Poems by a Slave in the Island of Cuba, Recently Liberated; Translated from the Spanish . . . with the History of the Early Life of the Negro Poet, Written by Himself; To Which Are Prefixed Two Pieces Descriptive of Cuban Slavery and the Slave-Traffic

Manzano, Juan Francisco (Author)

London, England : Thomas Ward and Co., 1840

English
Spanish

Juan Francisco Manzano (1797-1854) was born enslaved in the Matanzas Province of Cuba. He began writing while enslaved, and he eventually obtained his freedom in 1836. Once he was freed, he began publishing the works he wrote while enslaved, including this text known in English as Poems by a Slave in the Island of Cuba, Recently Liberated.  Throughout the rest of his life, he went on to write numerous other poems as well as a play, all in Spanish. This particular English translation of Juan Francisco Manzano's collected poems was published in London in 1840. This edition also includes Manzano's narrative of his life as a slave in Cuba, a discussion of the slave trade, and his life after enslavement. Manzano is also well known for his autobiography, one of the only 19th-century accounts of Cuban slavery. 

Poetry
Slave Narratives
Early Caribbean Slave Narratives
Cuba
Cuba
Wellesley College

1840

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Manzano, Juan Francisco. Poems, Written in Slavery: Poems by a Slave in the Island of Cuba, Recently Liberated; Translated from the Spanish . . . with the History of the Early Life of the Negro Poet, Written by Himself. London: Thomas Ward, 1840