Julia de Burgos remains Puerto Rico's greatest literary icon. Her most famous poem, "Grand River of Loiza" has influenced generations of Puerto Rican artists and writers and firmly established her as the finest Puerto Rican poet of the 20th century. De Burgos was born in Puerto Rico in 1914 and moved to New York City where she wrote and struggled in poverty. She died in 1953.
Boricuas, Influential Puerto Rican Writings- An Anthology, edited by Roberto Santiago
One of the best known names among black scholars throughout the world is Arturo Alfonso Schomburg. Less known, however, among both scholars and the general public, is the fact that Schomburg was Puerto Rican. Born in San Juan on January 24, 1874, Schomburg received his early education in Puerto Rico, and later attended college in the Danish West Indies. At college, a white student's comment that the black man had not accomplished anything and never would was vigorously protested by Schomburg who responded with information on what Puerto Ricans of African descent had done.... At the age of 23, Schomburg moved to New York and continued amassing an extraordinary collection of books, manuscripts, etchings, and memorabilia related to the history of black people.... At the time of his death on June 10th 1938, the collection was already recognized as one of the world's most comprehensive compilations of black history...
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY
