Sandra María Esteves is one of the few female voices that was part of the well-known Nuyorican poetry movement during its early years in the 1970s in New York City.
Like many other members of the 1930s generation, she was known for defending teaching in Spanish, the vernacular of Puerto Ricans, at a time in the Island’s history when English was imposed as the main language in the public schools.
One of the most tireless defenders of independence for Puerto Rico under Spanish colonial rule, Sotero Figueroa was a mulatto artisan who, in addition to working as a typographer, was also a journalist, poet and playwright.
The publication of her autobiographical memoir When I was Puerto Rican (1993) immediately gained Esmeralda Santiago critical attention as a talented and deliberate narrator of women’s oppressive experiences in a sexist cultural and social environment.
The name of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (better known as Arthur A. Schomburg in the U.S.) is probably better known to the African American community than among Puerto Ricans.