Anselmo Surez y Romero

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Anselmo Surez y Romero

Born

1818

Died

1882

Nationality

Cuba

Literary
movement

Romanticism

Notable works

Francisco: el ingenio o las delicias del

campo.

Anselmo Surez y Romero (18181878) was a renowned Cuban writer and novelist,
better known for the first novel about slavery in the Americas: Francisco.

Contents
[hide]

1 Life

2 Literary career

3 Bibliography

4 References

Life[edit]
Surez y Romero was educated in his native city, where he devoted himself to teaching
and contributing to public education.[1]

His literary career began with Una noche de retreta, Un viejo impertinente, Un
recuerdo, followed by the publication of Biografa de Carlota Valds (1838)
(English: Biography of Carlota Valds).[2]

Between 1838 and 1839, he writes the novel Francisco which would be
published forty years later.[3][4]

In 1859, followed by a series of masterly sketches and descriptions of Cuban

scenery and customs, Coleccin de Artculos(English: Collection of articles) is
published.

In that same year he was admitted into the Law Bar Association.

In 1862, some of his works, mostly essays about public education and school
reform were published in Havana.

In 1870, Cartas crticas sobre asuntos jurdicos was published.

In 1880, the novel Francisco, which depicted Cuban slavery, is published in

Spanish.[2][5][6]

Literary career[edit]
Anselmo Surez y Romero's masterpiece: Francisco, also known as El ingenio o las
delicias del campo (English: The sugar mill or the delights of the country),[2] written
between 1838 and 1839, is considered the first anti-slavery novel in the Americas. The
other work which encompassed slavery, was the short story Petrona y Rosala written in
1838 by Flix Tanco y Bosmeniel (17971871), unpublished until 1925, which also
touched upon slaves' lives in the 19th century.[5]
Based largely on accounts from "Autobiografa de un esclavo", the autobiography
written by Juan Francisco Manzano years before, and which was published later in
England,[7] the novel Francisco set out the way for other literary works to follow:
Cecilia Valds by Cirilo Villaverde began in 1839, Sab by Gertrudis Gmez de
Avellaneda in 1841, El Ranchador by Pedro Jos Morillas in 1856, Antonio Zambrana's
El negro Francisco in 1873, and Alejo Carpentier's Ecu-Yamb! in 1933.[8][9][10]
Written years before Uncle Tom's Cabin, Francisco could not be published immediately
due to colonial censorship. The manuscript was delivered to British official and
abolitionist Richard Robert Madden in 1840, along with a revised copy of the work
Autobiografa de un esclavo (English: Autobiography of a slave) by Juan Francisco
Manzano, which had been proofread by Surez y Romero himself.[3][6][11]
About the importance of Francisco as a literary masterpiece, British abolitionist
Madden was quoted as saying that:
Tho there is literary merit of but small amount in this piece, there is life and truth in
every line of it. [...] In this little piece of the Ingenio there is a minuteness of description
and closeness of observation and a rightness of feeling that I have not often seen
surpassed.[12]
Madden himself thought that the narrative employed by Surez y Romero in Francisco
had a palpable realm of invisible realism in it. No other book, in his opinion, was as

descriptive, or as graphically drafted, as in Francisco 's prose, in which slavery was

depicted with the same intellectual rigor as in real life in Cuba. Madden found certain
parts of the book originally narrated, in a prose style by which Surez y Romero was
known for, especially when the central figure in the book, still shackled after being
injured by lashes, had to endure the humid heat in a mistreated and painful state, while
harvesting sugar cane.[12]
Most of the early readers of Francisco agreed with Madden in that the book had a
realistic and accurate representation not before seen.[12]
Others, like the critic Enrique Pieyro, thought that the book was unoriginal. His
opinion would appear in the periodical El Ateneo in Havana, and later in Revista
Cubana.[12]

Bibliography[edit]

Surez y Romero, Anselmo (1859). Coleccin de artculos de Anselmo Surez y

Romero. Establecimiento tip. La Antilla. p. 278.

Surez y Romero, Anselmo; Jos Ignacio Rodrguez (1864). Ofrenda al bazar

de la Real Casa de Beneficencia. Imprenta del Tiempo. p. 203.

Surez y Romero, Anselmo (1880). Francisco. N. Ponce de Len. p. 156.

References[edit]
1.

Jump up ^ Fay, John William; Herbert M Linen (1915). The Cyclopdia of

American biography, Volume 5. Press Association Compilers. Retrieved December
2011.

2.

^ Jump up to: a b c Surez y Romero, Anselmo (1880). Francisco. N. Ponce de

Len. p. 156.

3.

^ Jump up to: a b Rosenthal, Debra J (2004). Race mixture in nineteenth-century

U.S. and Spanish American fictions. location: University of North Caroline Press. p. 73.
ISBN 978-0-8078-5564-5.

4.

Jump up ^ Branche, Jerome (2006). Colonialism and race in Luso-Hispanic

literature. http://books.google.com/books?id=rw_hrGinf8QC: University of Missouri
Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-8262-1613-7.

5.

