Juan Francisco Manzano

Juan Francisco Manzano 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.