From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of notable
Puerto Ricans of significant African ancestry , including visually mixed-race individuals, which represents a significant portion of the Puerto Rican population. It includes people born in or living in the mainland United States. This list contains the names of persons who meet the
Notability criteria , even if the person does not have an article yet. Additions to the list must be listed in alphabetical order by surname.
Each addition to the list must also provide a reliable verifiable source which cites the person's notability and/or the person's link to Puerto Rico, otherwise the name will be removed.
List
Andres "Dres" Vargas Titus - lead rapper of the
alternative hip hop duo
Black Sheep
Randy Ariel Ortiz Acevedo - reggaetón artist, member of the duo "Jowell y Randy"
David Luciano Acosta - reggaetón artist, known as "Baby Ranks"
Ángel Aguilar - rapper
Carlos Alomar - guitarist
Cayetano "Tite" Curet Alonso - composer of over 2,000
salsa songs
[1]
Alani "La La" Anthony - entertainer and actress, MTV VJ
Kellyn Acosta
Carmelo Anthony - former professional basketball player
Rick Avilés - actor and comedian
Lloyd Banks - rapper
Dr.
José Celso Barbosa - medical
physician ,
sociologist , and political leader of Puerto Rico, statehood advocate, first Puerto Rican with a US medical degree
[2]
Dr.
Pilar Barbosa -
educator ,
historian and political activist
[3]
Jean-Michel Basquiat -
Neo-expressionist painter and artist
Pura Belpré - first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City
Wilfred Benítez - boxer; won world championships in three separate weight divisions; youngest world champion in boxing history
[4]
Ángela Bofill - jazz and R&B singer
Juan Boria - poet, writer of the Afro-Caribbean genre of poetry
Dr.
Ramón Emeterio Betances - doctor, abolitionist, revolutionary, poet, and independence advocate, regarded as "El Padre de la Patria" (Father of the Nation)
Víctor Cabrera - reggaetón artist and producer, member of the duo "Luny Tunes"
Iván M. Calderón - boxer
Iván P. Calderón -
Major League Baseball player
Tego Calderón - reggaetón artist
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn - 110-meter hurdles record holder and Olympic gold medallist
José Campeche - Puerto Rican
rococo artist
[5]
Dr.
Pedro Albizu Campos - politician and former leader of the
Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico , which advocated for independence
Juan Morel Campos - composer of
danza
[6]
Dr.
José Ferrer Canales - educator, writer, pro-independence political activist
[7]
Maidel Amador Canales - reggaetón artist, known as "La Sista"
Irene Cara - singer and actress
Ashley Ann Cariño - second black woman to compete in
Miss Universe beauty pageant as Miss Puerto Rico
Orlando "Peruchín" Cepeda - baseball player, inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee
[8]
Pedro "Perucho" Cepeda - baseball player, father of Orlando, considered one of the greatest players of his generation
[9]
Rafael Cepeda - folk musician and composer; patriarch of the Cepeda family; Afro–Puerto Rican folk music, especially bomba.
[10] Related to Pedro and Orlando Cepeda
Nero Chen - professional boxer
[11]
Roberto Clemente Walker - baseball player, first Latin American to be selected and the only current Hall of Famer for whom the mandatory five-year waiting period was waived
[12]
Roberto Clemente, Jr. - baseball broadcaster and former baseball player.
Carlitos Colón - former
WWE wrestler
Carly Colón - WWE wrestler; son of Carlitos Colon
Jesús Colón - writer and politician, known as the "father of the
Nuyorican Movement "
[13]
Michelle Marie Colón - first black woman to compete in
Miss Universe beauty pageant as Miss Puerto Rico
Celestina Cordero - educator, established the first school for girls in San Juan
Rafael Cordero - known as the "father of
public education in Puerto Rico"; self-educated man who provided free schooling to children regardless of race.