^ Jump up to: a b Gonzalez Echevarra, Roberto (1996). The Cambridge History

of Latin American Literature: The twentieth century. http://books.google.com/books?
id=Whqnbvivog4C: Cambridge University Press. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-521-34070-0.

6.

^ Jump up to: a b Burton, Gera (2004). Ambivalence and the postcolonial

subject: the strategic alliance of Juan Francisco Manzano and Richard Madden. Peter
Lang. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-8204-7058-0. Retrieved January 2, 2011.

7.

Jump up ^ Cluster, Dick; Hernndez, Rafael (2008). The History of Havana.

MacMillan

8.

Jump up ^ Bammer, Angelika. (1994). Displacements: cultural identities in

question, volume 15 of Theories of contemporary culture. Indiana University Press.

9.

Jump up ^ Gmez de Avellaneda, Gertrudis (1993). Nina M. Scott, ed. Sab;

and, Autobiography. University of Texas Press. p. xx.

10.

Jump up ^ Surez y Romero, Anselmo (2009). Fernando Daz Ruiz, ed.

Francisco, el ingenio o Las delicias del campo. Editorial Doble J, S. L. ISBN 8496875-02-4.

11.

Jump up ^ Kanellos, Nicols; Fabregat, Claudio Esteva (1994). Handbook of

Hispanic cultures in the United States, Volume 3. Arte Pblico Press.

12.

^ Jump up to: a b c d Lorna V. Williams. The representation of slavery in Cuban

fiction. (1994

Literature

Anselmo Surez y Romero and Cubas First Anti-slavery Novel

http://www.cubanow.net/articles/anselmo-surez-y-romeroand-cubas-first-anti-slavery-novel
From the thematic serie: Cuban Narrators ( view all articles from this serie
2. Anselmo Surez y Romero (1818-1878) is one of those authors who went down in
history thanks to one work and the attention of literary historiography and sociology.
Racked by want and eyewitness to slavery, he was the author of the first real antislavery novel written in Cuba.

3. Roberto Rodrguez
4.
5.

0 comments
2014-01-03

6.
7. Anselmo Surez y Romero (1818-1878) is one of those authors who went down in
history thanks to one work and the attention of literary historiography and sociology, not
to literature. Although Moreno Fraginals saw Surez y Romero as the "owner of the
Surinam sugar mill [who] in a few words left the rhythm of the work of his black
slaves,"[1] some autobiographical notes[2] speak of the lack of privileges his condition
as a landowner could have provided him even if his father, friend and legal adviser to
Captain General Miguel Tacn, after being the subject of serious allegations, hadnt left
him, upon leaving for Spain and some years later for death - few properties of waning
value and businesses of uncertain fate.

8. Racked by want and having compassion less attributable to his early attendance at the
Dominican school than to the opportunity of being an eyewitness to the normal
manifestations of slavery gave Surez y Romero the reputation of being a fervent
"defender of just causes. A series of events throughout his life testify to constant
economic shake-ups and the imperative of preserving the family finances from ruin. For
example, while obtaining a Bachelor of Law at the Royal and Pontifical University
(1838), he interrupted his studies he didnt graduate until 1866 - and considered the
possibility of making some money by selling his literary works. Around that time, he was
forced to move to the country for two years, unable to return to the city until a friend of
his fathers irritably took him in and an uncle provided him with meager meals. In 1842,
he rejected the post of deputy director at the San Fernando school because of the scant
guarantee of payment. Or, overwhelmed by family matters, it was impossible for him to
take on the Latin class at El Salvador school (1851) and, subsequently, to accept Jos
de la Luz y Caballeros proposal of being deputy director (1859).
9. It was precisely his teaching career that enabled Surez to achieve the necessary
aurea mediocritas to develop his intellectual work. In 1842, his friend Jos Zacaras
Gonzlez del Valle, who was going to Spain to obtain a Bachelor of Law, proposed that
he should replace him teaching Latin, general grammar and literature at the Santa
Teresa de Jess School and a few years later, Surez y Romero also taught political
economy at the Royal and Pontifical University along with Antonio Bachiller y Morales,
replacing his former teacher, Ramn de Armas. He was also a professor at the Cuban
School, the Humanities School and the San Pablo School, founded and directed by the
poet Rafael Mara de Mendive, where he met and taught the young Jos Mart y Prez,
whom he esteemed "for his great talent and persevering dedication."[3]
10. By 1838 Surez y Romero was just one among many young law students in Havana
and author of three novice costumbrista paintings (Una noche de retreta, Un viejo
impertinente and Un recuerdo) but his literary pretensions and friendship with the
aforementioned Gonzlez del Valle led him to strike up relationships with the most
inquiring intellectuals of Havana, revolving around the figure of Domingo del Monte.
With the reading of the novelette Carlota Valds, published in The Album (Havana,
Volume III) that year, Surez y Romero begins to attend del Montes gatherings that,
between Havana and Matanzas, encouraged the emergence of the germinative pieces
of Cuba's first narratives. Una pascua en San Marcos by Ramn de Palma,[4] Antonelli
by Jos Antonio Echeverra, one of the first forays into the historical novel in Cuba, the
first story of what would become the Cuban nineteenth centurys "great novel," Cecilia
Valds by Cirilo Villaverde,[5] or El Ranchado, by Jos Pedro Morillas, in my opinion
one of the most farsighted texts of contemporary storytelling techniques,[6] were some

