The Architect of Liberation: Eugenio María de Hostos
Boricua Social Philosopher, Educator — Writer — Patriot
“Ideals that take days to conceive, mature over centuries of struggles.” wrote Eugenio Maria de Hostos in the late 1800s.
Educator, humanist, abolitionist, feminist, philosopher, writer, politician, and above all, an early advocate of self-government for Puerto Rico, Hostos is globally recognized as one of the most distinguished and illustrious men in Puerto Rico’s history. The creation of a Spanish West Indies Confederation was his lifelong mission.
Called the “Citizen of America,” he educated an entire continent with a straightforward, liberal, pragmatic, and international mindset. He advocated and devoted his life to seeking the political independence of Cuba and Puerto Rico, designing a united Federation of the Great Antilles to encompass Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic with sovereignty for each Island.
American investors sponsored his travels to New York, as they did many writers who advocated independence from Spain. Once there, Hostos established the Puerto Rican section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party organized by Cuban poet and patriot José Marti. The first to sign on: Arturo Schomburg.
He was editor of a La Revolución, the journal of the Cuban revolutionary movement. He was…
