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Anna “Connie” Veltfort was born in 1945 in Germany. She is a writer and illustrator living in New York City. Most of her childhood in the 1950’s was spent in the United States, but she was brought to Cuba in 1962 at the will of her stepfather, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, who aligned himself with the ideals of the Cuban Revolution. She lived in Cuba for a decade, even attending the University of Havana and performing agricultural labor alongside her university classmates, as well as participating in a university research project in the Sierra Maestra where she headed a traveling puppet troupe for the benefit of the children of the Sierra. She came to live in Cuba at a critical moment in its history: the ultimate betrayal of the Castro regime as it strengthened its authoritarian grasp on the people, aligned with the Soviet Union, and entered the world stage at the height of the Cold War. Her time in Cuba came to profoundly shape her identity. Before she moved to Cuba, she visited her mother’s family in Hamburg in 1961 at age 16. While she was there, sent by her uncle, she visited the Berlin Wall as it was being built, adding to her complex experience of the effects of the Communist government in the 1960’s. Veltfort graduated in 1972 from the University of Havana with a degree in Art History. Her thesis focused on the 20th-century avant-garde movement in Russia, particularly an analysis of the works by filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. Veltfort continued her education in the United States at Parsons School of Design; the School of Visual Arts, studying graphic design and illustration; and at New York University where she studied web design. She has done extensive work in electronic and traditional illustration, creating designs that include all ages and ethnicities. Her work has appeared in a variety of formats including dozens of books, many editorials, advertisements, and electronic media as well as in games, posters, Gameboy storyboards, background for animations, and even a t-shirt design for the New York City Branch of the Taoist Tai Chi Society. She was an illustrator for the video game “Christina Aguilera: Follow Your Dreams,” released in 2000, and created illustrations that appear in the CD-ROM game “Mary Kate and Ashley’s Dance Party of the Century,” released in 1999. She creates “realia,” which are simulated media found in educational materials and on websites. She directed two editions of Spectrum, which is a series of twelve educational books from the publishing house Simon and Schuster/Pearson Education. Additionally, she has created designs for advertisements for Post Cereals, Children’s Television Workshop, Sports Illustrated Kids, the electronic game creators Hyperspace Cowgirls, Houghton Mifflin, Pearson, Harcourt Brace, Oxford University Press, and Green Mansion Press.

In 2017, Veltfort’s autobiographical graphic novel, Adiós mi Habana, was published by Editorial Verbum in Spain, and in 2019 Goodbye, My Havana: The Life and Times of a Gringa in Revolutionary Cuba, was published by Stanford University Press to critical acclaim. The coming-of-age narrative is centered on 16-year-old Connie Veltfort, who fled to the U.S. from postwar Germany with her mother, Lenore. She, her mother, and American stepfather Ted then relocated to Cuba for a decade, attending high school and university, and where she witnessed the political upheaval and the Cuban missile Crisis in 1962. The novel also importantly tells the story of homophobia and violence against LGBTQ youth in Cuba during the 1960s, where she and others in her community had to conceal their identities. In 1967, Veltfort and her girlfriend were assaulted in Havana on the Malecón, after being identified as lesbians. Through Connie’s eyes, readers see the hypocrisy of the revolutionary spirit and freedom peddled by the new regime on full display. Connie, like many others, is deeply disillusioned by the place she thought to be a potential utopia. Lorissa Rinehart in a review of the book, writes: “In Goodbye, My Havana, the Cuban revolution’s prescribed limits of freedom are most evident in the relegation of women and LGBTQ individuals to the periphery, where their rights quickly erode and their personhood is more easily dismissed.” When asked about what she wishes readers take away from the graphic novel, Veltfort replies: “That Cuba is a heartbreakingly beautiful country, with a rich culture, and a history much more complicated than any tourist or casual academic can see or imagine. That homophobia, an outsized thread in the fabric of Cuban life, was there right from the beginning of the Revolution and it tragically affected the generations that came into the Revolution in 1959, lived through the 1960s and 70s and beyond.” In the same interview with Stanford University Press, Veltfort cites some of her main influences as an illustrator, “Little Nemo” newspaper comic strips by Winsor McCay; the work of Joost Swarte, Dutch graphic artist; and the Pogo books by Walt Kelly. She also noted that her use of color is based on a sense of place and internal situation. For example, she notes that “Cuba is a land of intense color, impossible for me to imagine in anything but full color. I also set out to use color as a visual stand-in for music and sometimes emotions.” Veltfort plans to write another graphic novella in the future about visiting her mother’s family in Germany in 1961.