of the works written in two years at the request of Don Domingo del Monte. He not only
took on spreading the crafts of Balzacs critical realism and the principles of prodesse et
delectare so much to his neoclassical taste, among the members of his literary circle
but also promoted emerging sparks of a reformist abolitionism that was brewing in some
liberal circles of the country a few years before the reformist ideas of Francisco Arango
y Parreo and Jos Antonio Saco were thwarted, with the expulsion of the Cuban
deputies from the Spanish parliament.
11. The motivations that led Surez y Romero to write the work that saves him from oblivion
would be same. The process of creation of his Francisco. El ingenio o las delicias del
campo (the scenes take place before 1838) can be followed in detail in his
correspondence with Del Monte found in Volume IV of the Centn epistolario and
with his friend Gonzlez del Valle, who would serve as editor and copyist. According to
Del Monte, Surez y Romeros brief treatise would be incorporated into an album of
compositions on black people that would give an account of Cuban writers opinion
about slavery to the doctor, economist, writer and prominent Irish abolitionist Richard
Robert Madden, appointed His British Majestys judge arbiter on the mixed court of
commission to deal with the slave trade on the island. Madden's visit coincides with a
climate of tension in the slavery situation. Two phenomena are illustrative: statistics
show that around 500,000 African slaves entered Cuba between 1790 and 1865 even
though the slave trade had been illegal since 1820 and, when Surez y Romero was
writing his novel, news of a conspiracy was circulating in the Island. The slaves of
several sugar mills in Trinidad were planning, during the Good Friday procession, to
seize the headquarters and weapons, kidnap the town governor and exterminate all
whites who attempted to leave the region. The attempt was stifled in time and punished
by the competent authority with the gallows and public display of the severed bodies of
the main leaders.
12. Francisco was written approximately between September 1838 and July 1839 during a
stay first in Puentes Grandes and then at the Surinam sugar mill in Gines. El ingenio o
las delicias del campo tells the story of the doomed love between the black Francisco
and the mulatta Dorotea, two domestic slaves taken in and beneficially educated in a
Havana household. The lovers misfortune begins when their mistress, Mrs.
Mendizbal, refuses to accept their union in marriage. It becomes accentuated and
prolonged with the despicable deeds of her son, the incorrigible and spoiled child
Ricardo. The disobedience of both slaves by continuing their collusion without their
owners approval is punished by his perpetual banishment to the Gines sugar mill, with
the order to receive "the sentence of fifty lashes" and being shackled for two years.

She, on the other hand, is sent to "work as a laundress in the house of a

Frenchwoman."
13. The rest of the novel is a description of the hell the slaves lived in the mills and the
humiliations Francisco was subjected to, forced to do the most rigorous tasks and
punished in the most evil ways. After a while, Mrs. Mendizbal reconsiders the marriage
of her two slaves and Ricardo talks her out of it by lying about Franciscos behavior. The
tragic fate of the lovers comes to an end with Franciscos romantic suicide and
Doroteas agonizing death, ignorant of the truth of the events.
14. The literary scope of Francisco does not exceed the mold of the romantic novel and
rags of the worst style of Atala by Franois Ren de Chateaubriand and Paolo et
Virginia by Saint-Pierre. Sanctioned by militant and exemplary will, the constructive
strategies of the narrative aim at showing and demonstrating a moral stance to be
received according to the philanthropic purposes of this text, which bears the weight of
having been the first anti-slavery novel written in Cuba.
15. Neither the fact that the character of Francisco reveals the authors existential
meditations and could move Marcus Aurelius himself with such stoicism, nor the
Manichaeism in the beatitude of the black slaves and the perversion of the white
owners, nor the argumentative lectures to shore up the flaws of the plot with
unnecessary reiterations -symptomatic of a narrative in the making, recognized even by
the authors themselves - diminish the documentary value of the novel. It is
characterized by the meticulous description of local customs and testimonial fidelity to
life in the Cuban countryside in the first half of the nineteenth century.
16. The author sought to truthfully illustrate or draw, according to the imperatives of the
mimesis of the epoch, the reality around him veracity hadnt yet been talked about.
Accurate details of the process of sugar production and everyday life in the sugar mills,
the use of language given to different types of blacks and the more or less diffuse
portrait of characters typical of slave society (the mistress, the dissolute young man
given to vice, the domestic slave and the mill hand, the mulatta whose beauty is the
source of evils, or the foreman) are praised by scholars and documented in some of the
useful pages of Hampa afrocubana. Los negros esclavos (The Black Slaves, 1916), by
Don Fernando Ortiz.
17. Censorship and death prevented Surez y Romero from seeing his novel published for
the first time in 1880 by Nstor Ponce de Len, in New York, thanks to the efforts of Dr.
Vidal Morales and Morales. In addition to Coleccin de artculos (1859) and the second
volume of his Crtica, published in 1910 and 1911 in Cuba Intelectual, the work of
Surez y Romero, mainly scattered in magazines and newspapers of the time, is

