Don Pedro Albizu Campos (September 12, 1891 – April 21, 1965) was a Puerto Rican patriot and the leading figure in the Puerto Rican independence movement.
Albizu Campos was the president and spokesperson of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party from 1930 until his death in the 1965. He was imprisoned for many years by the U.S. Federal Government, on multiple occasions, in both the United States and Puerto Rico, on charges that included seditious conspiracy. He died shortly after his release from federal prison, from medical conditions created by the imprisonment itself. Because of his profound patriotism and oratorical skill, he was hailed as El Maestro (The Teacher). He was the first Puerto Rican to graduate from Harvard Law School.
Albizu Campos' legacy has been compared to that American revolutionist Patrick Henry, Native American war leaders Chief Crazy Horse and Osceola, American abolitionists David Walker, John Brown, Frederick Douglass, and Nat Turner, American civil rights leaders Ida Barnett Wells and W.E.B. Dubois, and to others, including anti-apatheid leader Nelson Mandela, for his quest for freedom and justice for his people.
Read more about Pedro Albizu Campos: Early Years, Education, Historical Context, United States "Manifest Destiny", Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Leadership, Cancer Research Manuscript, Early Nationalist Efforts, First Arrest, Passage of Law 53, Second Arrest, Later Years and Death, The FBI Files On Albizu Campos, Legacy