🧵Let's talk about Vieques, PR and England! From the late 16th century to the 17th century, Vieques found itself at the heart of a debate over whether or not it was ruled by Spanish or English crowns. While the larger island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico was firmly under Spanish colonization, Vieques, a smaller island, was not fully occupied by Spanish forces. The Anguilla people, residing in communities in Puerto Rico, began asserted their claim to Vieques, affectionately calling it "Crab Island." This period marked Vieques as a notorious hub

Black History Month Day 28 (Last day):

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg was a historian, writer and activist. Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico in the year 1874. He moved to NYC in 1891. During his time in NYC he became involved in advocacy movements for Cuban and Puerto Rican independence movements. A few years while being in NYC he co-founded a political club called, “Las Dos Antillas”. In 1900 Schomburg was a clerk at a law firm and then moved up to becoming the head of the Caribbean and Latin American section of the Bankers Trust Company.

Black History Month Day 26!

Cornell Benjamin AKA “Black Benji” was the Peace Ambassador for the NYC street gang the Ghetto Brothers (who were also a talented music group that paved the way for more Puerto Rican representation in hip-hop and rap music). Black Benji was Black and Puerto Rican who’s main responsibility in the gang was to mediate and negotiate peace between NYC gangs. Black Benji was recovered after a long struggle with drug addiction which played a large part in how he negotiated peace treaties and his interactions with other gangs.

Black History Month Day 8!

ISABEL LUBERZA OPPENHEIMER aka as “Isabel la Negra” was a Puerto Rican brothel owner in 1932 and known as “La santa” of the town because of her devotion to the catholic religion. The brothel was named “Elizabeth’s Dancing Place” in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Her brothel was one of the most famous brothels in the Caribbean. However, in the yr 1930, the Puerto Rican government passed a law prohibiting any form of prostitution to “protect” Puerto Rican soldiers from getting STDs before going into war.

Black History Month Day 7!

YOUNG M.A is a rapper, trap artist who is known for her strong lyricism, play on words and her openness in regards to her sexual orientation. Young M.A also known as Katorah Marrero is Jamaican and Puerto Rican born in NYC in 1992. Years later she moved to Virginia where she became the first girl to play in her all male high school football team. Young M.A came to the rap game as the openly-gay, masc, Afro-Puerto Rican rapper that she is. Young She rose to fame in 2016 with her song “OOOUUU” which became the ONLY song by a

Black History Month Day 6!

Celestina Cordero Molina was a free Black woman who was vital to Puerto Rico’s education system. She was a Black educator during the era of savagery in Puerto Rico. Her biggest area of passion was fighting for ALL Puerto Rican girls to have access to a fair and quality education. Celestina’s parents were also a free Black couple who had access to education, they made sure to educate Celestina and her other siblings. In the 19th century about 6% of the island’s population knew how to read and write but the majority were white

Bad Bunny winning album of the year within his own ethnic category is still very much problematic and racist. Despite it being a “win” lmao. This is not me being a stan. I’d say this if Rauw would have won too tbh. And let’s talk about it. 🧵 He opens up the Grammys. If he wasn’t the top performer the Grammys would have never let him open up…that’s 1. The second is you place him in 2 album of the yr categories. One Latin and the other “US” and the thing is he has surpassed all of those people in the US category

Okay: context time and I will be posting sources and such at the *end* and when I have the opportunity to sit in front of my laptop. So, let’s start the 🧵

https://twitter.com/NinaVzqz23/status/1405571173484744705

Unlike US slavery Puerto Rico’s enslavement system functioned differently. First of all, the enslavement system did not run on a racial binary. The Spanish had a very broad understanding of race(ism) (still violent, still anti-Black, still brutal).