Jose Marti

For other persons named Jose Marti, see Jose Marti (disambiguation).

José Martí
Birth name	José Julián Martí y Pérez
Born	January 28, 1853 Havana, Cuba
Died	May 19, 1895
Nationality	Cuban
Field	Poet, writer, journalist
Famous works	Leader on Cuba's Independence from Spain

José Julián Martí y Pérez, better known as José Martí, was a leader of the Cuban independence movement from Spain and a renowned poet and writer. Martí devoted his life to Cuban independence and firmly believed in the principles of freedom, tolerance and love. He is considered the Cuban people's national hero and is often referred to as the Apostle of Cuban Independence. He is often considered the Father of Modernism in Latin-American literature, predating and influencing Rubén Darío and other poets such as Gabriela Mistral.

His best and most revered works were his books for children, La Edad de Oro ("The Golden Age") being the most widely read, and his poetry. Several of the verses from his collection of poems Versos Sencillos were later put to music as "Guantanamera," which has become one of Cuba's most recognizable melodies based on a traditional folk tune.

Early years

Statue of José Martí on horseback in New York's Central Park - Anna Hyatt Huntington, 1959

José Martí was born on January 28, 1853, in Havana, to a Spanish father, Mariano Martí Navarro, and Leonor Pérez Cabrera, a native of the Canary islands. Martí's father was a sergeant in the Spanish Army who was transferred to Cuba in 1850. However, once in Cuba, José's father changed jobs often. José was the oldest brother to seven sisters, two of which died when José was young. His family was poor, so his sisters would sew to make money and José would help his father with his paperwork for his job.

Martí was enrolled at St. Pauls's School, which was a branch of the Municipal School for Boys in Havana, a local public school. Here, he met Rafael María de Mendive, an influential person in Martí's political thoughts. Mendive was a well known poet, teacher, editor, and patriot who firmly believed in Cuban independence. He taught Martí to appreciate poety and literature, and urged him to become aware of the political and social situation in Cuba.

When Martí was still young, he witnessed a slave being hung from a tree when he was riding his horse in the countryside. Thus, he came to resent Spanish rule of his homeland at a young age; likewise, he developed a hatred of slavery, which was still practiced in Cuba.

When it came time for Martí to attend high school, Mendive offered to pay for his classes, as Martí's family could not afford the tuition. He attended the Instituto de Havana (1866-69) and where Mendive encouraged Martí to write and engage in the literary activities at school. Martí became Mendive's helper and was allowed to borrow books from his library. In the afternoons, he would attend discussions of Mendive's older students and listen to them talk about things such as poetry, farming, the news and politics.

In 1869, he published his first political writings in the only edition of the newspaper El Diablo Cojuelo. That same year he published "Abdala," a patriotic drama in verse form in the one-volume La Patria Libre. His famous sonnet "10 de Octubre" was also written during that year, which was published later in his school newspaper.

The Isla De Pinos (today called Isla de la Juventud) where Marti was sent before being repatriated to Spain.

In October 1869, Martí and his best friend, Fermín Valdés Domíngez, were laughing in Valdés' house when Spanish volunteers (police force) overheard the two boys and thought they were laughing at them. The volunteers searched Valdés' house and found letter a written by the two boys that criticized a fellow student of Mendive who had joined the Spanish Army. Martí was arrested, then incarcerated in the national jail following an accusation of treason. Martí assumed responsibility and was condemned to six years in prison. His mother tried arduously to free her son, who was still a minor at the time at 16, by writing letters to the government; his father went to a lawyer friend for legal support, but all efforts failed. Eventually Martí fell ill; his legs were severely lacerated due to the chains in which he was bound. He was therefore transferred to the Isla de Pinos instead of further imprisonment. Following that, the government decided to repatriate him to Spain.

Bust of José Martí in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida

Years of exile

Spain

In Spain, Martí studied at the Central University in Madrid (1873) and later transferred to the University of Saragosa, receiving a degree in law in 1874, and a later a degree in liberal arts. During his studies, he found a job as a tutor and also attended the theater, concert halls and art galleries and became acquainted with other Cuban exiles in Spain.