[14] Brother of Celestina Cordero
Ismael Cruz Córdova - actor, played Mando on Sesame Street
[15]
Maritza Correia - first Afro–Puerto Rican to be on the USA Olympic swimming team; first black US swimmer to set an American and world swimming record
[16]
Rafael Cortijo - percussionist, bandleader, plena artist, and composer
Eva Cruz -
volleyball player
Víctor Cruz - NFL wide receiver for New York Giants
Wilson Cruz - actor and advocate for gay youth of color
Javier Culson - track and field runner, Olympic bronze medalist who specializes in the
400 metre hurdles
Eddie Dee - reggaetón artist
Neil Degrasse Tyson - astrophysicist
Carlos Delgado - baseball player, Major League Baseball first baseman
[17]
Rubén Díaz, Jr. - politician, current NYC borough president for the Bronx
Rubén Díaz, Sr. - politician
Shabba Doo - dancer
Thomas Dulorme - professional boxer
Nino Escalera - baseball player, first Hispanic in the
Reds franchise
Ángel Espada - boxer; the WBA's world Welterweight champion in 1975-76
Jaime Espinal - professional wrestler
Lucy Fabery - jazz singer, known as "La Muñeca de Chocolate"
Antonio Fargas - actor, known for his roles in 1970s blaxploitation movies
José "Cheo" Feliciano - New York-based composer and singer of
"salsa" and
bolero music
[18]
Ruth Fernández - singer and actress; first Latina singer of romantic music to sing in the
Scandinavian countries ; first Latina to record with a North American band
[19]
Dr.
Loida Figueroa - historian, writer, educator, and one of the founders of the
Puerto Rican Socialist Party ’s Pro-Independence Movement (MPI)
Rogelio Figueroa - engineer, politician, and president of the
Puerto Ricans for Puerto Rico Party
Pedro Flores - composer of ballads and boleros
[20]
Kevin Gates - rapper
Rubén Gómez -
Major League Baseball right-handed
starting pitcher ; first
Puerto Rican to pitch in a
World Series game
Reagan Gómez-Preston - actress
Herbert Lewis Hardwick , aka "Cocoa Kid" - boxer; won the
world colored welterweight and
world colored middleweight championships; inducted into the
International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012
Edward W. Hardy - composer, violinist, violist, producer, and actor, known for his off-Broadway musical
The Woodsman
[21]
Yvonne Harrison -
track and field runner
Aaron Hernandez - former American football player and convicted murder
Joseline Hernandez - known as "The Puerto Rican Princess" - television reality star, rapper, actress.
Juano Hernández - actor; first Afro–Puerto Rican to become a major star in the US and among the "new style" black screen actors, who played straight dramatic roles
[22]
Keylla Hernández - television reporter, former co-anchor of the station's morning news show ″Noticentro al Amanecer″
Rafael Hernández Marín - musician, bandleader, and composer; wrote, among thousands of other songs,
Lamento Borincano
[23]
Aideliz Hidalgo - first black woman to compete in
Miss International beauty pageant as Miss Puerto Rico
Homicide - professional wrestler formerly for TNA.
Rafael Ithier - salsa musician and the principal founder of the highly successful orchestra
El Gran Combo
Reginald Martínez Jackson - Hall of Fame baseball player, known as "Mr. October"
Esteban De Jesús - boxer, first to defeat
Roberto Durán
[24]
Miriam Jiménez Román
Rafael José - actor, singer, television host
Erick Kolthoff - Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico
Tato Laviera - poet
Benjamín LaGuer - US soldier and convicted criminal
Enrique A. Laguerre - novelist and newspaper columnist; "La llamarada" is considered to be his most important novel
Alfred Lee - basketball player, first Puerto Rican to play in NBA and to win an NBA championship as a member of the 79-80 Los Angeles Lakers
Isabel la Negra - known as "la Negra"; madame of a brothel
Ryan López - footballer
Felipe Luciano - poet, radio personality, and pro-independence activist
Young M.A - American hip hop artist
Eddie Manso - politician, current mayor of
Loíza and member of the
New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico
Jan Mateo - footballer
Sonia Manzano - actress
Alpo Martínez - convicted criminal, previously known as "Mayor of Harlem"
Syesha Mercado - singer
Rogelio Mills - television host
Jerome Mincy -
basketball player
Rico Nasty - rapper
Emilio "Millito" Navarro - baseball player; first Puerto Rican to play baseball in the Negro leagues
[25]
Osvaldo "Ossie" Ocasio - boxer
Denise Oliver-Vélez - activist, community organizer, professor, feminist, and former member of the
Young Lords and the
Black Panther Party
Don Omar - reggaetón artist
Fres Oquendo - professional heavyweight boxer
Anita Ortega - former athlete; UCLA, LAPD, Western States Police and Fire Games and Los Angeles City Section Halls of Fame
Claudette Ortiz - model and R&B singer
Edwin Pellot - retired basketball player
Víctor Pellot - baseball player; second black Puerto Rican to play in Major League Baseball; first Puerto Rican to play in the American League
[26]
Willie Perdomo - poet, writer
[27]
Miguel José Pérez Sr. - former wrestler, best known for 1/2 of the Tag Team with
Antonio Rocca and
World Wrestling Council
Miguel José Pérez Jr. - current WWE wrestler, son of
Miguel José Pérez Sr.
