Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Gooding Jr. at the Firelight Hallmark Hall of Fame Premiere Red Carpet 2012
Born	Cuba M. Gooding, Jr. (1968-01-02) January 2, 1968 (age 44) The Bronx, New York, USA
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1986–present
Spouse	Sara Kapfer (1994–present; 3 children)
Awards	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Jerry Maguire (1996)

Cuba M. Gooding, Jr. (born January 2, 1968) is an American actor. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of Rod Tidwell in Cameron Crowe's 1996 film Jerry Maguire.

Early life[link]

Gooding was born in The Bronx, New York City on January 2, 1968, the son of Shirley Temple (née Sullivan), a singer with the Sweethearts, and Cuba Gooding, Sr., a lead vocalist of soul group The Main Ingredient.^[1][2] He has three siblings: Tommy, Omar, and April. His paternal grandfather was a native of Barbados.^[2] His family moved to Los Angeles after his father's music group had a hit single with "Everybody Plays the Fool" in 1972; the elder Gooding abandoned his family two years later. During his appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Gooding revealed that after his father had left, his family lived in hotels throughout Los Angeles. Gooding was raised by his mother and attended four different high schools: North Hollywood High School, Tustin High School, Apple Valley High School, and John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills in Los Angeles. He served as class president in three of them.^[3] He became a born-again Christian at age 13.^[4]

Career[link]

His first job as an entertainer was as a breakdancer performing with singer Lionel Richie at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.^[1] After high school, Gooding studied Japanese martial arts for three years, before turning his focus toward acting. Early on, he landed guest starring roles on shows like Hill Street Blues (1981), Amen (1988) and MacGyver (1988, 1989 and 1990).^[5] His first major role was in the John Singleton's box office surprise and critical hit Boyz n the Hood (1991). He followed this success with roles in major films like A Few Good Men (1992), Lightning Jack (1994), Outbreak (1995), Men of Honor (2000), Rat Race (2001), and The Fighting Temptations (2003) in which he co-starred alongside Beyoncé Knowles who portrays his love interest. That particular film also marked his first (and to date, only) appearance in a musical film.

In 1996, he was cast as an arrogant football player on the brink of a career-ending injury in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire (1996). The film was a success and earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. His "Show Me the Money" line in the film became a nationwide catch phrase.^[6] In 1997, he had a notable supporting role in As Good as It Gets (1997). The next several years, his films were inconsistently successful. He has also appeared in a series of films which were not as critically or commercially successful, such as Boat Trip (2002), Norbit (2007), and Daddy Day Camp (2007), all of which had received extremely negative reviews and, with the exception of Norbit, performed poorly at the box office. Gooding also starred in a film titled A Murder of Crows, which he co-produced with his long time friend and business partner Derek Broes. The film was Gooding's first attempt at producing.

Since then, he has had a series of starring roles in grittier films released direct-to-DVD such as the revenge dramas Hero Wanted and Wrong Turn at Tahoe, as well as the science fiction action film Hardwired and the action comedy Lies & Illusions. A well-received performance as Ben Carson in Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009) and a small supporting role in Ridley Scott's American Gangster (2007) both proved to be exceptions to this trend. A role in the World War II film, Red Tails (2012), produced by George Lucas and with other prominent actors such as Terrence Howard, marked his first appearance on the big screen since American Gangster.

He appeared on Channel 4's Chris Moyles' Quiz Night on 5 August 2011; closing the show dueting Bad Romance with Lulu.

In 2002, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[7]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cuba Gooding Jr.

• Cuba Gooding, Jr. at the Internet Movie Database
• Cinema Confidential interview (January 2002)
• Hollywood.com interview (November 9, 2000)
• Jet interview (October 11, 1999)
• Ebony interview (June 1997)
• JAM! Movies interview (December 13, 1996)
• Hanes Backstage Game with Cuba Gooding, Jr. & Michael Jordan (July 2007)
• USAToday
• Jezebel

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (May 2012)