Martí then turned to writing for the cause of Cuban Independence. He wrote articles on the wrongs of Spanish rule in Cuba and published an article condemning what happened to him in Cuba. He pleaded with the Spanish people to free Cuba and, in 1871, wrote "El presidio político en Cuba" (The political prison in Cuba), which informed the Spanish people of injustices of he suffered in Cuba because of the Spanish government.

Mexico

Upon graduating from the University of Saragossa, he moved to Mexico to join his family. However, when he arrived he learned his sister Ana had past away. He published his first poem in her memory, which was published on April 14, 1868 in the newspaper El Album.

Martí established himself in Mexico City, where he began his literary career and worked as a journalist. He was hired by Mexico City's La Revista Universal (The Universal Review), which was a weekly newspaper that covered literary and artistic affairs as well as national news. Martí published poems and articles on Mexico City's cultural life and issued bulletins detailing Mexico's progress under its liberal government using the pen name "Orestes." Under his own name, he wrote articles on Spanish and Cuban politics. Martí became one of the most important members of the newspaper staff and became a respected public figure in Mexico. His news on everything from theater to the political situation in Central America was eagerly awaited.

Guatemala

His opposition to the military regime in Mexico led Martí to leave Mexico for Guatemala. He went to Guatemala City in March 1877, where he was appointed to the faculty of the Central School teaching history and literature. He edited the university newspaper, lectured and founded and took part in several literary and artistic clubs. Martí became a well-known figure in the city's social and political life. However, his opposition to the governmental abuses in Guatemala eventually led him to leave that country as well.

He then traveled to France, where he spent some time before secretly returning to Cuba under the assumed name Julián Pérez in 1877. He learned that the rebel situation in Cuba was not good, as the war had caused widespread unemployment. As there wasn't much Martí could do, he returned to Guatemala. Then, in the end of 1878 The Ten Year War in Cuba ended, and Martí was allowed to return to Cuba legally. He attempted to practice law, but was not allowed to due to his past prison record.

Cuba

Martí began writing pamphlets to promote the cause of a free Cuba. In 1877 he married Carmen Zayas Bazán and in 1878 his son, Jose Francisco, was born in Cuba. In August 1979 La Guerra Chiquita (The Little War) and the Cuban government asked Martí to renounce his revolutionary views and support Spanish colonial government; he refused and was once again deported to Spain. His wife and son remained in Cuba.

New York City

In 1880, Martí moved to New York City and immediately got in touch with the Cuban community of rebels and exiles. He became a member of the Cuban Revolutionary Committee and began writing, teaching and lecturing on behalf of the Cuban revolution. He served as a joint consul for Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina in New York City. He mobilized the Cuban exile community, especially in Ybor City (the Latin quarter of Tampa) and Key West, Florida, to revolution and independence from Spain, while lobbying to oppose U.S. annexation of Cuba, which some American politicians desired. In January 1892 he founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party with the purpose of gaining independence for both Cuba and Puerto Rico. In 1894, he left planning to go to Cuba and fight for revolution, but was intercepted in Florida.

Statue of José Martí, Parque Central, Havana, by José Vilalta Saavedra, 1905

Venezuela

After a year in New York, he was offered a teaching position on March 21, 1881 in Venezuela. He left New York for Carcaras to work as a literature professor. Here, founded the magazine La Revista Venezolana (The Venezuelan Review), but it only lasted two issues. He offended authorities by writing an article in praise of a writer who was considered a political outcast in Venezuela. Thus, he returned to New York City, where he lived from 1881 to 1895.

Fight for Cuban independence

Once in New York, Martí decided to devote himself solely to the fight for Cuban independence. He resigned his position as consul for the many countries he was representing in international negotiations and began working major work in the struggle for the freedom of Cuba.

On November 26, 1891, he gave a speech in which he spoke of the need to prepare for war against Spain – he did not consider it a war of hate, but an act of love. This speech, known as his famous "Liceo" speech, outlined his vision of what he thought Cuba could be — a land of racial harmony and justice for all. His motto was, "Everyone together and for the well-being of all."

The next day he gave a speech about the eight medical students who were executed in Cuba twenty years earlier and urged crowd to devote themselves to the fight for the independence of Cuba. As Martí continued to travel and speak to gain support and financing for the war against Spain, he drafted a statement of the aims of the revolutionary movement and drew up the bases and organization of the Cuban Revolutionary Party. He was designated the official delegate, or president, of the Cuban Revolutionary Party.