Bio supplied by H.T. Smith:

H.T. Smith’s passion for a cause and effective advocacy skills were evidenced early on when he persuaded the University of Miami School of Law to admit him before even taking the Law School Admission Test. His argument: that it was unfair to punish him for not being able to take a test that was not administered in the jungles of Vietnam, while he fought for his country.

His legal career blazed new trails from the start - - as Miami-Dade County's first African-American assistant public defender, and as the County's first African-American assistant county attorney. He was a partner in the first African American law firm to practice law in downtown Miami.

Born Harold Teliaferro Smith, Jr. to Mary Cope Smith and Harold T. Smith, Sr. He was born in the Christian Hospital – the hospital for colored Miamians. As a child he played on a street called “bucket of blood” – and it earned that nickname. From kindergarten through 12th grade, H. T. was forced by law to attend segregated schools, with second-hand facilities, second-hand equipment and hand me down books. Only historically Black and tradition rich Florida A&M University accepted him. There he earned a major in Mathematics and was commission a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army.

H.T. served 400 days as a leader of men in the jungles of Vietnam and upon returning home he entered the University of Miami School of Law. For the past 49 years, H.T. has practiced as a trial lawyer in Miami, specializing in civil rights, personal injury, and criminal defense. He was voted Top Trial Lawyer of 2017 by the Dade County Bar Association, and the National Law Journal recognized him as one of the top 10 trial lawyers of the year in America. He has been inducted into the “Legal Legends” of Miami-Dade County, and he is listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

H.T. was one of the lead attorneys in the successful legal challenge to Ward Connelly’s effort to pass a Constitutional Amendment in Florida outlawing affirmative action in public education, public employment, and public contracting. In his argument to the Florida Supreme Court, H.T. described Connelly’s so-called “Civil Rights Initiative” as a “cruel hoax” on the people of Florida.

H. T. was the founding President of the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. Bar Association, and a founding member of the Gwen S. Cherry Black Women Lawyers Association. He also served as President of the Virgil Hawkins Florida Chapter of the National Bar Association, and the National Bar Association – which is the oldest and largest bar association for people of color.

He led the South Florida Coalition for a Free South Africa (a branch of the international Free South Africa Movement) from 1984 until Nelson Mandela was released from prison on February 11, 1990. This direct-action campaign resulted in governmental agencies and colleges divesting from companies doing business in or with apartheid South Africa, boycotting clothing and food that was imported from South Africa, and stopping the sale of the krugerands by financial institutions in South Florida.

From 1990-1993, H.T. was a co-spokesperson for the highly successful Boycott Miami Campaign which was organized after local politicians snubbed the legendary Nelson Mandela during his historic visit to Miami. The tourism boycott lasted 1,000 days – costing Miami’s tourism industry in excess of $110 million. The boycott settlement resulted in significant economic and educational opportunities for African Americans, including the development of the first Black-owned convention-quality hotel in the United States–on the ocean, in Miami Beach.

H.T.s also served with James K. Batten, CEO of Knight Ridder Newspapers, as co- Chairman of the Coalition for Progress which was an organization established to establish, implement and execute on the programs, policies and goals agreed upon to end the boycott.

In 1995, H.T. along with two partners, led the ambitious effort to raise $5 million dollars to build the 27,000 square foot NFL Youth Education Town (YET) Center at Gwen Cherry Park in the Scott Carver Projects. This NFL YET Center provides computer training, homework assistance, educational programs, arts and crafts, health, nutrition and fitness courses, a nature park with a zip line, a state-of-the-art synthetic athletic field to play football, soccer and lacrosse, and all types of sporting activities for hundreds of kids daily.

In 2003, H.T. was tapped to become the Inaugural Director of Florida International University College of Law’s Trial Advocacy Program. The student body presented him with the “Pioneer Award” for his innovative excellence as a legal educator, and the University honored him with its prestigious “Top Scholar Award”. His trial teams have won state, regional and national Mock Trial competitions involving civil and criminal cases.

H.T. also joined the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami in 2004 where he has served as Vice-Chairman of the Board; and as Chairman of the Student Affairs, Membership and Governance Committees.

