Talk:Eusebia Cosme

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Eusebia Cosme/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Ritchie333 (talk · contribs) 21:59, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

This has been in the queue for a while, so I thought I'd read the article. Having enjoyed reading it, I might as well review it.

Lead

• The infobox picture is rather grainy, but I guess that's all we've got. I wonder if any of our image experts (paging MjolnirPants) can do something about that?

I think we are all aware of my technical limitations. There are better pictures of her out there, but none that I could verify were not under copyright. If someone can clean it up, that'd be great. SusunW (talk) 23:48, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

• For those of us whose Spanish extends little further than "Hola, ¿cómo estás?", an IPA pronunciation of her name would be useful

Again, zero idea how to insert that technically. This article spells it out as "You-say-bia Cos-may". Maybe you know someone who knows how to technically do that? SusunW (talk) 23:48, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

I've had a go, but I've got a sore head now. I don't think it's a showstopper for GA, and Maczkopeti can probably do it. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 15:55, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

• "was an Afro-Cuban, later naturalized American" - is there a slightly neater way of writing this? The first example that popped into my head, Gene Simmons, (WHY he popped into my head I've got no idea) a Hungarian-Israeli Jew, later naturalized American, is described simply as "Israeli-American".

Hmm. Problem is she isn't African-American, or Cuban-American (her trajectory was clearly distinct because of her Latina roots, as well as her position as a black women in the segregated Caribbean/US of her time.) Maybe I just say Afro-Cuban and later put in the naturalized part. See what you think of the revision. SusunW (talk) 23:48, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

• Can you explain what declamation is? We have an article, declamation, but I'm not sure I can understand what it's talking about.

I've looked at that article before and I have no idea what it is taking about. Declamation was a "thing" among the African diaspora beginning in the post-slavery era (1860s-on). It wasn't exactly acting, (as that was considered in improper vocation), but it was an oratory presentation. Typically based on classic themes, i.e. [1] I have written about African-American women who practiced the "art of declamation" and always run into this, because I cannot find sufficient sourcing to write an article, nor can I figure out a way to add it to the existing one. It was meant to proclaim their classical education and knowledge of great literature to others and encourage them to learn, while simultaneously instructing in moral behavior. It was a dramatic performance, but not exactly "entertainment". But by the turn of the century, as you get from reading further on Cosme, theatrics had entered the performances which were still readings but involved gesticulation (I always think of a firey AME preacher) and the moral lessons were not always mainstream conformity, but more evaluating the irony of living as a black person in a white world. Not sure how to put all of that in the lede, which is why I simply said "or poetry recitation". Open to suggestions, as I literally have no clue how to concisely say that in the lede. SusunW (talk) 23:48, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

Okay, I bit the bullet and just decided to rework the declamation article, or at least add to it. I learned a lot. Have never heard the term used except in relation to Afro-Caribbean or African-American recitation. Maybe with the rework of the article, someone else can expand it. But, now I have linked to the article. Is that sufficient? SusunW (talk) 14:59, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

Yup, that works for me.

• "Cosme was brought back to the United States" - wouldn't it be simpler to say "moved"?

I can say was moved, but I am pretty sure she wasn't ambulatory. (I'll come back to it tomorrow, got chores on the calendar now). SusunW (talk) 23:48, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

Early life

• Do we know anything specific about Cosme's ethnic background? This section includes a reference to "her African roots", but that's it.

Nothing. I am working my way through the Oxford Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro–Latin American Biography. Rarely are origin places known for slaves. Being that she was from Cuba, chances are that her ancestry stems from the slavery/sugar plantation trajectory, but I have nothing to indicate that. SusunW (talk) 15:15, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

• "Several sources give her birth date as 5 December 1911[1][2] or simply 2011" - 2011?

By the time I got here, some other helpful Wikipedian had fixed my typo :) SusunW (talk) 15:15, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

• Is it worth linking to Luis Fernández Marcané, or don't you think anyone will write an article about him?

Actually, he is notable, served as a Senator and was a legal counsel to American corporations doing business there. [2] I've redlinked. SusunW (talk) 15:15, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

• "she honed her declamation techniques" - not sure what this means? Practicsed?

Not exactly, improved skill with is closer to the meaning. I've altered the wording. SusunW (talk) 15:15, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

• It is worth linking to poseía negra?

Okay, I redlinked it, though I have not found a reference, I think the tradition is a forerunner to rap. Using music and dance rhythms incorporated with spoken voice, sounds certainly similar to my mind, though of course, one would need references linking the two ;) SusunW (talk) 15:15, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

Cuban career

• "winning rare praise from the organization's president" - why "rare"?

Beats me. The sources says "Fernando Ortiz, porque un investigador de su estatura no resulta pródigo en elogios". (Fernando Ortiz, because a scholar/researcher of his stature does not lavishly give praise). Possibly the reference is to a type of literary critique? SusunW (talk) 15:25, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

Immigration and speaking career

• It would be worth just explaining who Marian Anderson is (ie: singer)

Done. SusunW (talk) 15:42, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

• "Probably in the early 1940s, she married a white Puerto Rican mechanic" - don't we know anything more specific about this?

Nope. I tried all manner of my usual sources. Drove me crazy. No birth records, no marriage records, no newspaper mentions for Laviera, La Viera, etc. Perhaps if we had access to the Negro Associated Press there would be mention, but it is doubtful that a Latino mechanic would have had an obit in the white press. Of course, if her archives were on-line... SusunW (talk) 15:42, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

• "Her space was unique, as comparison between her and Ethel Barrymore, and other prominent white actresses in both American and Cuban entertainment, failed to recognize that they were not allowed to perform in the same spheres." - I'm not sure I understand this sentence. Is this saying that she could capture audiences that white actresses couldn't?

Yes and no. Ethel Barrymore was a contemporary actress and the press tried to make comparisons between the two women's fame, calling Cosme the Cuban equivalent of Barrymore. It was a fallacy, because as a black woman, Cosme did not have access to the same theaters or film projects that Barrymore had, nor the same roles. Because she was not African American, she was sometimes billed as an exotic, so she could perform where black women were typically barred, but she still would not have been allowed star billing in mainstream productions and would have been relegated to supporting, stereotypical roles, as her later film career manifested. Segregation: Think separate but definitely not equal. SusunW (talk) 15:42, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

Artistic career

• I'm not sure what relevance File:STE PCCs at Alamedia Park, Mexico City, DF, Mexico September 1966 (22063318453).jpg has to the article. I first thought it was one of Cosme's art exhibits, which obviously it isn't.

It can stay or go. I am not visual (for ten years I never saw that our regular waiter at our local pub dyed his hair different florescent colors every Friday until someone pointed it out to me), so I rarely have any idea of what pictures to put in an article. It was suggested by another editor as a means to give visual representation to the Mexico City in which Cosme lived. SusunW (talk) 15:46, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

I've commented it out for the minute, but also because it seems to trip up large monitors with File:Eusebia Cosme 1958 (2).jpg. Hopefully not a major issue! Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 15:57, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

Summary

This is a well-written article, and there's not much needed to reach GA status, so I'll put the review on hold now. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 22:26, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for the review Ritchie333, I think I have answered your questions, but am unsure if I have adequately addressed your concerns. Please advise if there is something further I can do to assist in the promotion of the article. SusunW (talk) 15:47, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

I think that's all fine; there are a few other things that might be nice, but nothing that stops this from meeting the GA criteria, so I'll pass the review now. Well done! Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 15:58, 24 August 2018 (UTC)