Horacio Mendizábal (1847–1871) was an Argentine poet, translator and activist.
Life
Horacio Mendizábal was born to an
Afro-Argentine
Afro-Argentines (), also known as Black Argentines (), are Argentines who have predominantly or total Sub-Saharan African ancestry. The Afro-Argentine population is the result of people being brought over during the Atlantic slave trade, transat ...
upper-class family in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
, the son of Rosendo Mendizábal, a member of the
Chamber of Deputies of Buenos Aires and one of the earliest black politicians in Argentina. Publishing his first volume of poetry as a teenager, he became increasingly concerned with issues of racial equality and national independence. He died, aged 24, while tending to the sick in the
1871 yellow fever epidemic.
His son was the pianist and composer
Rosendo Mendizábal
Anselmo Rosendo Cayetano Mendizábal (21 April 186830 June 1913) was an Argentine composer and pianist, and an early pioneer of the tango. Among his most renown works is ''El Entrerriano'', the first tango published under partiture in 1897.
Earl ...
.
In 2019, the Argentinian publisher Amauta&Yaguar republished the work ''Hours o
Meditation' as a tribute to 150 years of his publication. It includes a preliminary note by Federico Pita, president of Diafar (African Diaspora in Argentina), Espacio Malcolm and editor of the newspaper El Afroargentino.
Works
* ''Primeros Versos''
irst Verses 1865
* ''Horas de meditación''
ours of Meditation 1869
References
1847 births
1871 deaths
19th-century Argentine poets
Writers from Buenos Aires
Afro-Argentine people
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