intergrally organized in nine volumes: Crtica (Volumes I to IV), Francisco (Volume V),
Costumbres habaneras y lbum (Volume VI), Jurisprudencia y otras materias anlogas
(Volume VII), Educacin (Volume VIII) and Juicios sobre sus obras (Volume IX). La
Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional Jos Mart (Journal of the Jos Mart National Library)
has eventually published some pieces of this extensive collection.
18.
19. ***
20. Francisco (excerpt from the novel)[7]
21. Anselmo Surez y Romero
22. Chapter one
23. Shortly after waking up, Ricardo, a handsome young man, the son of Mrs. Dolores
Mendizbal, an illustrious and rich Havana woman, left the house for the sugar mill to
meet with the foreman, and having said good morning, asked him:
24. Did you deal with him? Did he bleed? Did you leave him half dead?
25. Yes, sir -the foreman answered taking off his hat as a sign of respect. He was taken
from his bed before the sun rose; the Hail Mary reached bottom, which tasted like
honey to him, because he was a demon and the boy is heavy-handed. This rawhide
isnt bad; its from the ox named Tiger that died of old age the other day. After all, the
boy came with the ladys recommendation. Badly serve those who pay me on time? No
way! These niggers stick in my craw. Also that
26. You havent answered my question yet. Did he bleed? Can he move? Did you tear
strips off his skin?
27. Dont you hear me, young master? I asked Juan, Candelario, Wenceslao, and Crispn
to hold him by the arms and legs; and I myself, with these very hands how he would
curse them, the devil! - started to flay him One, two keep counting, I told him; you
lose count and I start the party all over again. At the count of eight he went wrong and I
had to keep my word. I started whipping him again. What was I supposed to do? But the
little nigger got stubborn, he looked like a wild hog and didnt want to count anymore; he
was biting the ground, his thick lips, his mouth was bleeding and he was grinding his
teeth. Well, the joke cost him 30 lashes more. Instead of 50, he got 80. These little
sailors from Havana think were thumbsuckers and will let things pass. To begin, Im
very even-tempered.

28. By the Holy Virgin, man, I dont feel like talking this morning and youre trying my
patience. Get to the point, stop beating about the bush; answer my question: Blood
flowed or not?
29. You bet it flowed! Like a sea, young Ricardo! With each kiss of the lash, a stream
erupted, at the end like a rope. And thats not the best part of the story; the urine with
eau-de-vie, salt, and tobacco I covered his butt with; useless for him to play the tough;
he jumped higher than a deer. I say the ointments harsh!
30. Where did you leave him? In the stocks?
31. Bah, bah! If so, the lunch would have been in vain! I stuck a pair of shackles on him,
gave him his machete and sent him to cut cane like the others. Leave him to rest in the
shade? - No way! Thats a crazy idea, young master! And tomorrow early, 25 lashes,
and the next day, another 25; the novenario for the Archangel. Hell have the
Magdalena ointment; Im a smart doctor in the matter. Then, well send him where he
can sweat buckets so that all that bad temper he brought from Havana goes away; to
the furnaces, for example, shoveling fuel, always with the shackles, and us keeping a
wary eye on him. If he backslides, hell find the five tails of a cat! But, you havent told
me young master: Was he disrespectful to the lady? Ran away? Got drunk? Stole
something? What was it? I was told: Mr. Antonio, a good dose, so he feels it, and I gave
it. However, its good that I know his crime. That way, Ill know what to do the next time.
32. His crime? Something stupid! He had a son with mamas seamstress, knowing that
girl is the apple of her eye! And that dog, that big mouth didnt even deny it, even out of
respect. Hes my son and your mercy, mistress, will forgive me. Those were his words,
Mr. Antonio. Have you ever seen such cheek? For his pretty face, after he drove the
mulatta wild and put a bun in her oven. After he disobeyed his mistress, asking
forgiveness, as if nothing happened, what nerve! Forgiveness? Sure, were already
giving it to you. Lash, lash is what you deserve, villain! Ignoring the orders of such a
kind mistress, so indulgent. Thats why they treat her like dirt. Lets not fool ourselves,
Mr. Antonio, theres no point being understanding with blacks; they forget themselves
entirely and the masters pay the consequences; beat the skin off them, treat them hard,
with kicks and rods, like mules and dogs and you will be well served; theyll be sharper
than a fox.
33. Teaching your grandmother to suck eggs, young master! I learned that in my diapers.
If I hadnt treated them like that and maybe today your honor would have been eaten by
worms, or lost the estate. If you go softly, they sleep and sleep, young master, and
number one is not very safe; the lash and more lash, and youll see what you say,
young master, theyll work like crazy and respect and adore the master: thats as true as

