| Cristina Ayala | |
| Pseudonym: | Cristina Ayala |
| Birth Name: | Maria Cristina Fragas |
| Birth Date: | 24 July 1856 |
| Birth Place: | Güines, Cuba |
| Death Place: | Güines, Cuba |
| Occupation: | Writer and poet |
| Language: | Spanish |
| Genres: | --> |
| Subjects: | --> |
| Notable Works: | Ofrendas Mayabequinas (1926) |
| Spouse: | Cecilio Larrondo (m. 1912) |
Maria Cristina Fragas (July 24, 1856 - April 20, 1936), known by her pen name, Cristina Ayala, was an Afro-Cuban writer and poet.
The daughter of a Creole mother who was enslaved and an unknown father, she was born free in Güines, Cuba, on July 24, 1856.[1] She did not marry until 1912, when she wed Cecilio Larrondo.[1] Fragas died in Güines in 1936 at the age of 79.[1]
Her work was published in various newspapers and journals including El Pueblo Libre and El Sufragista, as well as in Minerva, a magazine dedicated to black women for which she was a founding editor. She is believed to be the first Afro-Hispanic writer to talk about race in her poetry. In her work, she opposed slavery and supported racial equality and national independence for all Cubans.[2] [3]
A collection of her work, Ofrendas Mayabequinas, was published in 1926 with a foreword by Valentin Cuesta Jimenez.[4]
After her death, the town council of Güines named a street in her honour. The street was renamed after the Cuban Revolution and no longer exists.[1]