Source: A photograph by Robert Abbott Sengstacke of American boxer Joe Louis (1914–1981) and Cuban leader Fidel Castro (1926–2016) during a visit by the Joe Louis Commission, a delegation composed predominantly of African American business and media leaders, to Havana, Cuba, January 1960. (Photo by Robert Abbott Sengstacke / Getty Images)
In 1960, renowned boxer Joe Louis traveled with a predominantly African American delegation to Cuba to discuss plans to promote Cuba as a tourist destination for African Americans to escape the prevalence of Jim Crow discrimination and segregation in the United States.