Gilberto Concepción de Gracia (1909-1968) — (2016)

Concepción de Gracia’s New York years (1936–1939) were the beginning of a life dedicated to the liberation of Puerto Rico. He worked closely with American Labor Party Congressman Vito Marcantonio (1902–1954), with whom he enjoyed a personal friendship. Marcantonio played a critical role in the defense of Albizu Campos and consistently supported Puerto Rican independence in the US Congress. Concepción de Gracia also joined forces with Puerto Rican and Latin American militants with whom he shared patriotic values. He immersed himself in the Puerto Rican communities of East Harlem and Washington Heights, participating in demonstrations against racial, class, and cultural discrimination. He became a powerful political orator and also wrote for Spanish newspapers. He spoke out in defense of the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) in events sponsored by an antifascist coalition.

Díaz-Quiñones, Arcadio. “Concepción de Gracia, Gilberto (1909-1968).” Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography, vol. 1, edited by Franklin W. Knight and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Oxford UP, 2016, pp. 203-05.