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Jose Marti was born on this day in Havana, Cuba to Mariano Martí Navarro and Leonor Pérez Cabrera. He was soon followed by seven sisters.
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José Martí was a Cuban patriot, freedom fighter and poet. Although he never lived to see Cuba free, he is considered the national hero.
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At age 16, he was already having his work published.
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José’s writing got him in serious trouble for the first time. The Ten Years’ War (1868-1878) was being fought at the time, and young José wrote passionately in support of the rebels. He was convicted of treason and sedition and sentenced to six years’ labor.
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Jose was released from jail with the help of his parents but exiled to Spain.
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While in Spain, José studied law, eventually graduating with a law degree and a specialty in civil rights he also continued to write and even went under an operation to fix the damage done to his legs while in jail. In 1875, he went to Mexico and was reunited wih his family.
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He returned to Cuba under an assumed name, but remained for less than a month before heading to Guatemala via Mexico
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He quickly found work in Guatemala as a professor of literature and married Carmen Zayas Bazán.
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He only remained in Guatemala for one year before resigning his position as professor in protest over the arbitrary firing of a fellow Cuban from the faculty.
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In 1878, José returned to Cuba with his wife. He could not work as a lawyer, as his papers were not in order, so he resumed teaching. He remained for only about a year before being accused of conspiring with others to overthrow Spanish rule in Cuba. He was once again exiled to Spain, although his wife and child remained in Cuba. He quickly made his way from Spain to New York City.
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In 1894, Martí and a handful of fellow exiles attempted to make their way back to Cuba and start a revolution, but the expedition failed.
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The next year a larger, more organized insurrection began. A group of exiles led by military strategists Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo Grajales landed on the island and quickly took to the hills, amassing a small army as they did so. Martí did not last very long: he was killed in one of the first confrontations of the uprising
