, I idolize you as a precursor of our liberty, I weep for you as a martyr of the Homeland.

All of us, black and white, rich and poor, educated or ignorant, pay you homage with the devotion of our love. You were good: Cuba will owe its independence to you.

For having welcomed Martí in her house and for her sacrifice as a patriot, she is known as The Black Mother of Martí.

History is full of oversights, of people who were pillars for many heroes but have dissipated in the mists of time and fallen into oblivion. Paulina Hernández (Paulina Pedroso) is one of them. Let us remember those who sacrificed everything and keep them alive in memory.