H.T. has received numerous honors for almost five decades of service to his community, profession and country. The following have been named in his honor – the Harold Long Jr. and H.T. Smith Student Assessment Building at the University of Miami; the H.T. Smith Black Law Student’s Association, established at FIU College of Law; the H.T. Smith Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest award of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce; the H.T. Smith Fellowship, established by the Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches; the H. T. Smith Scholarship established by the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. Bar Association; the H.T. Smith Legal Studies Scholarship, established by the law firm of Kluger Kaplan; the H.T. Smith Fellowship, established by Legal Services of Greater Miami; and the H.T. Smith Achievement Award, established by INROADS/Miami.

He has received numerous awards. A few of them include the David W. Dyer Professionalism and Icon Awards from the Dade County Bar Association; the National Bar Association’s Hall of Fame induction; the Charles Whited Spirit of Excellence Award from the Miami Herald; the Silver Medallion Award from the Miami Conference of Christians and Jews.

H.T. has devoted his entire legal career to “agitating for justice”. In a letter to the National Bar Association, South African President Nelson Mandela wrote: “We join your members in paying special tribute to your retiring President, H.T. Smith, whose name became well-known for his consistent and courageous contribution and support for the struggle of our people against apartheid. We wish H.T., well, we are confident that wherever injustice and racism raise their ugly heads, H.T. will be there to raise his powerful voice of protest and resistance.

Family Action Network Movement (FANM), originally called Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami / Haitian Women of Miami, is a private, non-profit advocacy organization that was founded in 1991 by Marleine Bastien. First conceived of as a resource for Haitian women living in Miami, FANM is primarily run by minority women and has always focused advocating for lower-income women of color in particular. They provide services and programming related to issues including immigration, housing, health and mental health access, education reform, gender equality, human rights, crisis and domestic violence intervention, counseling, job training, financial literacy, adult education, and after school programs.

FANM is a founding member of the Miami Climate Alliance, Catalyst Miami, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Haitian American Grassroots Coalition, Center for Haitian Studies, Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, and many others. To date FANM has won the following campaigns: The Haitian Immigration Fairness Act (1998); Temporary Protected Status (2010); Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program (2015); Little Haiti Campaign (2016); Little Farm Mobile Home Campaigns (2016). As an organization they are currently pressing forward with the fight for Temporary Status Renewal, and Comprehensive Immigration Reform more broadly, especially pertaining to Haitian immigrants to the U.S.

Bastien’s desire to create an organization specifically for women was inspired by the philosophy that if women – more so the most vulnerable women – are protected and empowered then that means that everyone is/can be. Despite the centrality of women within the organization, FANM has long served people of all races, genders and ethnicities and for this reason FANM staff, community members, and leaders decided to rebrand in 2018. As explained by Bastien, FANM’s new name, “Family Action Network Movement,” was decided on to “reflect FANM’s expanded myriad of services to people of diverse backgrounds in Miami Dade County. FANM has had an impact in the lives of more than 10,000 children, women, and men and built a village network where immigrants and local residents feel welcome. We reach thousands weekly through our radio show, Vwa FANM, and our advocacy work inspires people to passionately organize around civic and other issues close to their hearts” (Bastien).

In excess of advocating for individuals, one of FANM’s most difficult battles to date is advocating for an entire community in the face of the rapid gentrification of Little Haiti. Due to Little Haiti’s location on a ridge that is approximately double the elevation of affluent coastal areas such as Miami Beach, local residents are being displaced as real estate developers attempt to buy up the land for when the inevitable time comes and Miami beach will be under the sea. Currently, SVP realty are trying to get approval for the Eastside Ridge Special Area Plan, which, if approved, will redevelop twenty-two acres of land on the edge of Little Haiti and displace many residents of the area through either the demolition of property or outpricing the locals. In 2018, Bastien commented on the severity of the situation: “We are in the last leg of gentrification, where developers basically come with a lot cash. We call them the ‘cash-empowered’ developers, with their suitcases full of cash. The fear is real. The pressure to sell is real. As a result of gentrification, Little Haiti is shrinking” (Wong). For an ever-precarious community, FANM is not only helping residents who are displaced find new housing and get compensation, but also behind efforts to convince the City to turn over some of the land to the community so that it cannot be bought by developers – an essential concession if Little Haiti is to survive.

Laura Bass
UGrow Fellow for the Department of Manuscripts and Archives Management, 2019-2020

Works Cited

Bastien, Marleine. “Miami advocacy group expands its mission to empower immigrants.” Miami Herald, March 5, 2020, https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op- ed/article240932251.html.

