Pura Belpré was a talented author and storyteller who wrote and re-interpreted Puerto Rican folk tales. As the first Puerto Rican librarian in the New York Public Library system she pioneered the library's work with the Puerto Rican community. Belpré was born in Cidra, Puerto Rico.There is a discrepancy in her date of birth which is variously cited as February 2, 1899, December 2, 1901, or February 2,1903. She graduated from Central High School in Santurce in 1919 and enrolled at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras. Soon thereafter, in 1920 she interrupted her studies in order to attend her sister Elisa's wedding in New York. As it turned out, except for brief interludes, Belpré was to remain in New York for the rest of her life.
Like many of the Puerto Rican women who came to New York at that time, Belpré's first job was in the garment industry. Her Spanish language skills soon earned her a position as Hispanic Assistant in a branch of the public library at 135th Street in Harlem. Belpré became the first Puerto Rican to be hired by the New York Public Library (NYPL).
It was while working in the children's division that Belpré discovered her passion for storytelling, her love for children's literature, and her interest in librarianship. In 1926 she began her formal studies in the Library School of the New York Public Library. The first story she wrote in a story-telling course, Pérez and Martina, a love story between a cockroach and a mouse, became one of the earliest books published in English by a Puerto Rican in the continental United States.
In 1929, due to the increasing numbers of Puerto Ricans settling in southwest Harlem, Belpré was transferred to a branch of the NYPL at 115th Street. She quickly became an active advocate for the Spanish-speaking community by instituting bilingual story hours, buying Spanish language books, and implementing programs based on traditional holidays such as the celebration of Three Kings Day. In her efforts to reach children and adults, she attended meetings of civic organizations such as the Porto Rican Brotherhood of America and La Liga Puertorriqueña e Hispana. Through Belpré's efforts, the 115th Street branch became an important cultural center for the Latino residents of New York City. Belpré also worked for a time at the Aguilar branch on East 110th Street in East Harlem where she initiated similar programs to expand library services to Puerto Ricans.
In 1940, Belpré met her future husband, the African-American composer and violinist, Clarence Cameron White. They were married on December 26, 1943 and Belpré resigned her position to go on tour with her husband and to devote herself to writing.
Belpré's first book, Pérez and Martina: A Portorican Folk Tale had been published by Frederick Warne in 1932. Her second story "The Three Magi" was published in 1944 as part of the anthology The Animals' Christmas by Anne Thaxter Eaton. Once she stopped working in the library, Belpré pursued her literary ambitions in earnest. During this period she compiled a collection of tales titled The Tiger and the Rabbit and Other Tales which was, in fact, the first English collection of Puerto Rican folk tales published in the United States. Consequently, she became a well-published writer, editor, and translator (see complete bibliography, page 22). Although, she collected children's tales from many countries, her primary concern was the preservation and dissemination of Puerto Rican folklore.
Throughout their lives together, Belpré and her husband maintained their residency in New York's Harlem. In 1960, White died of cancer and Belpré returned to part-time work in the library as the Spanish Children's Specialist. She worked all over the city wherever there were large numbers of Puerto Rican children. In 1968, she retired from this position, but was persuaded to work with the newly established South Bronx Library Project, a community outreach program to promote library use and to provide needed services to Latino neighborhoods throughout the Bronx.
Belpre died on July 1, 1982, having received the New York Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture that same year.
The Pura Belpré Award was established in 1996 as a homage to Pura Belpré. It is a children's booka award, presented annually, to the Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. The Pura Belpré Award is co-sponsored by REFORMA: the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking and the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The Northeast Chapter of REFORMA named its children's book achievement award in her honor in the 1980s.[5][7]
In the Bronx, New York Public School 64 on Walton Avenue near 170th Street has been named after her.[8]
A documentary film about the life and work of Pura Belpré was produced in 2011, and is available for viewing at the Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños at Hunter College.
The Pura Belpré Papers, held at the Archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora, Center for Puerto Rican Studies "are an important source for the study of Puerto Rican children's literature, folk tales, and legends. They are valuable for examining relationships between the Puerto Rican community and a major institution such as the New York Public Library. Additionally, the papers document the formation and organizational development of the Puerto Rican community in New York City.
Excerpted from the Guide to the Pura Belpré Papers, Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños and Wikipedia.