Julia de Burgos

Julia de Burgos (February 17, 1914 – July 6, 1953) was a Puerto Rican poet, journalist and teacher. She was a Puerto Rican Nationalist. She advocated for civil rights for women, African Americans, and Afro-Caribbean people.

 Poetry career 
In 1938, at the age of twenty-four, Julia de Burgos published her first book of poems titled Poema en veinte surcos (Poem in Twenty Furrows) by herself. She traveled around Puerto Rico selling copies. She was raising money to help cover the cost of her mother’s cancer treatments. Her poems discuss themes of feminism, social justice, slavery, and Puerto Rican independence. 

She famously wrote, "I Am the Life, the Strength, the Woman."  

She influenced the poets of the Nuyorican movement, including Victor Hernández Cruz, Giannina Braschi, and Pedro Pietri.

She died of alcoholism in an East Harlem hospital in New York City. 

Today she is called a Puerto Rican icon. She is one of Puerto Rican greatest figures in Puerto Rican poetry.

 Poems 
De Burgos wrote Poemas exactos a mi misma (1937) which she never published. She published Poema en veinte surcos (1938), and Canción de la verdad sencilla (1939).  Her final poetry collection El mar y tú: otros poemas (1954) was published after her death. 

 Honors and legacy 
Her honors include awards from the Institute of Puerto Rican Literature. She has an honorary doctorate from the University of Puerto Rico. Many schools, public parks, and cultural centers are named after her, including: the Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center in Cleveland, the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center in New York, and Julia de Burgos Park in Chicago. 

The Julia de Burgos postage stamp was issued on September 14, 2010, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the 26th stamp in the United States Literary Arts series.

 Related pages 
 Puerto Rican poetry
 Caribbean poetry
 Victor Hernández Cruz
 Giannina Braschi 

 Further Reading 

 Rosario, Vanessa Pérez. Becoming Julia de Burgos: The Making of a Puerto Rican Icon. University of Illinois Press, 2014.
 Stavans, Ilan, ed.  The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature. WW Norton, 2011.
 Nieves, Myrna. "Breaking Ground: Anthology of Puerto Rican Women Writers in New York 1980–2012." Editorial Campana, 2012.

 References 

Category:Puerto Rican poets
Category:1914 births
Category:1953 deaths