Gabriel "Lennox" Pizarro - reggaetón artist, member of the duo 'Zion y Lennox'
Reagan Gomez-Preston - American television film and voice actress.
Adolfo Quiñones - actor, dancer, and choreographer
Ivy Queen - reggaetón artist
Adolfo "OG Black" Ramírez - reggaetón artist, member of the duo "Master Joe & OG Black"
Ernesto Ramos Antonini - President of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico and co-founder of the "Partido Popular Democrático de Puerto Rico" (Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico)
[28]
Heliot Ramos - professional baseball player
Henry Ramos - professional baseball player
Héctor Ramos - footballer
Gina Ravera - actress
Carmen Belén Richardson - actress and comedian; pioneer of Puerto Rican television
[29]
Vanessa del Río - adult film actress
Ismael Rivera - salsa artist and singer
Lance Rivera - film director, film producer and record executive
Naya Rivera - singer and actress
Victor Rivera -wrestler
Aida Rodríguez - comedian, actress
Johnny Rodríguez - wrestler
Pete "El Conde" Rodríguez - salsa singer
Pedro Rosa Nales - journalist, news anchor/reporter; has received over 200 awards
[30]
Zoé Saldaña - actress
O. J. Santiago - NFL football player, tight end
Víctor Santiago, Jr. - rapper, known by the stage name "N.O.R.E."
Rubén Santiago-Hudson - actor and playwright, born and residing in the US
Mayra Santos-Febres - writer, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and college professor
[31]
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg - historian, writer and pro-Puerto Rican independence activist in New York City; researched and raised awareness of Afro-Latin American and
African American history and contributions
[32]
Brandon Servania - footballer
Jaden Servania - footballer
Rafael "Lito" Sierra - reggaetón artist, member of duo "Lito y Polaco"
Rubén Sierra - former Major League Baseball player
Tasha Steelz - professional wrestler
Pedro Telemaco - first black actor featured as leading man in a Puerto Rican
telenovela
Piri Thomas - writer, author of Down These Mean Streets
Georgie Torres - basketball player, played for the
BSN league of Puerto Rico; holds scoring record
José "Chegüi" Torres - boxer, light heavyweight champion; inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame
Félix "Tito" Trinidad - professional boxer, world boxing champion
[33]
Marcelo Trujillo - politician, current mayor of
Humacao and member of the
Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico
Rafael Tufiño - painter and printmaker, known locally as the "Painter of the People"
Daniel "Divino" Velázquez - reggaetón artist
Joseph Vásquez - independent filmmaker
Lauren Vélez - actress
Loraine Vélez - actress
Juan Evangelista Venegas - boxer; first
Puerto Rican to win an
Olympic medal
[34]
Christina Vidal - actress
Lisa Vidal - actress
Sylvia del Villard - actress, dancer, choreographer and political activist
[35]
Otilio "Bizcocho" Warrington - comedian and actor, best known for roles of "Bizcocho" and "Cuca Gómez"
[36]
Bernie Williams - former Major League Baseball outfielder; professional jazz musician
[37]
Marcos Xiorro - slave; in 1821, planned and conspired to lead a slave revolt against the sugar plantation owners and the Spanish Colonial government in Puerto Rico
[38]
Pedro Zayas - rapper and former member of State Property, known as "Peedi Crakk"
See also
References
^
Biography, Photos, Lyrics (SalsaClasica.com) Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^
Jose Celso Barbosa Alcala Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^
"Remarks at a Ceremony Honoring Hispanic Excellence in Education September 14, 1984"
Archived September 24, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^
Ian Palmer's Tigerboxing.com article on Benitez
Archived 2009-02-20 at the
Wayback Machine Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^
El Nuevo Dia
Archived 2006-07-18 at the
Wayback Machine Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^
Campos composition , Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^
José Ferrer Canales Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^
"2001 Ernie Banks Positive Image Lifetime Achievement Award. B.A.D. Retrieved Feb. 15, 2009" . Archived from
the original on 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2014-05-12 .
