Juan Francisco Manzano (c. 1797–1853) was born a house slave in the province of Matanzas, Cuba during the colonial period.
Irish abolitionist Richard Robert Madden 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.
In his Autobiografía, Manzano states that she called him "el niño de mi vejez," translating literally to the child of my old age.
After the death of Señora Beatriz, Manzano was sent to Havana where he spent five years living with his godparents and learning how to sew.
[8] While enslaved in the house of Marqueza de Prado-Ameno, Manzano faced many forms of physical and mental torture.
As a child, Manzano was forced to stay awake until after Prado-Ameno finished socializing over games, usually after midnight.
He was expected to carry out his usual daily tasks, including waking up before the house to clean, while deprived of sleep.
[9] When he failed to complete his daily tasks due to sleep deprivation, Manzano was locked in a dungeon without food or water.
[12] Manzano learned to write by copying discarded papers written on by his master, Don Nicolás.
[14] In 1830, he became a part of a group of Cuban reformists who, led by liberal writer Domingo Del Monte, encouraged Manzano to write.
In 1835, he began writing Autobiografía at the request of Domingo del Monte, who started a collection to buy Manzano's freedom.
[1] Del Monte wanted him to write a narrative of his life to help promote abolition among the enlightened middle class.
[15] Manzano says in his narrative that his parents' mistress possessed the power over life and death - and allowed him to be born.
He would be punished several times a week: "Este penitencia era tan frequente que no pasaba una semana en que no sufriese de este género de castigo dos o tres veces."
Spanish colonial regime suppressed the history of marginalized social groups such as the African and the Chinese during the period the autobiography was written.
In North America, slave narratives were translated and edited, partly for dramatic effect and would sometimes omit details.
The play follows Zafira, an Arabian princess, who mourns the loss of her husband and dreads the wedding with the Turkish pirate, Barbarroja, who wants to rule the coast.
The themes are tyranny, exile, subjugation, slavery and rebellion in 19th-century Havana which indirectly challenged Spanish colonial rule.
His drama reflects the intellectual and political values of the enlightenment such as reason, order, justice and equality.