the Holy Trinity. Ive run ten sugar mills and applied the same method in all of them. Ive
nothing to regret. I can tell you, young master.
34. But mister, mama feels sorry for them; she says its necessary to look after them. I
cant believe it. They descended from monkeys, no doubt of it; just look at their thick
lips, wide noses, flat foreheads, kinky hair, their laziness, clumsiness, wantonness,
brutality, ungratefulness to everybody. Just look how that savage creature repaid
mamas kindness, depriving her of a very dear servant, dishonoring the house, giving a
terrible example to the other slaves. Ah, and then Im told they are men who deserve
compassion!
35. Sorry to interrupt you, young master. In 24, I had given my word to be foreman of the
San Salvador Sugar Mill, up there, near Matanzas, and several people told me I was
crazy because the blacks had bad habits, and there was this rumor going around that
the blacks had sent a foreman to the bone yard, drowned him and buried him in the
scrub. I dont know! The truth is my head was pounding. The young master got scared
and did not go? Well, I did the same thing. I took two dogs with me, two hunting dogs,
and one a tracker. Azulejo was one of them. I cut a piece of stick from an orange tree, a
two-inch thick stick, sharpened my machete, and went there. What spoiling, sir, swaying
about, airs and graces, little smiles, speaking quietly, whispering like honeybees! The
next day, I had the blacks in single file two hours before the sun had risen; fourteen of
them and the overseer in the front; I covered them with the usual ointment, doused
them and sent them to cut cane, and followed on my mule, with the dogs, livening them
up with the lash. At eleven, I went to the field and returned around six; at twelve, at five,
at the Prayer at nine. One slave wanted to run away and I sent the dogs after him;
never again he wanted to play with me. I split anothers head open with a club. In short,
young master, I made those blacks like a skein of silk; I surprised myself. That year, I
made 1,000 crates; the next year, 1,500; the next one, 2,000. How those creatures
loved me! Just by hearing Mr. Antonio, they got hamstrung. I got so I was controlling the
entire sugar mill from the house. There was time I spent whole three days without going
to the fields.
36. Mama should have faced facts already- a negro whom she took as a little boy from
the slave barracks, raised like a son, who grew up by her side and was never given a
whipping, not even scolded, if you dont believe it, ask him to show you his body, or let
him confess it; a negro whos dressed like a prince, good underwear, good shirts, good
shoes; always had money, because he was frequently given something, one peseta,
four reales, one peso. And what work, Mr. Antonio? To clean the carriage and gear, look
after the horse, drive from Corpus to San Blando. Is that a tyrannical and bloody
master? Did mama deserve such disgraceful payment in return?

37. Oof! oof! Terrible, the disgrace!

38. Did mama deserve such a vile reward? I say it over and over again; anyone who
shows kindness toward blacks will suffer the consequences, because theyre not
human, because you have to be hard on them. Francisco will learn! Oh, it wasnt my
fault! I recommend a tough hand, my friend, but careful not to kill him; he must suffer for
a long time, over a slow fire, my friend; the overseer on top of him, giving him the
toughest work, his shackles. Ok? Youve understood me? Those are mamas orders. I
already told you what his crime was. Good-bye. I forgot something: ask that butler to
take off the striped clothes he brought and put burlap on him; and you, cut his hair when
he comes from the field.
39. -Of course. Ill cut it with a machete, to get it even and so it doesnt ruin the scissors.
40. When Ricardo left the mill and went to check the sugar in the boiling house, as usual,
the foreman faced the black slaves with the special joy of the hick who hates blacks,
and furiously gave four or five lashes to each of the miserable men who were working
there; perhaps this punishment not only stemmed from Mr. Antonios naturally irascible
character, but also from the heartening words of the slaves master, showing his opinion
of the consideration they were due.
41. Not having vented all his anger on the blacks at the mill, he went on doing the same
with those who collected the bagasse, the cane cutters and loaders, and would have
gone to the boiling house too, but he was very afraid of the sugar master, an enemy of
his. Enmity and fear, born, the first because it is common that sugar mill operators
mutually detest each other, and the second because, despite all his boastings and the
atrocities he committed against the slaves, he was a complete coward when dealing
with free people. Full of resentment because he couldnt vent all his anger, he whipped
the slaves under his orders once again, and having finished sacrificing the victims, sat
down on a crude leather chair close to the mill, with his legs crossed, smoking his cigar
and smiling at the painful scene he had just prepared to entertain himself. He fell
peacefully asleep in that position, and then, imagine all the things those poor black
slaves must have been thinking!
42. We know that Ricardos mother, angry with Francisco because he had dishonored a
slave who she highly appreciated, sent him to the sugar mill and ordered her son and
the foreman to punish him mercilessly. Lets go back to find out if the punishment of a
novenario, shackles for two years and permanent exile to the ranch was merited
43. Talking with the foreman, Ricardo pours out his mothers charity and the many favors
Francisco enjoyed from her since she got him out of the barracks until he repaid them
with a crime. Its true that benevolence and kindness, jewels more valuable than her

