Center for Puerto Rican Studies-Centro

Get ready for our March lineup of events celebrating history, identity, and creative expression!

📚 Library & Archives Lunch Hour: Ibrahim González Papers
🎨 Diasporic Collage: Puerto Rico & the Survival of a People Opening Night
🌀 Centro X Cumbre – Sites Of Black Memory: Our Ancestors, Archives, And Arts

Click here to RSVP! → https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/events/list/

📸 Photo of Ibrahim Gonzalez in the WBAI studio. Ibrahim Gonzalez Papers. CENTRO Library & Archives
📸 Photo Credit: Puerto Rican contingent of the Hispanic Festival, San Francisco Bomba Collective, San Francisco, CA, 1981
📸 Art by Josué E. Oquendo Natal

Celebrate with CENTRO and Nuyorican Poets Cafe!

Join us for an evening of spoken word, poetry, and connection in the heart of El Barrio. Recite your favorite poems, discover new voices, and explore the rich CENTRO archival poetry collection. Plus, enjoy some delicious frituras and so much more!

Click here to RSVP! → https://ow.ly/ElTk50V72my

📸 Miguel Algarín Papers. Performers at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Center for Puerto Rican Studies Library & Archives, Hunter College, CUNY.

Today marks the 108th anniversary of the Jones-Shafroth Act, granting U.S. citizenship to anyone born in Puerto Rico on or after April 11, 1899.

In the Spring of 2017, CENTRO published a CENTRO Journal exploring and analyzing the act and its aftermaths. In this article, titled “The Unresolved Constitutional Issues of Puerto Rican Citizenship,” Rogers M. Smith explores the shortcomings of citizenship for Puerto Ricans living in the archipelago.

Rogers M. Smith centers his research on constitutional law, American political thought, and modern legal and political theory, with special interests in questions of citizenship, race, ethnicity and gender. He is the author or co-author of 9 books and numerous articles. His 1997 book, Civic Ideals: Conflicting Citizenship in U.S. History, was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History.

Purchase the Spring 2017 CENTRO Journal focused on the Jones Act → https://centropr-store.com/centro-journal-vol-xxix-no-i-spring-2017/

, March 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act, extending U.S. statutory citizenship to Puerto Ricans. This legislation amended the Foraker Act of 1900, which had established a civil government for Puerto Rico after two years of military rule. The Jones-Shafroth Act marked a modest increase in Puerto Rico’s political autonomy, particularly through the creation of a fully elected legislature.

As a result, Puerto Rico remained—and continues to be—subject to the plenary powers of the U.S. Congress, as reaffirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. While Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico gained U.S. citizenship, this did not change the political status of the island. Puerto Rico remains an “unincorporated” territory of the U.S., with Puerto Ricans living in the archipelago still unable to vote in federal elections, including for President, Vice President, or Senators but can elect a resident commissioner, Puerto Rico’s sole representative in Congress. The act did, however, allow for free travel between Puerto Rico and the U.S. and placed Puerto Ricans on nominally equal footing with other U.S. citizens in the 48 states.

Additionally, the act granted the U.S. President the power to veto Puerto Rico’s laws, while Congress retained the authority to review and overturn legislation passed by the Puerto Rican Legislature, continuing to undermine the island’s self-determination.

In turn, the form of U.S. citizenship created for Puerto Ricans living in the archipelago means that “Puerto Rican citizenship remains a form of second-class citizenship that should be transformed” (The Unresolved Constitutional Issues of Puerto Rican Citizenship by Rogers M. Smith, Spring 2017 CENTRO Journal).

Purchase the Spring 2017 CENTRO Journal guest edited by Charles R. Venator-Santiago and Edgardo Meléndez exploring U.S. Citizenship in Puerto Rico: One Hundred Years After the Jones Act —> https://centropr-store.com/centro-journal-vol-xxix-no-i-spring-2017/

�📸 The Jones–Shafroth Act (39 Stat. 951-968) / photo courtesy Jane Fitzgerald, National Archives and Records Administration.
📸 U.S. Capitol
📸 The New York Times

Sources:
CENTRO Journal vol. XXIX, no. I, Spring 2017
Library of Congress

, March 1, 1954, four Puerto Rican Nationalists, Lo**ta Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irvin Flores Rodríguez, and Andrés Figueroa Cordero, opened fire from the spectators' gallery of the US Capitol while unfurling the Puerto Rican flag and shouting "¡Viva Puerto Rico libre!" The gunfire injured five congressmen, one of them critically.