He published the first issue of a new Spanish-language newspaper called Patria, which became the official voice of the revolutionary movement. The existence of the Cuban Revolutionary Party was formally announced on April 10, 1892 and, for the first time, all Spanish-speaking émigrés and exiles were united together in the pursuit of Cuban independence.

On March 25, 1895, José Martí published the Manifesto of Montecristi together with Máximo Gómez, proclaiming Cuban independence, an end to all legal distinctions between the races, friendship with Spaniards who did not oppose the independence, and war with all who stood in the way of independence.

On April 10, 1895, Martí arrived off the coast of Cuba with a small force of rebel exiles, including the General Máximo Gómez. Upon reuniting with Major General Antonio Maceo (who was second in command of the army behind commander-in-chief Gómez) who was already in Oriente province with troops, Martí was given promoted to Major General of what they called the Liberation Army as a recognition of his importance to the revolution.

The army made a camp at Dos Ríos where Gómez learned that Spanish forces were in the vicinity. The troops and left camp to find them and engage in battle; however, Martí was ordered to stay behind due to his poor health — he was still suffering from the long-term effects of the injury he had received in prison. On May 19, 1895, Martí heard the sounds of nearby battle and leaped on his horse to help (despite orders to remain at camp) and was recognized by Spanish soldiers and shot at the Battle of Dos Ríos. The Spanish took possession of the body, buried it close by, then exhumed the body upon realization of its identity. Some of his "Versos sencillos" bore premonition of his death:

Que no me entierren en lo oscuro

A morir como un traidor

Yo soy bueno y como bueno

Moriré de cara al sol.

(May they not bury me in darkness

to die like a traitor

I am good and as a good man

I will die facing the sun).

Literary works

Martí's style is still considered a model of Spanish prose. His collected writings in seventy-three volumes appeared in 1936-53. The main body of Martí's prose was journalistic in nature, written for newspapers and magazines; and, in his essays he always reaffirmed his anti-colonialist and anti-racists beliefs.

As a poet

During his New York years, Martí published his first book of poems Ismaelillo (Little Ishmael) (1882), Versos Sencillos (Simple Verses), which was written during the 1880s, and Versos Libres (Free Verses) (1891), which began a whole new style of writing in Latin-American literature known as Modernism.

Martí wrote Ismaelillo for his son and it was later described as a guide to the art of being a father. It is a book of fifteen poems describing the anguish he felt at being separated from his son during his exile. In Ismaelillo Martí broke new ground as a poet, as the simplicity of the verses were very differed from the traditional flowery language of the Spanish romantic poets. It was the first example of the Modernist movement in Lat American literature, which was noted for using new forms and meters, using everyday language, and was not restricted to the use of rhyme.

In Versos Sencillos, Martí describes his admiration for nature, his love of Cuba, the importance of friendship, and his feelings about injustice. They reflect very personal experiences and feelings, and contain many of his best-known poems. He writes about poetry, racism and how art teaches us important things in life. After his death, a Cuban composer (Joseíto Fernández) put music to the words from one of Martí's poems from Versos Sencillos. The song, known as "La Guantanamera" was one of the most popular songs in Cuba and became known throughout the world. An American folksinger also made the it into a popular song during the 1960s.

As a translator

José Martí

José Martí is usually honored as the great poet, patriot and martyr of Cuban Independence, but he was also a translator of some note. Although he translated literary material for the sheer joy of it, much of the translating he did was imposed on him by economic necessity during his many years of exile in the United States. Martí learned English at an early age, and began translating at thirteen. He continued translating for the rest of his life, including his time as a student in Spain, although the period of his greatest productivity was during his stay in New York from 1880 until he returned to Cuba to die on the battlefield against the Spaniards in 1895.

In New York he was what we would today call a "freelance" as well as an "in house" translator. He translated several books for the publishing house of D. Appleton and Company, and did a series of translations for newspapers. As a revolutionary activist in Cuba's long struggle for independence he translated into English a number of articles and pamphlets supporting that movement.

