Juan Garrido (c. 1480[1] – c. 1550[2]) was an Afro-Spaniard of Kongo origin conquistador known as the first documented Bantu person in what would become the United States.

[1] He participated in the Spanish conquests of Cuba by Diego Velázquez and the expeditions to Florida by Juan Ponce de León.

[3] He is considered the prime example of black conquistador, although in reality the presence of Africans and mulattos in the Hispanic ranks had already became a widespread occurrence after the first decade of the 16th century.

[8] Crossing the Atlantic and arriving in Santo Domingo, Hispaniola in 1502 or 1503, Garrido was among the earliest Africans to reach the Americas.

[10] He gained experience in deployments around the Caribbean, among them the conquest of Cuba by Diego Velázquez in 1508, as well as the expeditions of Juan Ponce de León in search of gold in Florida in 1513.

He might have been associated to conquistador Pedro Garrido, as it was common for Spaniards to give their surnames to their black auxiliars, free or slave.

The expedition also included an African jester, Guidela, and the slave Francisco de Eguía, who accidentally introduced smallpox in Mesoamerica after falling ill in Cempoala.

[15][16] In 1538, hoping for some rewards or benefits for his 30 years of service as a conquistador, Garrido provided following testimony to the King of Spain, requesting a royal pension: "I, Juan Garrido, black in color, resident of this city [Mexico], appear before Your Mercy and state that I am in need of providing evidence to the perpetuity of the king [a perpetuidad rey], a report on how I served Your Majesty in the conquest and pacification of this New Spain, from the time when the Marqués del Valle [Cortés] entered it; and in his company I was present at all the invasions and conquests and pacifications which were carried out, always with the said Marqués, all of which I did at my own expense without being given either salary or allotment of natives [repartimiento de indios] or anything else.