At the time, the nature of the relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S. government was deeply contested since its occupation in 1898. Both the 1950 Nationalist Uprising in Puerto Rico and the 1954 attack on Congress sought to counteract the U.S. government’s attempts to conceal the ongoing colonial nature of Puerto Rico’s status from the international community.

In U.S. v. Lebrón, et al., 222 F.2d 532 (2nd Cir. 1955), a federal circuit court upheld the grand jury’s indictment of 17 members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, including the four who attacked the U.S. House of Representatives. All were found guilty of “seditious conspiracy,” a charge that involves conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government by force, but does not necessarily require evidence of any specific violent acts.

“The four gunmen were tried and sentenced to more than 49 years in federal prison. Cordero, terminally ill, had his sentence commuted on humanitarian grounds by President Jimmy Carter in October 1977 and died in 1979. President Carter granted clemency for the remaining three later in 1979. Lebrón, the alleged ringleader and lone woman shooter, went on to become a revered figure among pro-independence advocates, and died in 2010. Miranda died on March 2, 2020.

Today, bullet holes from the shooting are still visible in the House Chamber. (Library of Congress)

Click here to watch our symposium from last March titled "The Puerto Rican Radical Tradition" https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvhJBamtYzrWZffAQMLttVLc0B_-ywF0S&feature=shared

📸Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero, Lo**ta Lebron, and Irving Flores Rodriquez, March 5, 1954. (AP)
📸Associated Press
📸George Skadding/Life Picture Collection/Getty Images
📸Hartford Courant (Hartford, CT), September 7, 1979, p. 1
📸Photo from a Scrapbook, Victor Fernández Fragoso Papers
📸Bilingual flyer of the Comité Lo**ta Lebrón, CENTRO Records

Today marks the beginning of Women's History Month!

From decolonial thinkers, political powerhouses, and artists to innovating researchers and revolutionary writers, the impact of Puerto Rican Women in Puerto Rico and the Diaspora has inspired generations.

📸Sylvia de Villard. Photographer Unknown. Antonia Pantoja Papers. CENTRO Library & Archives at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College
📸Ángela María Dávila Malave. Courtesy
📸Antonia Pantoja Papers. Photographer Unknown.
📸Julia de Burgos. Photographer Unknown.
📸Pura Belpré. Pura Belpré Papers.
📸Lo**ta Lebron. Carlos Ortiz Papers.
📸Leaders of the Young Lords Women’s Caucus, Iris Morales, Denise Oliver, Nydia Mercado, and Lulu Carreras. Photographer: Michael Abramson.
📸Luisa Capetillo. Photographer Unknown.
📸Sylvia Rexach. Photographer Unknown. Archivo general de Puerto Rico.

Did you know that Nuyoricans helped reshape Puerto Rican culture in the 1970s? Their influence extended beyond sports, impacting music, fashion, and the way Puerto Ricans understood their identity.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, Puerto Ricans who had grown up in New York—known as Nuyoricans—began returning to the island. They brought with them a distinct cultural style, speaking English or Spanglish, dressing in New York fashion, and introducing new ways of thinking. Their arrival sparked both fascination and resistance.

Nuyorican influence wasn’t limited to sports. The iconic Afro hairstyle, a symbol of Black pride and resistance in the U.S., became more visible in Puerto Rico thanks to Nuyorican athletes. Their presence in the media helped normalize and popularize the look, even as it faced pushback in other cultural spaces.

However, while the Afro was embraced in sports and Afro-Caribbean music, it wasn’t as accepted in mainstream entertainment. For example, singer Lucecita Benítez adopted the Afro and took bold political stances, which led to her being blacklisted from the music industry.

Click here to read more on our AfroCENTRO Reader! → https://ow.ly/O0l750V8tZ5

Lose yourself in a collage of the overlapping histories of colonialism, resistance, and survival of Puerto Ricans on the opening night of CENTRO's newest exhibition, “Diasporic Collage: Puerto Rico and the Survival of a People.”