Wong, Brad. “Miami’s Little Haiti Organizes on Gentrification.” Marguerite Casey Foundation, July 4, 2018, https://www.caseygrants.org/who-we-are/inside-mcf/miamis-little-haiti- organizes-on-gentrification/.

Marleine Bastien (b. 1959) is a licensed clinical social worker, human rights activist, and published author based in Miami, FL. For over thirty years Bastien has advocated for Haitian, immigrant, and women’s rights in South Florida. She has led many important advocacy campaigns such as The Haitian Immigration Refugee Fairness Act of 1998; Temporary Protected Status; The Dream Act; Comprehensive Immigration Reform; Living Wage and Human Rights Ordinance; and the Children’s Trust. Additionally, has been centrally involved in the formation of many community organizations, namely Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami (FANM) (Haitian Women of Miami), now known as Family Action Network Movement; the Justice Coalition for the Haitian Children of Guantanamo; the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition; the Haitian Neighborhood Center (Sant La); the Center for Haitian Studies; the Florida Immigrant Coalition, and more. For all her years of dedication, Bastien has been the recipient of many honors and awards.

Bastien was born in the small village of Pont-Benoit in Haiti to parents Philippe Bastien and Angelina Destinoble – she was the third of eight children. Her parents were rice and mango farmers and her father was also the village’s sole health practitioner; he treated the local residents’ health problems routinely. Bastien attended the esteemed Swiss school, College Bird in Port-Au-Prince and learned English while still in Haiti. Her activist impulses were ignited at a very young age through her father’s advocacy in the community – which frequently made him a target of the authorities – and she undertook voluntary positions while still a child and into her teen years. In addition, after learning English Bastien read Martin Luther King’s speeches and this gave her a sense of U.S.-based Black activism. Philippe Bastien ended up settling in Belle Glades, Florida because of the tensions in Haiti’s political climate during the 1980s. In 1981, at age twenty-two, Marleine also left Haiti to pursue higher education.

Shortly her arrival in Miami, Bastien visited the Krome Detention Center and her experience there irrevocably changed the course her life would take. She reflects, “Haitian refugees were placed in a big compound: men, women, and children and deported for the most part, in complete denial of their basic rights of due process. I started volunteering at the Haitian Refugee Center two days after arriving. I was hired as a paralegal a few months later. My goal was to go to Chicago, but once I joined the struggle for freedom and equal treatment for Haitian refugees, I could not leave” (Miami Girls Foundation). After training as a paralegal, Bastien completed her undergraduate and master’s degree in clinal/medical social work at Florida International University in 1987. During this time she joined Jan Mapou’s dance company, Sosyete Koukouy, and met the actor and poet, Jean Desire, who she married in 1998. The couple have three sons.

Once graduated from FIU, Bastien began working at Jackson Memorial Hospital and set up the first HIV/AIDS support group for women and families. In a recent interview for HistoryMiami’s “Queer Miami Stories,” she discussed the impact of HIV/AIDS on Haitians not only the impact of the disease itself, but more so about the harassment Haitian people received when the Haitian population was singled out along with LGBTQ-identifying people and intravenous drug users as the only people who could contract and spread the disease.* Bastien advocated for women and babies affected by HIV/AIDS at a time when men were the sole focus; she was the primary source of support for women and children dealing with the fallout of the virus. Her dedication to advocating particularly for Haitian women was prompted by the injustices she witnessed during the Duvalier dictatorship; she states, “I had a keen sense of the abuses, persecution, and lack of protection for the population, especially women and children who were the most vulnerable under the Duvalier dictatorship. I can still see in my mind’s eyes how women were beaten by Tonton Macoutes with a big “baton” (club) for not being able to pay expensive taxes” (Miami Girls Foundation).

In 2000, Bastien left Jackson memorial to manage FANM, which she established in 1991, full-time. Now a large and hugely important organization to South Florida, FANM advises people on matters including, but not limited to, immigration, housing, health access, education reform, gender equality, and human rights. While originally founded for the Haitian community specifically, FANM also provides resources and services to other minority and immigrant populations. Bastien has been widely acknowledged for her tireless years of advocacy, garnering awards such as Miami Dade County’s Volunteer of the Year Award in 1994, Miami Dade County’s Social Worker of the Year Award (2000), and multiple recognitions from the city.

Laura Bass
UGrow Fellow for the Department of Manuscripts and Archives Management, 2019-2020

Works Cited
Miami Girls Foundation. “Marleine Bastien.” https://miamigirls.org/miamigirls/marleine-bastien/.
*See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka-zr-c7rLA