About

This site focuses on the life and times of Julia de Burgos. Julia de Burgos was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico on February 17th, 1914. She led her life as a poet amidst the various literary, artistic, and intellectual atmospheres of the Hispanic Caribbean and the Harlem Renaissance. Her poems address themes from Black consciousness, (despite the persistent whitening of her identity), to her experience as a woman ostracized from patriarchal, polite society. During her time in Harlem, she became involved in anti-imperialist efforts, which can be seen through her involvement in the socialist paper Pueblos Hispanos (1943-1944). Burgos awed figures from Dominican president Juan Bosch to poet Pablo Neruda, but she died in obscurity, buried in the potter’s field at Hart’s Island, NYC. She was soon retrieved by her relatives and was brought back to Carolina to be buried, and she is now recognized as an icon in Puerto Rican and Latin American literary history.

Digital Julia de Burgos aims to maintain awareness of Julia de Burgos’ legacy by sharing her story and her work in accessible and interactive ways.

Digital Julia de Burgos is managed by undergraduate student and Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow Angelina Coronado.
Contact: acorona001@citymail.cuny.edu


Collection Policy

Digital Julia de Burgos is interested in all scholarship, objects, texts, and ephemera that pertain to Julia de Burgos and the times in which she lived.

Right now the collection is focused specifically on…


Finding Aid

Dominican Republic

Harlem, New York

Havana, Cuba

Puerto Rico