Carlos Albizu Miranda - Early Years

Early Years

Albizu Miranda, cousin of the Puerto Rican Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, was born in Ponce, the second largest city in Puerto Rico located in the southern region of the island. His family moved to New York City where he received his primary and secondary education. Albizu Miranda and his family returned to Puerto Rico and he enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico where in 1943 he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education with a major on psychology and a minor in history.

Albizu Miranda joined the United States Army upon the outbreak of World War II and served overseas. After he was honorably discharged from the military, Albizu Miranda went to work for the Veteran's Administration, first as a psychometrician and later as Chief of the Vocational Rehabilitation and Education Center in Puerto Rico. He met and married Ermida Garcia Muñoz and in 1950, they moved to Minnesota, where Albizu Miranda took advantage of his G.I. Bill benefits and earned his Masters degree Experimental Psychology in 1951 from the University of Minnesota. He continued his academic education and in 1953 earned his Doctorate degree (Ph.D.) in Clinical Psychology from Purdue University located in West Lafayette, Indiana, becoming one of the first Hispanics to earn a Ph.D. in Psychology in the United States. His internship in Clinical Psychology was completed at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Marion, Indiana.