Dr. Luis Martínez-Fernández is a historian, nationally syndicated columnist, multiple-award winning author, consultant, and public speaker, whose fields of expertise include Latin America, the Caribbean, Cuba, education, and Latino/Hispanic politics and culture, and cross-cultural communications.
Born in Havana, Cuba and raised in Lima, Peru and San Juan, Puerto Rico, he holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in History from the University of Puerto Rico and a Ph.D. in History from Duke University.
Dr. Martínez-Fernández has vast experience as consultant in the areas of education, diversity, transcultural communications, outreach, media, and publishing.
A Pegasus Professor of History at the University of Central Florida, he is recognized as one of the most prolific and influential scholars in the field of Caribbean history. His publications include articles in Cuban Studies, Slavery and Abolition, Latin American Research Review, The Americas, Caribbean Studies, and in numerous edited volumes.
His books include: Fighting Slavery in the Caribbean, Revolutionary Cuba: A History, widely acclaimed as the most comprehensive and systematic study on the subject ever written and Key to the New World: A History of Early Colonial Cuba, winner of the 2018 Florida Book Awards' Bronze Medal for General Nonfiction and 2019 International Latino Book Awards Gold Medal, History Category. His forthcoming book, All History Is Contemporary History: Politics, Culture and the Unimaginable Events of 2019-2022," is scheduled for publication in 2022.
In 2001, Dr. Martínez-Fernández was recognized among the most influential Hispanic leaders in the U S in the nationally televised special "Viva! Top Twenty Powerbrokers."
He served as trustee of the College Board (2009-2015) and in numerous professional, editorial, and community boards, among them the Cuban Studies journal, the South Atlantic Humanities Center, Hispanic Young Professionals, the Community Advisory Board of WMFE (Central Florida's NPR and PBS stations), and the Board of Directors of the Historical Society of Central Florida. In 2005 he founded the annual Latin American Cultural Festival of Orlando.
In March 2019, Martínez-Fernández joined the Board of Directors of the National Council for History Education and assumed the role of Board Secretary; and in July 2020, was elected to the Academy of Cuban History in Exile.
Dr. Martínez-Fernández has contributed op-eds to The Globe Post. In September 2020, he began a nationally syndicated weekly column distributed by Creators Syndicate.
