@centropr
🗃️ Library & Archive dedicated to Puerto Ricans in the US 📖 CENTRO Journal 📝 Research & Educational Resources 🖼️ Exhibitions 🎟️ Free Community Events Learn more at centropr.hunter.cuny.edu
Join us for a conversation on the Fall 2025 issue of CENTRO Journal focused on Puerto Rican migration. From long-standing communities in New York City and Chicago to growing populations in Florida, Georgia, Ohio & North Carolina, the geography of the diaspora is shifting.
https://ow.ly/Jrfc50YoP2Q
Get ready for our March lineup of events celebrating our history and creative expression!
RSVP now! → https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/events/list/
The CENTRO Journal Fall 2025 is now available! The Fall 2025 issue explores how Puerto Rican diasporic communities are reshaped through race, place, art, migration, aging, & digital spaces.
https://ow.ly/PUeW50Ymxgk
Open Call: Writings on Diasporican Visual Artists! CENTRO invites essays on contemporary diasporic Puerto Rican visual artists for the DAM initiative to be published in our online magazine, RicanWritings.
Submissions open Mar 11, 2026
Deadline May 10, 11:59 PM ET
https://ow.ly/QSmi50Ym4sJ
Julia de Burgos, Yolanda Sánchez, Antonia Pantoja, & other Puerto Rican feminists shaped traditions of community-centered activism tied to national liberation. Join Vanessa Pérez-Rosario & Emma Amador for a panel examining how their work confronted patriarchy & colonialism.
https://ow.ly/ttzu50YhQgU
New on RicanWritings: Daliana A. Otero Muñoz explores Yanira Castro’s immersive performances that blend art, ritual, and memory.
Read more! → https://ow.ly/xErb50Y8h5G
Mark your calendars for the launch of “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance”, presented in collaboration with El Museo! This book by Vanessa Díaz & Petra Rivera Rideau explores Bad Bunny's rise & its impact on PR politics.
RSVP here! → https://ow.ly/LB3K50Y9pW1
#OnThisDay, Feb 3, 1964, 464,000 NYC students—including Black & Puerto Rican—boycotted school to protest segregation. Led by Bayard Rustin, they demanded quality, integrated education. It was one of the largest Civil Rights demonstrations.
Learn more: https://crdl.usg.edu/events/ny_school_boycott
Join us this February for two virtual events! ☕️ First, Cafecito con… José Cruz on Puerto Rican songs. Then, Cafecito con… Alison Rand on sentido.
RSVP here! → https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/events/
New on RicanWritings! In “More than meets the I,” José Juan González explores Nora Maité Nieves’s work and how architectural elements shape memory and identity in Puerto Rico and the diaspora.
Click here to read the full article! → https://ow.ly/KarL50Y4vLK
New on RicanWritings! In “Un encuentro en el archipiélago,” Prof. Natasha Sagardía Beltrán reflects on political resistance in an austerity-stricken university through the work of artist Jomary Ortega.
Read the full article here! → https://ow.ly/5qgU50Y5wP1
Join author Alison Rand for a conversation on sentido, a word that holds sense, feeling, awareness and direction. Rand reflects on how culture, identity, and care shape how we understand ourselves and the systems through which we move.
Click here to RSVP! → https://ow.ly/mzIa50Y4XAr
Join us for Cafecito con… Professor José Cruz on February 12 at 6:00 PM, moderated by Elena Martínez, as they discuss “Con la música a otra parte”, a book that blends fiction and reality to explore the stories behind iconic Puerto Rican songs.
Click here to RSVP! → https://ow.ly/WyiS50Y4qTM
#OnThisDay, January 24, 1874, Arturo Schomburg was born in San Mateo de Cangrejos, Puerto Rico. His dedication to preserving Black history led to the creation of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Read Adriana Jordán Banuchi's analysis of Isabela Miñana Lovelace’s quilt as a reflection of disaster and colonial power in post-Hurricane María Puerto Rico.