On view through September 2025, this exhibition explores Puerto Rican survival and community—both on the archipelago and in the diaspora—through the lens of collage.

Featuring works by:
La Vaughn Belle, Rebel Betty, Mónica Ching, Frank Espada, Alia Farid, Glorimar Garcia, Daniel Lind Ramos, María Martínez-Cañas, Luis Rivera Jiménez, Edra Soto, Brenda Torres-Figueroa, and Nitza Tufiño.

Photography and collage unite to tell stories of migration, resistance, and cultural celebration. They challenge the "melting pot" narrative, embracing instead a collage of roots, connections, and experiences.

Click here to RSVP for March 13th! → https://ow.ly/Xum650V78HZ

📸 Puerto Rican contingent of the Hispanic Festival, San Francisco Bomba Collective, San Francisco, CA, 1981

Looking to expand your collection of books for pa’ los nenes? Check out these beautiful and moving picture books by and about Afro-Boricuas!

📖Kicks in the Sky by C.G. Esperanza
📖Red, Yellow, Blue (and a Dash of White, Too!) by C.G. Esperanza
📖Boogie Boogie, Y’all by C.G. Esperanza
📖Grandma’s Records by Eric Velasquez
📖Grandma’s Gift by Eric Velasquez
📖Pelo bueno by Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro
📖Isabella’s Hair and How She Learned to Love It by Marshalla Ramos and illustrated by Michael Murphy
📖Life Doesn’t Frighten Me by Maya Angelou with paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat
📖The Life of Basquiat by Patty Rodriguez & Ariana Stein with art by Citali Reyes
📖Octopus Stew by Eric Velasquez
📖Plátanos Are Love by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris and illustrated by Mariyah Rahman
📖Pura’s Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories by Annette
📖The Journey of Pura Belpré’s Tales by Manuel Antonio Morán and illustrated by Abdel de la Campa
📖Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré by Anika Aldamuy Denise and illustrations by Paola Escobar
📖Pitu le baila al mar by Gama Valle and illustrations by Yamel Figueroa
📖When Julia Danced Bomba by Raquel M. Ortiz and illustrations by Flor de Vita
📖!Mambo Mucho Mambo! The Dance that Crossed Color Lines by Dean Robbins and illustrations by Eric Velasquez
📖Looking for Bongo by Eric Velasquez
📖Window Fishing by DK Dyson and illustrations by Rudy Gutierrez
📖Vicki and a Summer of Change by Raquel M. Ortiz & Iris Morales and art by Sabrina Cintron, Eliana Falcón, and Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez
📖Sofi and the Magic, Musical Mural by Raquel M. Ortiz and illustrations by Maria Dominguez
📖Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates by Jonah Winter and illustrations by Raul Colón
📖Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrations by Eric Velasquez

Have any books you’d like to add to the list? Mention them in the comments section below 👇

Reminder!

Call for Contributors: Special Issue of CENTRO Journal!

CENTRO invites scholars, creatives, and activists to submit contributions for a special issue of CENTRO Journal titled "New Histories of Health, Care Work, and Healthcare Activism in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and the United States" (to be published September 2026).

This special issue will bring into dialogue new scholarship on the history of health, care work, and healthcare activism in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and relevant Latinx communities in the United States since the late nineteenth century.

Topics can include:
- Health and wellness
- Healthcare activism
- Reproductive justice
- Social movements
- Feminisms
- Climate justice
- Policing and incarceration

Abstract Submission Deadline: March 17, 2025.

Click here to learn more and submit your abstract. https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/opportunities/call-for-papers-summer-2026-centro-journal/

📸 Rosaura Rodríguez
“Buscando el batey de Mameyes” (2024)
Watercolor and graphite on watercolor paper
35 individual 6”x6” squares of watercolor paper
Assembled / full size: 42”x30"

Today is Digital Learning Day!

Recently, we released lesson plans on the topic of Antonia Pantoja, to accompany our exhibition on her life and accomplishments on view in the CENTRO Library & Archives reading room.

This particular lesson plan for grades 6-8 is currently available to download on our website for free! Whether you're in the classroom or engaging with your community, this resource offers a window to learn more about this irreplaceable community leader.

Tag a teacher or a community leader below that you think would be interested in this lesson plan!

