Juan Bautista Sagarra Blez

Cuban pedagogue, creator of the Librería de los niños cubanos collection.

He was born in the city of Santiago de Cuba, within a family of comfortable economic position that allowed him to study at educational centers that were emblematic in nineteenth-century Cuba: the Seminario de San Basilio el Magno, of Santiago de Cuba and the José de la Luz y Caballero, and whose work he became a friend and continuator of.

He graduated with a degree in Philosophy from the Universidad de La Habana in 1826, and as a lawyer in 1830, before the Audiencia de Puerto Príncipe, today Camagüey.

Sagarra soon showed his pedagogical vocation. He dedicated himself to primary education in his place of origin, where schools were scarce and high illiteracy rates were evident (especially among the poor and Black people), as a consequence of the abandonment of elementary education by colonial authorities.

This orientation linked him early on with the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País (SEAP) in Santiago de Cuba. Founded in 1787, the work of the SEAP was limited in Sagarra's time, who played a prominent role in the refoundation of the Society in 1833 and became president of its Education Commission in 1834.

He worked toward the cultural improvement of the city and carried out multiple tasks assigned by the Institution, among which stands out the publication of the Memorias de la Sociedad Económica de Santiago de Cuba.

As First Syndic Procurator of the City Council of Santiago de Cuba, he presented in 1834 a Report concerning the deplorable state of primary education in the city, in which he proposes two ways to solve the situation: one, the increase in the salary of primary teachers, and two, the implementation of the Lancasterian System in public schools.

In his educational work, one must distinguish the work carried out in the creation of three school institutions: a private college, and two centers of a technical and trades character. In them, he tries to reconcile his class interests of providing privileged education for young people of his class while, at the same time, forming and preparing new generations to work in different trades and professions, in correspondence with the demands of the country's progress.

The founding of the Colegio Santiago in 1841 in Santiago de Cuba was part of the movement for creating Cuban private colleges, sustained by the Creole bourgeoisie as a response to the abandonment of education by Spanish authorities. Sagarra's Report reveals his main objectives: to form young people intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and morally, in connection with religious formation; to apply the explanatory method; to renew the content of education and contribute to the development of patriotic feeling; to develop practical and experimental education.

The creation of the Escuela General Preparatoria (1855-1864) and the Escuela Profesional de Agrimensores, Aparejadores y Maestros de Obras (1864-1868) were centers of technical and trades character, in which young people from the eastern region were formed and prepared to enter different careers and practice trades or arts. In both cases, he emphasized the importance of linking knowledge of sciences with different careers or trades; theoretical preparation with practice through experiments, demonstrations, and work in manufacturing centers or workshops, as well as respecting the interests and particularities of children and young people.

These three centers became propitious places to carry out his reforms and put into practice his main educational ideas.

His educational work achieved greater scope when he undertook the writing of reading books for children. In addition to school texts, he included books that would be useful and functional, with clear and simple language. As early as 1839, he made known the first works of his Librería de los niños cubanos. The collection was characterized by the heterogeneity of the topics covered, which reflect the aspirations and needs of the Creole bourgeoisie.

Judging by the reprints, Juan Bautista Sagarra appears among the most published authors: his Librería de los niños cubanos collection has 18 books.

The rest of his works includes posthumous eulogies, funeral orations, numerous class opening speeches, chronologies, biographical studies, and translations from French. His Apuntes sobre Agrimensura Legal remained unpublished.

Juan Bautista Sagarra, in his pedagogical activity, expresses innovative conceptions regarding education, didactics, school organization, and educational principles, despite the excessive moralism present in some of his books and speeches.

His notable educational work and as a publisher in the eastern region of the Island, his pedagogical approaches similar to those sustained by other educators of national rank, united with the concern and love for his country, allowed him to transcend the local framework of his existence and work.

He traveled through the United States, Jamaica, and Spain. He died on May 29, 1871, at the age of 65.