Julia de Burgos

 Julia de Burgos is a very well known Puerto Rican poet who advocated for the independence movement of Puerto Rico. Her writings and poetry supported her civil rights activism including feminism.  She grew up as one of 13 children in Carolina, Puerto Rico. She received her college degree at University of Havana, the capital of Cuba. Some of her most famous pieces are "Poema en Veinte Surcos" (Poem in Twenty Furrows) and "Canción de la Verdad Sencilla" (Song of the Simple Truth). In her poetry, she often refers to Puerto Rico's past encounters with imperialism, so I was curious and did some research on Puerto Rican history. Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus of Spain in 1493, the indigenous group living there were called the Taínos. They lived in villages across Puerto Rico for many years, and their encounter with the Spanish ultimately led to their extinction. The Spanish were thrilled with the large amounts of gold found in the rivers, so the name changed from "San Juan Batista" to "Puerto Rico". Spain used the land for the purposes of rich agriculture and a millitary outpost. It was not until 1897 when Puerto Rico gained its independence from Spain, however under the provisions of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded the island to the United States, where it still remains a U.S territory today.  Spain had lost the Spanish American War, where the Spanish had been colonizing Cuba.  For business entities,  the sake of Cuban Independence, and the sunken USS Maine, the U.S decided to go to war with Spain for a short period and won. In my next post, I will read one of Julia de Burgos' poems, I am excited to dive deeper into her thoughts on this history.