There was clearly a dichotomy in Martí's feeling about the kind of work he was translating. Like many professionals, he undertook for money translation tasks which had little intellectual or emotional appeal for him.

As a journalist

Martí was much involved in writing for Spanish-speaking audiences about the assassination attempt and eventual death of President Garfield in 1881. Using several New York newspapers as sources, Martí took the basic accounts and translated them, but also added personal touches which in his view were necessary to convey the appropriate emotional tone to a Latin audience. In so doing he showed his skill as a translator as well as his creative abilities as a journalist and author.

As a diplomat

Martí was also a diplomat in his years in exile in New York, acting as consul for several Latin American countries and conducting their business in that city as well as at various conferences in Washington. He wrote for the major newspaper La Nación of Buenos Aires, and his candid commentaries for that paper during the 1889-1890 First Inter-American Conference in Washington provide a neat counterbalance to the dry official documentation. Martí obviously had access to behind-the-scenes sources (especially from the Argentine side), and his columns were sprinkled with almost gossipy references to what the various delegations said to (and about) each other in private. His commentary on the strains between the host US delegation and the aggressively independent Argentine delegation are especially illuminating.

Legacy

The Spanish-American War did not end until approximately three years after his death. However, many historians and political writers have said that he did more for the liberation of Cuba than any other Cuban who ever lived. All over Cuba and in the Cuban exile communities in the United States there are statues and tributes honoring his life and work. He will always be in the hearts, minds and souls of the Cuban people as their greatest hero.

José Martí Airport in "La Havana"

José Martí International Airport in Havana and the town Martí were named after this leader of Cuban independence, whilst many towns in Cuba have streets named after him. The José Martí Memorial dominates the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana.

José Martí Park, Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, contains a life-size statue of Martí. It is located on the site of the home of famous Afro-Cuban patriot Paulina Pedrosa, Martí's residence in Ybor City. It was here where Martí forgave the Spanish spy who tried to poison him. Martí Park and statue stand further down the block from the mammoth Ybor Cigar Factory complex, where from the ornate wrought iron porch, Martí urged cigar workers to join the fight against the Spanish dominating Cuba. The Park is technically Cuban soil, as it was purchased by Cuba in 1957. The Tampa Parks Department has confirmed this (USF Oracle, 4/27).

There is a memorial and bust of Martí on the Northeast corner of Bayview Park, in Key West, Florida, which bears the inscription, "THE CUBAN LIBERTY APOSTLE WISHED TO OFFER TO THE PEOPLE OF KEY WEST WHAT WAS LEFT OF HIS HEART. THIS MEMORIAL PERPETUATES HIS DESIRE." There is also a bust of Martí in Ybor City located in front of the Cuban Club. The United States sponsors an anti-communist broadcast service aimed at Cuba, named Radio Martí after Martí'.

Selected bibliography

• Ismaelillo (1882) ISBN 9780916727420
• La Edad de Oro (The Golden Age) (1891) ISBN 9788493343958
• Obras Completas (Complete Works) 73 Volumes (1936-53)
• Selected Writings ISBN 9780142437049
• Versos Libres (Free Verses) (1885) ISBN 9788437603674
• Versos Sencillos (Simple Verses) (1891) ISBN 9780786423866

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Goodnough, David. José Martí: Cuban Patriot and Poet. (Hispanic Biographies). Springfield, New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, 1996. ISBN 9780894907616.
• Martí, José, Deborah Shnookal, and Mirta Muñiz. José Martí Reader: Writings on the Americas. 40 Years of the Cuban Revolution, 1959-99. Melbourne: Ocean Press, 1999. ISBN 9781875284122.
• Montero, Oscar. José Martí: An Introduction. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ISBN 9781403962874.
• West, Alan. José Martí Man of Poetry, Soldier of Freedom. (Hispanic Heritage). Brookfield, Conn: Millbrook Press, 1994. ISBN 9781562944087.

External links

• Mendoza, Anthony. Freedom Hero: Jose Martí Retrieved August 24, 2007.
• Ripoll, Carlos. José Martí Retrieved August 24, 2006.
• Sierra, Jerry A. José Martí - A Brief Intro Retrieved August 24, 2007.
• José Martí (1853-1895) Retrieved August 24, 2007.

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