Florida, Cuba, and the Caribbean in the American Revolution

Presided over by Her Majesty Queen Sofía

On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the establishment of the United States of America, the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute invites you to attend the inaugural event of the America&Spain250 initiative of 2026.

Three historians, experts in their fields, will discuss aspects of the Spanish contribution to the American Revolution and the crucial role of Florida, Cuba, and the Caribbean.

This event marks the beginning of the 2026 commemorations honoring 250 years of shared history and friendship between Spain and the United States. As part of this milestone, for the first time the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute is bringing the America&Spain250 initiative to Florida. The initiative aims to highlight Spain’s and the Spanish speaking world’s crucial contributions to the American Revolution and to the development of the United States and to inform today's Hispanics and Latinos about the foundational role their ancestors played in the establishment of the United States, a message that is particularly important today. 

Program:

• Welcome remarks by Madeline Pumariega, President Miami Dade College
• Speakers: 
  • Ambassador Gonzalo Quintero Saravia, PhD, SJD, Author “Bernardo de Gálvez: Spanish Hero of the American Revolution. To present on Florida, Cuba, and the Caribbean in the American Revolution
  • Jane Landers, PhD, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of History, Vanderbilt University. To present on Fort Mose, Florida
  • Richard L. Kagan, PhD, Arthur O. Lovejoy Professor Emeritus of History at Johns Hopkins University. “The Erasure of Spain from the United States' History”

• Musical Performance by Florida International University
  
  

A cocktail reception will follow the program.

SPEAKERS:

Gonzalo M. Quintero Saravia, PhD, SJD

Gonzalo M. Quintero Saravia, PhD in History from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and in Public Law from the UNED, is a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of History and the Colombian Academy of History. He has been a fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. His book “Bernardo de Gálvez: Spanish Hero of the American Revolution” was awarded the Distinguished Book Award of the Society for Military History for the best biography published in 2018 (published by Alianza Editorial under the title Bernardo de Gálvez: A Spanish Hero in the American War of Independence). Among his most recent publications we find: with Professor Gabriel Paquette “Spain and the American Revolution: New Approaches and Perspectives” (New York: Routledge, 2019 and Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2022); “The Participation of France and Spain,” in Wim Klooster ed. “The Age of Atlantic Revolutions. Vol. 1. The Enlightenment and the British Colonies” (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023: 269-295) and with Professor Kathleen DuVal, “Bernardo de Gálvez: Friend of the American Revolution, Friend of Empire,” in Andrew N. O’Shaughnessy, John A. Ragosta, and Marie-Jeanne Rossignol eds. European Friends of the American Revolution (Charlottesville & London: University of Virginia Press, 2023, 147-174).

Professor Jane Landers 

Jane Landers is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of History and Director of the Slave Societies Digital Archive at Vanderbilt University. Since 2015 she has served as the U.S. member on UNESCO’s International Scientific Committee for the Routes of Enslaved Peoples.

Her award-winning monographs include Black Society in Spanish Florida and Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolutions, and she is the co-author or editor of five other book, and numerous articles and book chapters on the history of Africans in the Atlantic World. Her research has been supported by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies, among others. Landers serves on editorial boards of national and international journals and works with public history museums, historical societies, documentary film makers and educators to ensure lesser-known histories become part of our national narrative. Her work with National and State Park Service projects has uncovered Africans in the early Spanish explorations of North America and Fort Mose, the first free black town in what is today the United States.

Professor Richard L. Kagan

Richard Lauren Kagan, Arthur O. Lovejoy Professor Emeritus of History at Johns Hopkins University and PhD from the University of Cambridge, is an authority on modern history, specifically in the exploration of the intellectual and legal facets of the Spanish Empire during the Habsburg era. The author of numerous works, his most recent book, The Inquisition’s Inquisitor: Henry Charles Lea of Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025), explores the life and scholarship of the pioneering historian of the Spanish Inquisition. His earlier book, The Spanish Craze, delves into America’s historical fascination with Spanish literature, art, architecture, and culture. Kagan's significant scholarly contributions have made him a resident member of the American Philosophical Society—where he was recently elected to the governing council—and a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of History.

This event is made possible with the support of Fundación Reina Sofía as well as Miami Dade College and the Consulate General of Spain in Miami.