Book celebrates Cuban American women
Those who display ‘discipline, courage, authenticity’ profiled
Arnhilda Badía was a teenager when she was almost arrested for handing out prayer cards in the 1960s in Cuba. Those were the days when the Castro regime attacked the Catholic Church, expelled priests and nuns, and closed schools like the French Dominicans, which she attended.
The friend who was accompanying her was caught, but Badía managed to escape full speed on a bicycle. At age 18, in 1964, she was leaving Cuba with a baby in her arms — heading to Mexico — after the government confiscated her father’s pharmacy and a small farm that the family had on Havana’s outskirts.
This is just one of the many stories collected in a new book, “Cuban American Women: Making History,” about 54 women who, like Badía, found success in the United
States and made important contributions to the community, while still remaining faithful to their roots and sharing their values and traditions with their children.
Shortly after her arrival in the U.S., Badía entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to pursue a doctorate in linguistics while raising her family. She then pursued a distinguished career as a teacher and promoted bilingualism, working closely with the Florida Commissioner of Education. She also entered politics, becoming a state representative (1984-1988).
“I was very idealistic,” said Badía. One of the most gratifying projects she worked on is the Dr. Armando Badia Senior Center in Flagami Park.
“I promised the seniors a center, and I got the land, and it is an honor to have been able to do it and to have it named after my father,” she said.
What most impressed her as she learned about the lives of the women she profiled was their persistence, Badía said. One story in particular stuck with her.
Businesswoman, publicist and promoter of the arts Aida Levitan, who came to the U.S. as part of Operation Pedro Pan, worked serving lunch in the school cafeteria while in high school in Miami Beach. If she didn’t do it, she wouldn’t eat, because her family didn’t have a dollar left for lunch, Levitan said in 2022 when she was included by Forbes magazine on its “Fifty over 50” list as one of the most prominent women in the U.S. finance field.
Levitan then chaired the board of directors of
the U.S. Century Bank, of which she is still a member.
“The Cuban-American woman has been an example of what immigrants can achieve in this country,” Levitan said. “She has made an enormous sacrifice for her family and at the same time she has participated in the workforce, she has built her own businesses, and she has participated in politics.”
Levitan was part of a recent panel at the University of Miami that featured some of the women included in the book, who talked about their struggles, thanked their families and mentors, and analyzed the challenges that Cuban American women have traditionally faced, and what work still needs to be done.
“Discipline, courage and authenticity,” was what
Dr. Eneida Roldán, executive director of the Florida International University health network and former president and CEO of the
Jackson hospital system, highlighted about the Cuban-American women.
“The gift of gratitude, I carry that with me and pass it on to my children,” said Roldán in the Otto G. Richter Library at the University of Miami, which houses the Cuban Heritage Collection, founded by Esperanza Bravo de Varona, who, along with Celia Cruz, is one of two to receive posthumous recognition in the book.
Roldán thanked her grandmother for nurturing her desire to become a doctor since she was little.
Writer Uva de Aragón, also featured in the book, recognized her aunt Sara Hernández-Catá, “a liberal and liberated woman,” who in Havana in the 1940s and 1950s was a kind of ambassador of culture, host to Cuban and foreign intellectuals.
“She smoked out of a long cigarette holder, she went everywhere on a
bus and slept naked,” De Aragón said at the panel.
“The celebration of women who have stood out in various professions and branches of culture is always an important contribution. I am honored to be included in this book. I know that there are many Cuban Americans in the field of literature who deserve it as much or more than me. It is on behalf of all of them that I accept this distinction,” said De Aragón.
Not only are these stories inspiring, but biographies like that of philanthropist Ana Veiga Milton, president of the José Milton Foundation, also carry a message of hope for young people. Veiga Milton became an engineer and lawyer thanks to generous scholarships that paid for her studies at the University of Miami.
One of her goals was to recognize the generosity of Cuban Americans,*
Veiga Milton said during the panel. It begins with the family, extends to the church, and leaves its mark on public life. She serves as president of the foundation that pays tribute to the legacy of her father-inlaw, José Milton, a Cuban architect and developer of Lebanese origin.
The book includes, among others, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; María
Elvira Salazar; Gloria Estefan; Judge Bertila Soto, astronaut Serena Auñon Chancellor; designer
Yas González; Madeline Pumariega, president of Miami Dade College; Liliam M. López, president and CEO of the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Josefina Carbonell, co-founder of the Little Havana Activities and Nutrition Center, who was assistant secretary for aging issues at the Department of Health and Human Resources.
The company Independent Living Systems, where Carbonell is assistant vice president, donated the funds for “Cuban American Women: Making History” to be translated into Spanish.
Badía chose to write it in English to spread the successes of Cuban-American women outside of Miami and to a broader spectrum of readers.
Filmmaker Adriana Bosch, also recognized in the book, emphasized that Cuban-American women’s stories must be told in movies, and their achievements and challenges told beyond the community.
“You have to be persistent and insistent. The story must be told over and over again,” said the director of PBS documentaries such as “American Comandante” and “Letters to Eloísa.”
“We have to provide funds for our filmmakers, for our artists, to tell the story of exile and preserve our identity,” said Bosch.