Republic of Cuba República de Cuba (Spanish)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Patria o Muerte (Spanish) "Homeland or Death"[1]
Anthem: La Bayamesa  ("The Bayamo Song")[2]
Capital (and largest city)		Havana 23°8′N 82°23′W / 23.133°N 82.383°W / 23.133; -82.383
Official language(s)		Spanish
Ethnic groups		65.1% White, 10.1% African, 24.8% Mulatto and Mestizo[3]
Demonym		Cuban
Government		Unitary republic, Socialist state
-	President & Premier	Raúl Castro
-	First Vice President	J. R. M. Ventura
-	First Secretary of Communist Party	Raúl Castro
-	President of the National Assembly	Ricardo Alarcón
Legislature		National Assembly
Independence		from Spain/U.S.
-	Declared	October 10, 1868 from Spain
-	Republic declared	May 20, 1902 from the United States
-	Cuban Revolution	January 1, 1959
Area
-	Total	109,884 km2 (105th) 42,426 sq mi
-	Water (%)	negligible[4]
Population
-	2010 census	11,241,161[5]
-	Density	102.3/km2 (106th) 265.0/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2010 estimate
-	Total	$114.1 billion[6] (63rd)
-	Per capita	$9,900 (86th)
GDP (nominal)		2010 estimate
-	Total	$57.49 billion[3] (68th)
-	Per capita	$5,100[3][4][7] (90th)
HDI (2011)		0.776[8] (high) (51st)
Currency		Cuban peso(CUP) Cuban convertible peso[9] (CUC)
Time zone		CST (UTC−5)
-	Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC−4)
Drives on the		right
ISO 3166 code		CU
Internet TLD		.cu
Calling code		+53

Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, (ⁱ/ˈkjuːbə/; Spanish: República de Cuba, pronounced: [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkuβa] ( listen)) is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city.^[10][11] To the north of Cuba lies the United States (140 km or 90 mi away) and the Bahamas, Mexico is to the west, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic are to the southeast.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on and claimed the island now occupied by Cuba, for the Kingdom of Spain. Cuba remained a territory of Spain until the Spanish–American War ended in 1898, and gained formal independence from the U.S. in 1902. A fragile democracy, increasingly dominated by radical politics eventually evolved, solidified by the Cuban Constitution of 1940, but was definitely quashed in 1952 by former president Fulgencio Batista, and an authoritarian regime was set up, intensifying and catalyzing already rampant corruption, political repression and crippling economic regulations.^[12][13][14] Batista was ousted in January 1959 by the July 26 movement, and a new administration under Fidel Castro established, which had by 1965 evolved into a single-party state under the revived Communist Party of Cuba, which holds power to date.

Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is the most populous island nation in the Caribbean, as well as the largest by area. Its people, culture, and customs draw from diverse sources, such as the aboriginal Taíno and Ciboney peoples, the period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of African slaves and its proximity to the United States.

Cuba has a 99.8% literacy rate,^[3][15] an infant death rate lower than some developed countries,^[16] and an average life expectancy of 77.64.^[3] In 2006, Cuba was the only nation in the world which met the WWF's definition of sustainable development; having an ecological footprint of less than 1.8 hectares per capita and a Human Development Index of over 0.8 for 2007.^[17]

Etymology[link]

The name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant (cubao),^[18] or great place (coabana).^[19] Authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the ancient town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal.^[20][21]

History[link]

Pre-Columbian era[link]

Sketch of a Taíno woman, also known as the Arawak by the Spanish

Cuba was inhabited by Native American people known as the Taíno, also called Arawak by the Spanish, and Guanajatabey and Ciboney people before the arrival of the Spanish. The ancestors of these Native Americans migrated from the mainland of North, Central and South America several centuries earlier.^[22] The native Taínos called the island Caobana.^[23] The Taíno were farmers and the Ciboney were farmers, fishers and hunter-gatherers.

Spanish colonization[link]

After first landing on an island then called Guanahani on October 12, 1492,^[24] Christopher Columbus landed on Cuba's northeastern coast near what is now Baracoa on October 27^[24] or 28.^[25][26] He claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain^[27] and named Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias.^[28] In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa; other towns soon followed including the future capital of San Cristobal de la Habana which was founded in 1515. The native Taínos were working under the encomienda system,^[29] which resembled a feudal system in Medieval Europe.^[30] Within a century the indigenous people were virtually wiped out due to multiple factors, including Eurasian infectious diseases aggravated in large part by a lack of natural resistance as well as privation stemming from repressive colonial subjugation.^[31] In 1529, a measles outbreak in Cuba killed two-thirds of the natives who had previously survived smallpox.^[32][33]

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, conquistador of Cuba

Cuba remained a Spanish possession for almost 400 years (1511–1898), with an economy based on plantation agriculture, mining, and the export of sugar, coffee, and tobacco to Europe and later to North America. The work was done primarily by African slaves brought to the island.

