Manzano, Juan Francisco, 1797-1854

Juan Francisco Manzano (c. 1797–1853) was born a house slave in the province of Matanzas, Cuba during the colonial period. Manzano's father died before he was fifteen and his only remaining family was his mother, sister, and two brothers. Manzano worked as a page throughout his life. He wrote two works of poetry and his autobiography while still enslaved. The Autobiography of a Slave is one of only two personal accounts of 19th-century Cuban slavery, the only existing narrative accounts of slavery in Spanish America. The other is by Esteban Mesa Montejo. A modern translation (2025) exists, translated by Mauricio Di Paolantonio titled: Autobiography of a Slave: The Memoir of Juan Francisco Manzano. An earlier translation exists by Irish abolitionist Richard Robert Madden who published his English translation of the autobiography under the title Life of the Negro Poet in his 1840 book Poems by a slave in the island of Cuba. A second part to Manzano's autobiography was lost. He obtained his freedom in 1836 and later wrote a book of poems and a play, Zafira. In 1844, Manzano was falsely accused of being involved in the conspiracy of La Escalera. After his release from prison in 1845 he did not publish again and died in 1853.