“Cigar City” natives E.J. Salcines, John Rañon, Gio Fucanino, Patrick Manteiga and Roland Rodriquez join historians Susan Greenbaum and Andy Huse to tell the story of Tampa’s once-thriving network of immigrant mutual aid societies in a special three-week Tampa Bay History Center/OLLI SUMMER 2021 COURSE.

The Spanish, Cubans, Italians, and Germans who came to Tampa’s Ybor City and West Tampa cigar-making enclaves in the early twentieth century faced challenges of adapting to a new country, different from their homelands in language, customs, and politics. Fortunately, they brought with them the concept of the mutual aid society, a voluntary association or club that pooled resources to provide members with a variety of social, cultural, medical, and economic benefits. Come learn about these important societies and how they influenced Tampa’s early development.

Dates: May 12, 19, 26 (3 sessions)
Time: 10am – 12pm; Instructors: Various; Place: Virtual

COURSE OUTLINE:

May 12 
10am – 11am – Overview of Mutual Aid Societies and Tampa by EJ Salcines
11am – 12pm – Centro Español de Tampa (1891), John Rañon, President

May 19 
10am – 11am – L’Unione Italiana – (1894), Gio Fucarino
11am – 12pm – Circulo Cubano – (1899 or 1900 or 1902), Patrick Manteiga; Rolando Perez-Pedrero

May 26
10am – 11am; Centro Asturiano de Tampa (1902), Roland Rodriguez
11am – 11:30 am; Sociedad la Union Marti-Maceo (1900) by Dr. Susan Greenbaum
11:30am – 12:00 pm: German American Club (Deutsche (1909) by Andrew Huse

More details available at USF’s OLLI website: OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE

 

OLLI Lecture Series Tampas Mutual Aid Societies May 12 19 26