TAMPA, Fla. — May marks the anniversary of the Antifascist Women’s March that took place in Ybor City, in which many Latina women from Cuba took part in.

"Ybor City: Crucible of the Latina South," a new book by a Tampa native, is now telling the story.

With every turn of the page lies the story of three generations of Cuban women, all who helped pave the way for Sarah McNamara.

“This is one of those items, pictures or artifacts that my grandmother gave me that I didn’t think much about when I was a teenager,” McNamara said.

One photo that McNamara learned about from a young age captures the 1937 Antifascist Women’s March in Ybor City. Pictured in the photo is two Latina women, McNamara’s grandmother and aunt.

Their participation in the movement inspired McNamara to learn more about the movement's impact.

”I wanted to tell a story of the Cuban-Americans who came to this state and who built it, who had a very different politic and sense of self, and that’s what I grew up knowing," she said.

Hearing the stories from her family’s journey to the U.S. from Cuba, and their establishment of a home away from home, is what inspired her book.

“It tells the stories of what it meant to live in Ybor City," McNamara said. "What it meant to go to dances, what it meant to define and create community.”

For her, growing up learning about what it was like to live in Ybor City in the 1800s, she wanted to share that with others through something bigger, a mural.

So she teamed up with artist Michelle Sawyer to create a sketch depicting the Latinas who marched through Ybor City 86 years ago.

The photos and videos Sawyer took show the progression on the mural located on 7^th Avenue.

“I started with a sketch turned into a digital mockup, and then I project it into a wall," McNamara said.

For Sawyer, the mural opened her eyes to just how much Cuban influence is around her.

“It not only reconnected me with my hometown and my heritage, but with mural painting," Sawyer said.

For McNamara, walking through a city she grew up in makes her book project mean so much more.

”When we think about why history matters, it matters because the more you know, the more real the present can be," she said.

For McNamara, the mural is more than history, it’s about the impact Latina women had in Ybor City. Whether through the pages of her book or the story behind the mural, she hopes to inspire others to learn more about the Latinas of the South.

“This is the first site that is really recognizing Latinas in Ybor," she said. "It’s the first sight that’s talking about the politics that made Ybor."