José Martí, born in Havana, Cuba in 1853, experienced many hardships throughout his lifetime. All through his adolescence, José Martí struggled against poverty. He would not have attended primary or secondary education without the support of a famous Cuban writer, Rafael María de Mendive. This education, from both school and mentor, enabled him to express his thoughts on freedom and publish his first poems at fifteen. Due to his intellectual capabilities and brilliance with words, he was jailed for six years and exiled to Spain by the Cuban government.

During his stay in Spain, José Martí earned his degrees in philosophy and law from the University of Madrid and Zarazoga. Unfortunately, many totalitarian governments of Hispanic descent found his ideas and literary inclinations rather alarming and dangerous to the community. As a result, José Martí was exiled from Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, and Venezuela. While exiled from these countries, he spent several years in New York. While there, he wrote for the New York Sun, taught school, and founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party.

José Martí focused the majority of his energy towards this party. He brought together Cuban people from all over the nation in the hope of establishing independence and finding freedom for the people of Cuba. He educated many people of his party for over ten years. He alone toiled away to keep their interests focused during the long wait towards independence. He accumulated money weekly from the many Cuban members and persuaded people to join together harmoniously under the influence of the Cuban party.

Planning each aspect of the Revolution, he compiled shipments of arms without the knowledge of neither the United States nor Cuban governments. He placed his heart and soul into the organization and preparations of the Revolution without complaint. As the Revolution dawned, he fought with dignity and purpose, serving his followers well into the revolution even after death.

José Martí fought for the independence and freedom of the Cuban people. He contested the tyranny of despotic and unruly governments through the written and spoken word. His valor rested not within his physical being, but in his rhetoric. According to Manuel Pedro Gonzales, author of José Martí: Epic Chronicler of the United States in the Eighties, "the ideas of Martí about human relations, whether in the social or the international panorama, are grounded in ethical principles of social and economic justice, of equality and respect for all" (xiii).

He was, for the Cuban people, a voice in the crowd unafraid to speak out against cruelties and unfairness. Like many of his fellow authors, José Martí did not live to see the fruit of his labor or the eventual independence of Cuba. Although he died before the Cuban independence, the people of Cuba look upon him as a hero. He is still considered one of the most influential orators and writers of that time period.