It’s #BlackHistoryMonth, and it’s time we talk about some black Puerto Ricans of our nation’s past that deserve to be acknowledged during this month, as well as throughout the year!
1. Catalino “Tite” Curet Alonso
Born and raised in Santurce, his harsh realities echoed the social consciousness of his famous salsa songs that influenced many of the salseros of the late 20th century. Alumni of the UPR, he later worked as a journalist and songwriter in New York City. Singers such as La Lupe, Celia Cruz, Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe, Rubén Blades, and Andy Montañez sang his songs.
2. Adolfina Villanueva
A poor, uneducated black woman who many people referred to as “dura,” or hard in the sense that she was tough; tough enough to have a steady home, a farm and six children with her husband. One day she was confronted by a Mr. Vermundo Quiñones, who allegedly said he was the rightful owner of Adolfina’s property, which had been occupied by her family for almost a century. This man, after trying to legally remove Adolfina out of the land, recurred to the police. On February 6th 1980, Adolfina confronted five sheriffs that wanted to forcefully get her family out on the street. Finally, she grabbed a machete to defend her home and was murdered by one of the policemen who attacked her home. After the policeman went free and unpunished, the family sued the government to which the governor back then, Rafael Hernández Colón, complied.
3. Sylvia Del Villard
She is the founder of the Luis Palés Matos theater in San Juan, choreographer, dancer, actress, and award-winning writer. She was also an outspoken Afro-Puerto Rican activist who fought for the equal rights of Black Puerto Rican artists. In 1968, she founded the Afro-Boricua El Coqui Theater, which was recognized by the Pan-American Association of the New World Festival as the most important authority of Black Puerto Rican culture. Later on, she founded a new theater group called Sininke in New York, which made many presentations in the Museum of Natural History. In 1981, she became the first and only director of the office of the Afro-Puerto Rican affairs of the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture.
4. Celestina Cordero
Celestina was Rafael Cordero’s sister. She founded the first school for girls in San Juan in 1820. Before that, she worked with her brother educating the youth in San Germán. Despite the fact that she was a pioneer in Puerto Rican education, she had to constantly fight to be recognized as an educator because of being a female. Because of this, Celestina Cordero’s work is often overlooked. She didn’t receive the same fanfare upon death as her brother.
5. Maria Elba Torres Muñoz
Born and raised in Cataño, she organized the first conference for afro-descendant people in Puerto Rico in November of 2015. Along with Marta Moreno Vega, she founded the Institute of Afro-Caribbean Traditions in Puerto Rico. She is currently a professor at UPR Río Piedras in the Spanish Department.
6. Rafael Cepeda and Caridad Brenes
Man and wife are both largely responsible for bringing bomba and afro-boricua music out of the woodworks and out into the world. Cepeda was named “Patriarch of the bomba and plena” by the government of P.R. The couple formed the Trapiche Folkloric Group and appeared in the movies Carnival in Puerto Rico, and Felicia and While Puerto Rico Sleeps in the 60s. Later on, the family formed “The Cepeda Family Folkloric Ballet,” which became internationally known and appeared in the movie My Adventure in Puerto Rico.
7. Pedro Albizu Campos
The passionate and multilingual (he spoke 6 languages) ponceño dedicated his life to the fight for independence of Puerto Rico and its people. Albizu Campos graduated from Harvard Law at the top of his class and applied his knowledge to Puerto Rico and its independence organizations. The attorney and politician is considered by many as the father of Puerto Rico and of the Independence Movement.
8. Ana Irma Rivera Lassén
Lassén is an Afro-Puerto Rican attorney who was the head of the Bar Association of Puerto Rico from 2012–2014. She was the first black woman, and third female, to head the organization. She is a feminist and human rights activist, who is also openly lesbian. She has received many awards for her activism, including the Capetillo-Roqué medal from the Puerto Rican Senate, the Martin Luther King/Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Prize, and the Nilita Vientós Gastón Medal. She currently serves on the advisory council to the Program for Equality and Gender Equity of the Puerto Rican Judicial Branch.
9. Mayra Santos Febres
Santos Febres is the first and only internationally recognized black writer from Puerto Rico (Carolina). Her work focuses primarily on themes of diasporic identity, female sexuality, the erotic, gender fluidity, desire, and power. She has also published children’s books and she has been an influence to young writers in Puerto Rico. She is also a community activist who helps bring books and stories to the less fortunate. Among the awards she has won are included, the Letras de Oro award, the Juan Rulfo Story Award and the Rómulo Gallegos Award.
10. Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro
Arroyo Pizarro is one of the only black writers in Puerto Rico who works the theme of black lesbianism. Pizarro wrote Caparazones (2010), the first lesbian fiction novel written in Puerto Rico, published by Editorial Egales in Spain. She is also an activist for Afro-LGBTQ equality. She was recently awarded with a Literary Prize in 2011 from the Puerto Rican Culture Institute. Pizarro also directed the Anthology Cachaperismos, the first Puerto Rican lesbian anthology in the island published in 2010. She was also the Director of Puerto Rican Writers Committee participating in the Puerto Rican Word Festival of 2011 both in Old San Juan and in New York,