Entry Question
Considering that most enslaved people in the Americas were prohibited from reading and writing, do you think that literacy and poetry could be conceived as tools of resistance against slavery and colonialism? Why?
Cuba’s Historical Context after the Haitian Revolution
After the Haitian Revolution, Cuban elites expanded the slave trade and thus increased the enslaved population during the nineteenth century
(Minutes 0:00-6:30)
The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano
In this poetry collection, prolific poet and writer of Cuban descent Margarita Engle re-contextualizes the 19th-century Autobiography of a Slave by Juan Francisco Manzano, the only known testimony of slavery written in the Spanish-speaking Americas. Although Manzano’s book is written as a first-person account, Engle uses different perspectives and the voices of his family members, collaborators, and tormentors to retell his afflicted but genius life. Engle frames poetry as an art form that allows Manzano’s transformation from a performer-child “slave” into a self-emancipated abolitionist.
Presentation (s) on The Poet Slave of Cuba (Pages 1-43)
Agree or Disagree Yes? No? Why?
Bring evidence from the text:
.According to Juan Francisco Manzano, reciting poetry is a fun way to pass the time and entertain others.
.The consistent use of animal analogies (the poodle and the parrot) allows us to understand Manzano as a cute, docile child.
.Doña Beatriz’s “gift” of manumission increases her social standing.
.The novel proposes that there’s only one way to understand motherhood, through biology.