The small land-owning elite of Spanish settlers held social and economic powers supported by a population of Spaniards born on the island (Criollos), other Europeans, and African-descended slaves. The population in 1817 was 630,980, of which 291,021 were white, 115,691 free black, and 224,268 black slaves.^[34]

Independence wars[link]

In the 1820s, when the rest of Spain's empire in Latin America rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal. Although there was agitation for independence, the Spanish Crown gave Cuba the motto La Siempre Fidelísima Isla ("The Always Most Faithful Island"). This loyalty was due partly to Cuban settlers' dependence on Spain for trade, their desire for protection from pirates and against a slave rebellion, and partly because they feared the rising power of the United States more than they disliked Spanish rule.^{[citation needed]}

Ten Years' War[link]

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes is known as Father of the Homeland in Cuba, having declared the nation's independence from Spain in 1868.

Independence from Spain was the motive for a rebellion in 1868 led by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. De Céspedes, a sugar planter, freed his slaves to fight with him for a free Cuba. On 27 December 1868, he issued a decree condemning slavery in theory but accepting it in practice and declaring free any slaves whose masters present them for military service.^[35] The 1868 rebellion resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the Ten Years' War. The United States declined to recognize the new Cuban government, although many European and Latin American nations did so.^[36] In 1878, the Pact of Zanjón ended the conflict, with Spain promising greater autonomy to Cuba. In 1879–1880, Cuban patriot Calixto García attempted to start another war known as the Little War but received little support.^[37]

Period between wars[link]

In Cuba, a sophisticated and prosperous sugar industry had employed chattel slavery until the final third of the 19th century. Cuba produced 720,250 metric tons of sugar in 1868, more than forty percent of cane sugar reaching the world market that year. Slavery had been maintained in Cuba, however, while abolition was underway elsewhere. Abolition in Cuba began the final third of the 19th century, and was completed in the 1880s.^[38][39]

War of 1895[link]

An exiled dissident named José Martí founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York in 1892. The aim of the party was to achieve Cuban independence from Spain.^[40] In January 1895 Martí traveled to Montecristi and Santo Domingo to join the efforts of Máximo Gómez.^[40] Martí recorded his political views in the Manifesto of Montecristi.^[41] Fighting against the Spanish army began in Cuba on 24 February 1895, but Martí was unable to reach Cuba until 11 April 1895.^[40] Martí was killed in the battle of Dos Rios on 19 May 1895.^[40] His death immortalized him as Cuba's national hero.^[41]

Around 200,000 Spanish troops outnumbered the much smaller rebel army which relied mostly on guerrilla and sabotage tactics. The Spaniards began a campaign of suppression. General Valeriano Weyler, military governor of Cuba, herded the rural population into what he called reconcentrados, described by international observers as "fortified towns". These are often considered the prototype for 20th-century concentration camps.^[42] Between 200,000 and 400,000 Cuban civilians died from starvation and disease in the camps, numbers verified by the Red Cross and United States Senator and former Secretary of War Redfield Proctor. American and European protests against Spanish conduct on the island followed.^[43]

Spanish–American War[link]

USS Maine[link]

The U.S. battleship Maine arrived in Havana on 25 January 1898 to offer protection to the 8,000 American residents on the island, but the Spanish saw this as intimidation. On the evening of 15 February 1898, the Maine blew up in the harbor, killing 252 crew. Another eight crew members died of their wounds in hospital over the next few days.^[44] A Naval Board of Inquiry headed by Captain William T. Sampson was appointed to investigate the cause of the explosion on the Maine. Having examined the wreck and taken testimony from eyewitnesses and experts, the board reported on 21 March 1898 that the Maine had been destroyed by "a double magazine set off from the exterior of the ship, which could only have been produced by a mine."^[44]

The facts remain disputed today, although an investigation by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover published in 1976 established that the blast was most likely a large internal explosion. Rickover believes the explosion was caused by a spontaneous combustion in inadequately ventilated bituminous coal which ignited gunpowder in an adjacent magazine.^[45][46] The original 1898 board was unable to fix the responsibility for the disaster, but a furious American populace, fueled by an active press— notably the newspapers of William Randolph Hearst— concluded that the Spanish were to blame and demanded action.^[44] The U.S. Congress passed a resolution calling for intervention, and President William McKinley complied.^[47] Spain and the United States declared war on each other in late April.