Click here to download the lesson plan now! https://ow.ly/6af750V2KUY

📸 All photos are from the Antonia Pantoja Papers at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies Library & Archives.

In this excerpt from an article in our AfroCENTRO Reader titled “Un hombre (negro) del pueblo: José Celso Barbosa and the Puerto Rican ‘Race’ Toward Whiteness,” Miriam Jiménez Román examines the erasure and silencing of Afro-Boricuas and the Black experience in the Puerto Rican community.

Miriam Jiménez Román (1951-2020) was a Puerto Rican scholar, activist, and author whose work had an indelible impact on Afro-Latiné culture and discussions around Latinidad in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Her critically acclaimed anthology, co-edited alongside Juan Flores, “The Afro-Latin@ Reader: History & Culture in the United States” won the 2011 American Book Award.

You can read the full article in our AfroCENTRO Reader for free, which was conceived as an accompanying piece to the Spring 2025 special issue of the CENTRO Journal, titled “Water Proof: olas de memoria.”

Access the AfroCENTRO Reader --> https://bit.ly/3SR8slz

📢 Reminder: Final Week to Apply to Summer Research Fellowships.

Applications Open: 2025 Rooted and Relational Summer Research Fellowships!

CENTRO invites scholars, writers, and faculty to apply for the 2025 Rooted and Relational Summer Research Fellowships. This opportunity offers a three-month residency (June–August 2025) for researchers to engage with CENTRO’s archival collections under the theme “Archives: Memory & the Present Past of Puerto Rico.” Two fellowships of $5,000 will be awarded, with one prioritizing research on the Jesús Colón Papers and the other open to any collection housed at the CENTRO Library & Archives.

This year’s theme explores the power of archives as both concept and practice, inviting researchers to reflect on memory, preservation, and the Puerto Rican experience. From feminist and q***r perspectives to community and Afro-Boricua archives, this fellowship is a unique opportunity to connect history, theory, and practice while envisioning Boricua futures.

Applicants must be over 21 and able to work at the CENTRO Library & Archives in New York City for at least 10 days during the residency. Fellows will receive workspace, personalized support, and the chance to share their work at a CENTRO event in Fall 2025.

The deadline to apply is March 1, 2025, at 11:59 PM.

Click here to learn more and apply! → centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/opportunities/rooted-relational-summer-2025-research-fellowship-open-call/

"Without ANIMAL FIERO Y TIERNO, one cannot understand the texture of Boricua affections, the nature of our intimacies, or our relationship to beauty and hardship, to love, and to la lucha..." – Mayra Santos-Febres

Join us as we celebrate the iconic Afro-feminist and Afro-Caribbean poet and visual artist, Ángela María Dávila Malavé. Her masterpiece, ANIMAL FIERO Y TIERNO (1977), a delicate force of rhythm and powerful expression, has finally been translated into English for the first time, complete with never-before-seen unpublished materials!

Featuring a conversation with Roque Raquel Salas Rivera, Puerto Rican Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, who has brought this work to English and Cristina Pérez Díaz, CENTRO’s Managing Editor for CENTRO Press, as we explore the beauty and significance of Ángela’s legacy.

Click here to RSVP! → https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/event/cafecito-con-angela-maria-davila-translating-animal-fiero-y-tierno/

📸 Unknown. Ángela María Dávila Malavé, México, 1981. Courtesy of Angela's family.

, February 21, 1944, Ángela María Dávila Malavé, an Afro-feminist poet and visual artist, was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico. Her work explored themes of love, relationships, and womanhood, with a deep connection to her Afro-Caribbean identity. Dávila’s writing was influenced by figures such as Julia de Burgos, Clara Lair, Sylvia Rexach, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and she was an important member of the “Generación del 60,” a revolutionary group of Puerto Rican poets.

She made significant contributions to the “Revista Guajana” and later went on to publish works such as “Animal fiero y tierno” (1977) and “la querencia” (2006), which was published posthumously. In addition to her poetry, Dávila was also a visual artist and singer, collaborating with her husband, poet José María Lima, on works that combined poetry and art.

Last year, CENTRO published the first ever translation of ANIMAL FIERO Y TIERNO into English by Poet Laureate of Philadelphia Roque Raquel Salas Rivera with unpublished materials.

Get your copy today! https://centropr-store.com/animal-fiero-y-tierno/