Julia de Burgos
(She/Her)Julia de Burgos was born in 1914 in Carolina, Puerto Rico and passed away in 1953 in Harlem, New York. She attended public schools in Puerto Rico and obtained her teaching degree from the University of Puerto Rico. In 1934, she worked for the Agencia para la Rehabilitación Económica de Puerto Rico (PRERA) in the town of Comerío, providing food to children and low-income families. Later, in 1935, de Burgos worked briefly as a teacher. De Burgos became active in political movements in 1936, joining the organization Hijas de la Libertad, the feminist branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. She also delivered her famous speech, “La Mujer ante el dolor de la patria,” at the Ateneo Puertorriqueño. In 1939, she traveled to Cuba, where she had the opportunity to meet literary figures such as Juan Marinello and Juan Bosch. In 1940, she moved to New York, New York. Upon her arrival, the newspaper La Prensa interviewed her about her cultural work in the United States. In April of that same year, the Association of Puerto Rican Journalists and Writers honored her at the Wadleigh High School Auditorium. In 1941, she returned to Havana, Cuba to continue her studies in Latin, French, and biology. Her works include Poema en veinte surcos (Imprenta Venezuela, 1938), Canción de la verdad sencilla (1939), and El mar y tú (Puerto Rico Print. and Pub. Co., 1954). Her poetry addressed themes of love, homeland, and feminism.
Works Cited
Fernández, Tomás y Elena Tamaro. “Julia de Burgos”. Biografías y Vidas, 2004, https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/b/burgos_julia.htm.
“Julia de Burgos”. EnciclopediaPR, 29 abril, 2021, https://enciclopediapr.org/content/julia-de-burgos/.