Early 20th century[link]

After the Spanish-American War, Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris (1898), by which Spain ceded Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam to the United States for the sum of $20 million.^[48] Under the same treaty, Spain relinquished all claim of sovereignty over Cuba. Theodore Roosevelt, who had fought in the Spanish-American War and had some sympathies with the independence movement, succeeded McKinley as U.S. President in 1901 and abandoned the treaty. Cuba gained formal independence from the U.S. on May 20, 1902, as the Republic of Cuba. Under Cuba's new constitution, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt Amendment, the U.S. leased the Guantánamo Bay naval base from Cuba.

Following disputed elections in 1906, the first president, Tomás Estrada Palma, faced an armed revolt by independence war veterans who defeated the meager government forces.^[49] The U.S. intervened by occupying Cuba and named Charles Edward Magoon as Governor for three years. Cuban historians have attributed Magoon's governorship as having introduced political and social corruption.^[50] In 1908, self-government was restored when José Miguel Gómez was elected President, but the U.S. continued intervening in Cuban affairs. In 1912, the Partido Independiente de Color attempted to establish a separate black republic in Oriente Province,^[51] but was suppressed by General Monteagudo with considerable bloodshed.

García Lorca Theater in Havana

During World War I, Cuba exported considerable quantities of sugar to Britain. Cuba was able to avoid U-boat attacks by the subterfuge of shipping the sugar to Sweden. The Menocal government declared war on Germany very soon after the United States.

A constitutional government was maintained until 1930 when Gerardo Machado y Morales suspended the constitution. During Machado's tenure, a nationalistic economic program was pursued with several major national development projects which included the Carretera Central and El Capitolio. Machado's hold on power was weakened following a decline in demand for exported agricultural produce due to the Great Depression, attacks by independence war veterans, and attacks by covert terrorist organizations, principally the ABC.^{[citation needed]}

During a general strike in which the Communist Party sided with Machado,^[52] the senior elements of the Cuban army forced Machado into exile. The Party then installed Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada, son of Cuba's founding father (Carlos Manuel de Céspedes), as President. During 4–5 September 1933, a second coup overthrew Céspedes which led to the formation of the first Ramón Grau government. Notable events in this violent period include the separate sieges of Hotel Nacional de Cuba and Atares Castle. This government lasted 100 days but engineered radical socialist changes in Cuban society, including the abolishment of the Platt Amendment and instating of womens' suffrage in Cuba. In 1934, Grau was ousted in favor of Carlos Mendieta, the first in a series of puppet presidents subordinate to the army and its young chief of staff, Fulgencio Batista.

Fulgencio Batista was democratically elected President in the elections of 1940, so far the only non-white Cuban endorsed for the nation's highest office.^[53][54][13] His government carried out major social reforms. Several members of the Communist Party held office under his administration^[55] and established numerous economic regulations and pro-union policies, as well as the Cuban Constitution of 1940, which engineered radical progressive ideas, including the right to labour and health care.^[56] Batista's administration formally took Cuba to the Allies of World War II camp in World War II. Cuba declared war on Japan on December 9, 1941, then on Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941. Cuban armed forces were not greatly involved in combat during World War II, although president Batista suggested a joint U.S.-Latin American assault on Francoist Spain in order to overthrow its authoritarian regime.^[57]

Many so-called yank tanks remain in use from pre-revolutionary days. The balcony above belongs to a casa particular.

Ramón Grau, who lost in 1940 to Batista, finally returned in the 1944 elections by defeating Batista's preferred successor, Carlos Saladrigas Zayas. In 1948, his Revolutionary Authentic Party won again when Carlos Prío Socarrás won, the last person elected to the presidency by free and fair elections. The two terms of the Auténtico Party saw an influx of investment fueled a boom which raised living standards for all segments of society and created a prosperous middle class in most urban areas.^[58]