large fortune and highborn descent, characterized this criolla (Cuban-born woman). But
in Cuba the difference in skin color can be seen in practice; humane and kind treatment
are very different when it comes to black or white people; and while such an individuals
kind sentiments are not wanting towards the latter, he can be a tyrant to black people,
without himself or the people around him even noticing. In such a way what was
innocently conceived by nature has become, in our homeland, a reason that justifies or
condemns ones morals. We are not saying that there are not people who reject making
such an absurd distinction and love black and white people alike, because they are both
our fellow men; however, this is not the general rule; it seems that slavery has spread a
venom that destroys the most philanthropic ideas, leaving in its wake only hatred and
contempt for the unhappy race of people of color.
44. Franciscos mistress, who was born and raised surrounded by slaves, could not fully
avoid that pernicious influence. Even though she did not punish her servants, she
always looked at them with that coolness and indifference that are enough to mark the
distance between slaves and masters. She dressed them, fed them, and cared for them
if they were sick; but nothing else. Even when she was one of the least cruel masters,
compared to many others, we must say that her consideration towards blacks was not
because she esteemed them to be equal to whites; otherwise, we would have not
noticed the difference in her behavior towards the two classes. The same thinking as
Ricardo about the origin and nature of blacks, descendants of animals, bubbled in her
soul, which inevitably would have made her commit the same heavy-handed actions as
her son, had it not been for her gender and a certain element of good intentions.
Instead of embellishing her, they make us feel more the lack they suffer; in short, her
charitable feelings towards slaves was almost the same feeling that compassionate
people show for irrational creatures. So, she was not fully considerate; and because of
that and because she had in her blood the pride and grandeur of the rich and landed
Cuban aristocracy, she demanded full respect and unlimited obedience and, even
though she was very tender and sweet tempered, she got very annoyed when someone
didnt indulge her tastes and caprices. She learned to give orders at birth, and because
she was always obeyed, she did away with the capacity of being patient, which she
would possibly have developed if she had been raised differently. Apart from her lack of
patience, something common among Cuban daughters, the slaves under her control
didnt suffer much; they were content to have their physical needs fulfilled, and they
loved Mrs. Mendizbal as if she were lavishing great goods on them; that is why they
tried hard to read her mind and please her as much as they could, convinced that by
doing so, they would grow in her esteem. They knew very well that if they upset her, she
would punish them, not with lashes, which was not typical of a woman and a
distinguished woman and in this case would go against her natural charity, but depriving

them of clothes, outings, or the small amount of money she used to give on Sunday to
those who had behaved according to her wishes during the week; they knew very well
that she would be indulgent if they obeyed her; her anger was certain and terrible if not.
45. Of all her servants there was one that stood out for his loyalty, and because he was
hard-working and had no vices: Francisco. Brought by force from Africa when he was
ten years old, it was easy for Mrs. Mendizbal to make him do what she pleased, even
more because of his humble character; so, she appreciated and granted him privileges
over the others; but always with that coolness and short tone that resulted from her
education, and that she considered necessary when dealing with slaves. It was
because she hoped that Francisco would be such an excellent servant that she healed
herself at the beginning to correct him constantly, not allowing him to commit a single
wrongdoing, and afterwards on all occasions keeping her authority and his respect
towards her intact. Even though he was the mistress favorite slave, full of privileges, he
found in her a dominion that his fellow slaves did not, because the criolla was convinced
her affability would have corrupted him.
46. Mrs. Mendizbal educated him in the style of the greatest owners on the island. As for
intelligence, he would have remained in complete ignorance if he hadnt learned to read
and write amid an army of inconveniences; quite singular knowledge for a servant and
an African servant. The lack of books and place occasioned that such lights, of high
price for those who can take advantage of them, did not help him much, and his clear
talent remained in deplorable oblivion. His moral education did better, hearing the
maxims and sound advice of Mrs. Mendizbal, storing up by nature a character inclined
towards the good, with the example of a virtuous woman who has an extraordinary
influence on the behavior of the people near her.
47. Apart from his clear intelligence and good heartedness, God had favored him with a
charming physique - a privileged stature, graceful, well-mannered, always with his head
high; his jet black skin wonderfully contrasted with his very white eyeballs and teeth;
and even when a ray of happiness entered his soul, the melancholy smile and look that
spread a certain sadness over his face, and the moving way he talked, captivated all
those who met him. Franciscos good-looking appearance had a double valuable: his
features revealed how noble and generous he was, like the clear waters of a river when
they reflect the image of the moon shining in the bluish firmament. A sorrow tormented
him always: to be a slave; a sorrow that rewards from his mistress were not enough to
ease; a sorrow that only death can wipe out. He was committed to suppressing that
pain, that unbearable torment, convinced that spreading evil might increase his sorrows
rather than mitigate them; his quiet nature went hand in hand with his Christian
resignation, with the suffering of stoics; the example of a great soul that remains serene

