Emilia Website

Deported to the U.S. from Cuba in 1850 for conspiring against Spanish rule, Emilia joined her husband in New York City where she enthusiastically participated in the liberation movement for her homeland. In exile she sewed the flag which would become an important symbol for the emerging Cuban nation.

Emilia Teurbe Tolón was a pioneer in the struggle for the birth of an independent Cuba and a role model for women’s contributions in the fight for independence. In 1869 rebels carried Emilia’s flag in battle and in 1902, after the Spanish-American War, her flag was embraced by the Cuban Republic, a new nation.