Juan de Pareja: Life and Legacy Early Life and Enslavement Born in Antequera, Spain, around 1610, Juan de Pareja began life under the constraints of slavery. His mother was an enslaved African-descended woman, and his father a Spanish man. He was identified as a “morisco,” a term referring to individuals of mixed heritage – in his case, likely both African and Spanish ancestry. Pareja entered the household of Diego Velázquez, o…