in the midst of the misfortunes that overwhelm it. Thats the reason for the somber hue
of his face that captivates and seduces, that hue with which martyrs to the faith are
represented.
48. His way of living went along with his sorrows. Always busy with the duties typical of a
coachman, he didnt take part in the conversations or festivities of the other slaves,
even less in their quarrels. As soon as he finished cleaning the carriage and tack and
looking after the horse, he went to his small room, which was close to the stable; he had
lunch and dinner alone; he went upstairs from time to time, only when his mistress
called him. His isolation did not surprise her anymore; in fact, she liked it. His behavior
towards outsiders was pretty much the same, yet being a coachman is precisely one of
the activities that most allows black people to get together. To be convinced of this, just
look around and youll see groups of black coachmen talking on every corner of
Havana, in plazas, in the streets, and corridors, either dressed in livery, with the riding
crop in their hands and jingling wide spurs, or wearing straw hats, with a scarf tied in
two points around the neck and flowing over the breast, singing their songs, which
musicians of color later use to make the most lively Cuban dances and waltzes; or
dancing zapateo, or picking the lamenting tiple, or talking about horses, carriages,
bargains, and their beloveds, telling all kinds of exaggerations and lies. Francisco was
always trying to avoid these gatherings whenever he could, though he joined them
sometimes encouraged by friends who admired him for his unselfishness and to liven
themselves up needed his ability to pick the tiple. In telling you that he sang El llanto
(The Cry) wonderfully, well give you an idea of his sweet voice, grace and style, which
earned him the nicknamed Pico de oro (Golden Beak) among the coachmen.
49. There is a moment in life when a man, mostly an unhappy man, needs a woman to
distract him with her charms and caresses, a time when he needs to love. This time had
come for Francisco and, in looking for her, he had to turn his eyes far from the white
girls, who he must only admire and look among those of color for that angel whom he
badly wanted to have with him in his sad moments. There was a young mulatta criolla in
the house, the daughter of the black woman who had breastfed Ricardo, who attracted
Francisco because of her strange loveliness, honesty and modesty, as Mrs.
Mendizbal, at whose side she was brought up, had taught her. He saw in her the
companion to help him alleviate his suffering. Her name was Dorotea, a seamstress
and ladies maid. She soon returned his passion, and he started to find great pleasure in
the balm that a woman spreads over pure and innocent hearts. He forgot being a
servant; and adored Dorotea, providing her pleasures, thinking about marriage, having
children, in the way to free himself and the sensation of peace they would enjoy. Here
were the imaginings and ideas that occupied them from then on.

50. He asked permission form his mistress to marry her, but she declined it, alleging a
throng of reasons: that his aloofness and melancholy would go badly with marriage, in
which husbands must be honest and happy; his age of 22 and Dorotea only 17; that
marriage entailed great responsibility; that he would regret having children, children who
would be slaves; that he would never have a quiet moment again; and finally, that as a
single man, he had never had any problem with other servants; but once married such a
close friendship could go bad, which would work to the detriment of himself, his
mistress, and the entire family. Francisco listened to all this advice attentively, and
promised Mrs. Mendizbal he would follow it and do his best. The poor man was
alarmed by the idea that the tranquillity of the house could be disrupted and preferred to
live unhappily, forgetting the mulatta and crying over his misfortunes silently, alone, a
huge sacrifice that her privileged treatment towards him seemed to justify, and which he
had to make without delay, given the blind obedience she constantly demanded from
her slaves, particularly him.
51. But his passion, as we have said, did not arise amid joy and pleasures, which can be
forgotten soon, but amid sorrows and suffering, when the human heart, afflicted by pain,
sees in that one star in the sky everything it is missing in that miserable world. He tried
hard to quench that passion, but realized he was not strong enough; his love continued
to grow uninterruptedly after he decided to break with the mulatta, seeing her
loveliness, how pensive and deep in thought she had become, carefully looking after
him, and realizing how much he needed her comforting words; until, tired of suffering,
he threw himself at the feet of his mistress for the second time and told her about his
terrible anguish, promising that he would patiently tolerate all the troubles he might face
in his marriage, as she had described them, and that she would not have a single
complaint about their behavior.
52. The great intensity with which he defended his position moved Mrs. Mendizbal so
much that she would have agreed to his request, if it hadnt been for his own good, and
other reasons, which forced her to say no. In fact, she believed that Franciscos mistrust
of humankind and aloofness were incompatible with the social nature that marriage
entails, and believed in good faith that this would be a fertile spring for disagreements
between the couple and their fellow slaves. Valuing her coachman and the mulatta, and
very fond of the idea that in her house there would be no rows or disagreements, one
can imagine the impression that his words made on Mrs. Mendizbal who, being a very
religious woman, claimed she would be held responsible before God for not having
opposed this marriage, which would be fatal for the couple and a reason for rows and
quarrels. She had denied permission once, and thought it would be a sign of weakness
for her sort of mistress to take her word back; for her, ruling a house lay in whites

