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Don Pedro Albizu Campos: The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.
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Published 2 years ago
Pedro Albizu Campos (1891 – 1965) was a Puerto Rican attorney, social activist, and politician known for his work in the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico. He was the first Puerto Rican Harvard graduate, where much of his nationalist and independence ideals developed. Albizu Campos is a symbol of Puerto Rican liberation from colonialism and inspired many to fight for independence.

Pedro Albizu Campos was born September 12, 1891 in Barrio Tenerías, a rural sector in Ponce, Puerto Rico. He had a difficult upbringing as his mother was a daughter of slaves who died when he was young, and his Basque merchant father neglected him throughout his childhood.

Nevertheless, Albizu Campos went to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Vermont with a scholarship. In 1913, he transferred to Harvard University to continue his degree while also majoring in literature. Albizu Campos’ time at Harvard was filled with many extracurricular activities that provided insight to him in his fight for Puerto Rican independence.

Albizu Campos started his public activism during his university years. He was involved with issues regarding Latin America and is known to have been influenced by Rabindranath Tagore, a visiting Hindu poet, and Éamon De Valera, an Irish revolutionary leader. The last was important as the Irish revolutionary movement held similarities with the Puerto Rican colonial struggle. Albizu Campos supported the Irish independence movement fully through council organization, conferences, and debates. In 1922, he would consult in the drafting of the Constitution of the Irish Free State.

Albizu Campos also entered the ROTC while at Harvard, where he studied Military Science. He believed that military organization was necessary for Puerto Ricans to obtain a defensive structure. He volunteered in World War I and was sent to Puerto Rico as he had requested, and there he gained the rank of First Lieutenant and organized a company of Home Guards (a volunteer unit). After his discharge in 1919, he returned to Harvard to complete his studies.

By 1921, he had completed his Chemical Engineer major, obtained a degree in Philosophy and Letters, Military Science, and gained enough credits to receive a Law Degree. Thus, becoming the first Puerto Rican to graduate from Harvard.

Despite all his accolades, his university experience was mired by economic struggle and racial discrimination. To cover his living expenses and part of his tuition, he had to work as a tutor, teacher, and newspaper writer. Albizu Campos was supposed to graduate in 1921 with his law school class with the highest honors, but a professor delayed his exams. He had to take them in Puerto Rico in 1922 and finally received his diploma in 1923. He was fluent in English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin, and Portuguese, skills that opened doors for him in the U.S. government, but Albizu Campos rejected them for Puerto Rico.

His new political era was marked by his presidential selection in the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in 1930. With the electoral elections in sight for November 1932, the party centered its views on securing positions that were determined by public votes. They had public meetings, rallies, published their own newspapers, and Albizu Campos campaigned on the radio. However, by the end of 1931, Nationalist writings and broadcasts were censored on the Island. In the end, the Nationalist Party only succeeded in obtaining five thousand votes.

The 1930s was the decade that Albizu Campos solidified himself as a supporter of worker’s rights. From farmer strikes, high gasoline prices and low-quality flour protests, and ultimately the halt of the sugar industry, he always achieved the demands.

By 1934, the police force in Puerto Rico was...
[more...] https://boricua.com/pedro-albizu-campos/

*Some of the most memorable Don Pedro Albizu Campos quotes:

“As soon as a man takes refuge in fatalism it is because he has stopped thinking.”

“To consult a nation if it wants to be free or not constitutes an offense.”

“A people full of courage and dignity cannot be conquered by any imperialism.”

“Is not worth to be full of wisdom and physical vitality if we lack courage.”

“The youth must defend the country with the weapons of knowledge.”

“There is nothing to gain for those who seek salvation through weapons or money. If you want freedom, you must fight for it.”

“The Mahatma taught us that true power is within us and that freedom must rest first in the soul and will be invincible.”

“Those who do not respect the ashes of their elders are the true corpses.”

“A University is a university and nothing else, without ridiculous limitations which put limits on its universal mission.”

“When tyranny is law, revolution is order.”

“Big is the Empire we battle, but bigger is our right to be free!”

“Homeland means courage and sacrifice.”

*The 1937 Ponce Massacre*:
https://waragainstallpuertoricans.com/the-ponce-massacre/

https://youtu.be/az_3ZKbjxIM
Keywords
discriminationamericacommunismknowledgefederalslaverydebtusuryinterestbanksnationalistlatincentralricopuertopedrocampos

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