^ Cope, Myron (16 May 1966).
"The Babe Cobb Of Puerto Rico" . Sports Illustrated . Vol. 24, no. 20. Retrieved 11 September 2013 .
^
Don Rafael Cepeda Atiles
Archived 2007-06-19 at the
Wayback Machine Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^ Joaquin Colon Lopez (November 2001). Pioneros Puertorriqueños en Nueva York . Arte Publico Press. pp. 229, 230.
ISBN
1-55885-335-9 .
^ Paul Robert Walker (1988). "The way of the Jibaro".
Pride of Puerto Rico: The life of Roberto Clemente . United States: Harcourt Brace & Company. p.
3 .
ISBN
0-15-307557-0 . Roberto's father, Don Melchor Clemente, worked as foreman in the sugar fields.
^
Biography of Jesus Colon
Archived 2011-06-08 at the
Wayback Machine Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^ En busca del Maestro Rafael Cordero/In search of The Master Rafael Cordero; By Jack Delano; Publisher: La Editorial Universidad de Puerto Rico; 1 edition (May 1994);
ISBN
0-8477-0080-1 ;
ISBN
978-0-8477-0080-6
^ Valdivia, Pablo (September 6, 2022).
"Despite racist vitriol, 'Rings of Power' star Ismael Cruz Córdova is not backing down" . NPR . Retrieved April 7, 2024 .
^
"Pretty Tough | Girls Kick Butt! » Maritza Correia - first African-American Olympic swimmer" . prettytough.com . Archived from
the original on 2008-12-05.
^ Luis Santiago Arce (2007-09-19). "Deportes". Aguadillano de pura cepa: Apegado a sus raíces (in Spanish). Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día. p. 119.
^
'AmericanSalsa.com' Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
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Ruth Fernandez Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
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Peer Music biography Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^ Clement, Olivia (October 25, 2016).
"How The Composer of The Woodsman Found His Passion" . Playbill .
^
Starpulse
Archived 2007-09-29 at the
Wayback Machine Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^
Rafael Hernandez Puerto Rico's Soul Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^
Boxing record for Esteban De Jesús from
BoxRec (registration required)
^
Negro League Players Association
Archived 2012-02-07 at the
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^ Carle, Bill (2005).
"SABR Biographical Research Committee - November/December 2005 Report" (PDF) .
Society for American Baseball Research . Archived from
the original (PDF) on 2010-07-14. Retrieved 2007-06-04 .
^ Foundation, Poetry (2022-08-31).
"Willie Perdomo" . Poetry Foundation . Retrieved 2022-08-31 .
^
Luis J. Ramos Antonini
Archived 2007-05-20 at the
Wayback Machine
^
Carmen Belen Richardson at
IMDb Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^ Karol Joselyn Sepúlveda (2008-06-07).
"Acosado por ex pareja" (in Spanish). Primera Hora. Archived from
the original on February 20, 2009. Retrieved 2008-06-12 .
^
Interview with the Author Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009(in Spanish)
^
Robert Knight, "Arthur Alfonso 'Afroborinqueno' Schomburg"
Archived 2007-09-28 at the
Wayback Machine , History Notes, Global African Community, accessed 2 Feb 2009
^ Xochitl Sen (2007-01-10).
"Ahora de celebrar para la leyenda" (in Spanish). ESPN Deportes. Retrieved 2008-01-09 .
^
"Las Olimpiadas" . www.salonhogar.net .
^
N.Y. Encyclopedia of Famous Puerto Ricans , Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009
^
" 'Puerto Rico Popular Culture' " . Archived from
the original on 2014-01-04. Retrieved 2014-05-12 .
^
"The Ballplayers - Bernie Williams Biography" . baseballbiography.com . Retrieved 2008-09-09 .
^ Slave Revolts in Puerto Rico: Conspiracies and Uprisings, 1795-1873 ; by: Guillermo A. Baralt; Publisher Markus Wiener Publishers; Page: 126:
ISBN
1-55876-463-1 ,
ISBN
978-1-55876-463-7