always prevailing over blacks. Franciscos promises and oaths were of no value; she
didnt waver, convinced that time, which destroys everything, would put out bit by bit the
flame of Francisco and Doroteas love; as if the passion between two people in the
flower of their youth, who live in the same house, breathing the same air, could be
erased.
53. Seven months had passed since the first time that the slave asked for permission to get
married, which he did several other times, also in vain. He then turned to Mrs.
Mendizbals friends, to whom she explained the repercussions that worried her so
much. Having nothing more to fall back on, he decided to obey his mistress and avoid
using violent methods to attain his goal. Francisco and Dorotea continued to love each
other but lost hope of getting married, and had to meet at unusual hours and in unusual
places to conceal their relationship from the family.
54. Two years later, no one in the house remembered their love affair, and Mrs. Mendizbal
herself thought they had given up with time, as she had predicted to Francisco. But
concealing their feelings and the fact that they couldnt seal their desires through
marriage inflamed them with uncontrollable passion. They started to waver after having
maintained such reserved behavior for two years, and their actions began arousing
suspicions, and after them came disappointment, because the mulatta was taken by
surprise several times talking to the coachman from the balcony and in the halls, or
sewing his clothes at midnight, while the family was sleeping; and their mutual signs
and knowing looks corroborated all suspicions.
55. One night, around eleven oclock, after all visitors had left, Mrs. Mendizbal asked them
to tell her the truth. They didnt deny it for a moment, tears clearly in their eyes
uncovered it before and they repeated their supplications, thinking they wouldnt be
snubbed this time. This Havana noblewoman was surprised to learn that these two
servants didnt obey her, as they had always done, and that instead of quenching their
passion as promised, they fuelled it in secret, deceiving her. Her pride was offended by
a behavior she did not expect, and she proved to the lovers how painful it had been for
her and would be engraved in her memory for all time. In truth a bad reason for moving
her to consent to the marriage; she opposed it openly, adducing, as well as the
arguments she had used earlier, that servants who rewarded her with disobedience and
disloyalty didnt deserve it. She considered that such insult was worth due punishment:
not allowing them to get married, letting them know that her anger and authority could
be fearsome. She reprimanded them severely, ordering them not to address her
anymore, and to watch that they behaved properly. Never again did Dorotea sew for her
or attend her directly nor did Francisco drive the carriage.

56. This unjust sentence, for two innocents whose only crime was to love each other, and
Mrs. Mendizbals strong opposition aggravated them; thus diminishing their respect
and affection; and seeing no ray of hope, led astray, they tarnished the purity of their
love. In a fit of rage, Mrs. Mendizbal tried to avenge the insult, for which she ordered
50 lashes for Francisco, shackles for two years and perpetual exile to the ranch. The
mulatta, given her status, as having been suckled by the same woman as Ricardo, and
because sending her with her accomplice would be alleviating the punishment and
protecting their shameful love affair, was sent to work as a launderess in the house of a
French woman.
57. Translated by Mara Rosa Rodrguez and Dayam Interin
58. Revised by CF Ray
59.
60.
61.

62.
63. [1] Manuel Moreno Fraginals. El ingenio: el complejo econmico social cubano del
azcar, vol. 1, UNESCOs Cuban National Commission, Havana, 1964, p. 163.
64. [2] In the preface to the first Cuban edition of Francisco, Mario Cabrera Saqui insists on
the existence of an autobiographical appendix done by Surez himself. Although Saqui
states that the appendix can be found in volume V of the hand-written works kept in the
Jos Mart National Library, none of the editions published so far has it. Anselmo
Surez y Romero. El ingenio o Las delicias del campo. Cuban novel, prologue and
notes by Mario Cabrera Saqui, Cuadernos de Cultura, 8th series, published by the
Ministry of Education, Cultural Section, Havana, 1947, p.25.
65. [3] About the relationship with the Cuban ideologist and poet we know it was limited to a
short correspondence that ended abruptly. Surez y Romero himself informs us that In
a letter addressed to Mr. Eusebio Valds Domnguez, dated October 16, 1875, Mart
considers him good hearted and our purest speaker, and recalled: I think I wrote to
him once from jail and he didnt understood an anxiety of mine, which Surez quickly
clarifies: No, I didnt actually reply to that letter Jos Mart y Prez sent me from the
Havana prison. But why didnt I? It was not because I feared compromising myself
because he was imprisoned for political reasons, which has never prevented me from
visiting other friends in similar circumstances [] But I had my reasons, which may well

be unfounded and so I cant reveal here. (Anselmo Surez y Romero: Op. cit., p. 13;
unpublished manuscripts, volume IX).
66. [4] You can find an excerpt of Ramn de Palmas Una pascua en San Marcos at
http://www.cubanow.net/articles/una-pascua-en-san-marcos-occasion-bicentennial-ram
%C3%B3n-de-palma, as part of this same Cuban Narrators section.
67. [5]

You

can

find

an

excerpt

of

Cirilo

Villaverdes

Cecilia

Valds

at

http://www.cubanow.net/articles/cirilo-villaverde-his-bicentennial-cecilia-vald%C3%A9sendures, as part of this same Cuban Narrators section.

68. [6]

You

can

find

an

excerpt

of

Pedro

Jos

Morillass

El

Ranchador

athttp://www.cubanow.net/articles/el-ranchador-slave-catcher-pedro-jos%C3%A9morillas, as part of this same Cuban Narrators section.

69. [7] Taken from Francisco, Editorial Pueblo y Educacin, Havana, 1985.