Read more here! →https://ow.ly/us7750Y1Xzb
Join us Jan 21 at 11:30 AM for a roundtable on the exhibition “Revelando San Juan Hill” at José M. Lázaro Library, featuring Dr. Yomaira Figueroa-Vásquez, Cristel M. Jusino Díaz, and Magdalena Ramírez Zapata. Don't miss it!
New on RicanWritings 🖋️
In “The Right to Exist: Pablo Delano’sReclamation of Colonial History,” María de Lourdes Javier Rivera explores how Delano's work confronts Puerto Rican colonial existence.
Click here to read the full article! → https://ow.ly/770X50XWS8u
New on Ricanwritings! 🖋️
In his essay “Be Real…,” Juan José Roque-Giraud explores how Gabriella Torres-Ferrer’s mirror-based works challenge ideas of authenticity, identity, and self-performance in digital culture.
Click here to read the full article! → https://ow.ly/yN6Q50XXgHt
#OnThisDay in 1839, Eugenio María de Hostos, Puerto Rican educator, writer, and human rights advocate, was born. A champion of liberation, unity, and education, his legacy lives on through Hostos Community College in the Bronx.
New on RicanWritings: In "El roto como retrato," Melissa M. Ramos Borges analyzes how humor and irreverence challenge traditional Puerto Rican portraiture in Márquez Jorge's portraits.
Read more here! → https://ow.ly/VPmB50XSFXU
🚨 Deadline extended!
Join CENTRO for “A Sea of Islands: U.S. Territories in Relation,” a symposium on shared histories and struggles in U.S. territories.
Deadline: January 19, 2026
Click here to apply! → https://ow.ly/Elt650XT9RL
#OnThisDay, December 28, 1969, The Young Lords took over the 1st Spanish United Methodist Church, known as The People's Church, to provide services to the community like a breakfast program, health testing, a daycare with spanish lessons, PR history lessons, and peformances.
#OnThisDay, December 22, 1895, the Puerto Rican flag was adopted by a group of exiled Puerto Ricans and Cubans in NYC at Chimney Hall symbolizing their commitment to Puerto Rican independence and resistance against Spanish rule.
CENTRO is excited to announce the 5 authors selected for the Lydia García Author Fund!
Michelle Santiago Cortés
Francisco Félix Canales Dalmau
Dr. Jessica N. Pabón
David Arroyo
Peggy Robles-Alvarado
Each receives $1,000 to support their creative process. Learn more! → https://ow.ly/gNEF50XMvNM
We interviewed Sonia Manzano, narrator of the Diasporican Educational Program, to discuss the importance of this new curriculum. Our next step is translating the full curriculum into Spanish.
Donate https://ow.ly/Xpor50XMzpr
Learn more https://diasporicaned.org/
#OnThisDay, Dec 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris ended the Cuban-Spanish-American War, marking a key moment in Puerto Rico's history. It granted the U.S. control over PR, the Philippines & Guam, while ensuring Cuba's independence from Spain. This treaty shifted PR into a new phase of colonialism.
#OnThisDay, Dec. 8, 1895, the Puerto Rico Section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party was founded in NYC, uniting Puerto Rico & Cuba in the fight for independence. Guided by Dr. Ramón E. Betances, it introduced 🇵🇷's flag & marked the diaspora's vital role in liberation efforts.
Looking to expand your reading list? Join CENTRO for a virtual Library & Archives Lunch Hour on December 2nd! We're highlighting the newest must reads in Puerto Rican Studies.
Click here to RSVP! → https://ow.ly/Fsy350Xt5xk
Don't miss this incredible panel discussion! Moderated by Jessica Lopez Lyman, we'll hear from muralists Olivia Levins Holden and Colectivo Moriviví about "artivism" where art meets activism!
Click here to RSVP! → https://ow.ly/YPpA50XsXTe
#OnThisDay, November 17, 1955, Photographer Justo A. Martí captured this iconic photo of The Puerto Rico Theater which served as as a family entertainment center and concert venure before the advent of Spanish television.
