Juan Francisco Manzano (1797–1854) was born a house slave in the Matanzas Province of Cuba during the colonial period. Manzano's father died before he was 15 and his only remaining family was his mother and two brothers. Manzano worked as a page through his whole life, which was a privileged job for a slave. He wrote two works of poetry and his autobiography while still enslaved. The Autobiography of a Slave is one of two only documented accounts of 19th-century Cuban slavery, the only existing narrative accounts of slavery in Spanish America. (The other is by Esteban Mesa Montejo.) Irish abolitionist Richard Robert Madden published his Poems by a slave in the island of Cuba in 1840. A second part to his autobiography was lost. He obtained his freedom in 1837 and later wrote a book of poems and a play Zafira. In 1844, Manzano was falsely accused of being involved in the conspiracy of La Escalera. After his release from prison in 1845 he did not publish again and died in 1854. Early life Manzano was born to Sofia del Pilar Manzano and Toribio de Castro in 1797. His married parents were both enslaved under Señora Beatriz de Justiz de Santa Ana, his mother being her chief handmaid. In his youth, Manzana was not allowed to play with other black children from the plantations. He was treated like a criollo or Spanish child and had a comfortable life in comparison to other slaves in the important sugar region. However, the life of a house slave was isolating and left him ill-prepared for his next mistress. He was expected to be behind his mistress at all times and to cater to her wishes. His next mistress, María de la Concepción, Marquesa del Prado Ameno, was cruel and abusive. In 1836, at the age of 39, Manzano became a free man. Hardships Despite holding a position in the house Manzano faced many forms of physical and mental torture. As a child, Manzano was forced to stay up till midnight sitting still on a stool. This was then followed with being forced up to hold a lamp well hanging from the back of a carriage. If the lamp went out, “the latter or the former would do a job on me and not as if I were a child.” Another common punishment for Manzano was to be vanquished to the men's infirmary.