Remigio Herrera Adesina was born in Ijesha lands in Ekiti, western Nigeria, according to the 1811 census. In contrast, her marriage certificate lists her birth year as 1816.
Adesina was captured in 1830 and sent to Cuba as a slave. In 1833, her Yoruba birth name Adesina was changed to Remigio Lucumi. Lucumi was a common name for Yoruba slaves in Cuba.
Remigio Herrera Adesina was a slave for thirty years and during those years worked for the Cuban slave owner Don Miguel Antonio Herrera. He gave up his slave name Lucumi and took that of his master Herrera. He was later freed by former slave Carlos Adé in 1850. [irp] Adesina died in Havana, Cuba in 1905.