Ricardo Alegría

Ricardo Enrique Alegría Gallardo (April 14, 1921 – July 7, 2011) was a Puerto Rican scholar, author, cultural anthropologist, and archaeologist known as the "father of modern Puerto Rican archaeology". He was a professor at the University of Puerto Rico and the first director of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. Alegria was the founder of the Museo de las Américas and of the Alpha Beta Chi fraternity.

Early life

Alegría was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on April 14, 1921. His father, José S. Alegría, was a former vice president and founding member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. It was Alegría's father who instilled in him a sense of love and pride for Puerto Rico, its history, and culture.

He received his primary and secondary education in San Juan, before attending the University of Puerto Rico. While there Alegría and Yamil Galib founded a new fraternity, Alpha Beta Chi. In 1942, Alegría earned his Bachelor of Science degree in archeology from the University of Puerto Rico. He continued his academic education at the University of Chicago where in 1947 he earned his master's in Anthropology and History. In 1954, Alegría earned his Ph.D (doctorate) in Anthropology from Harvard University.

Career

Governor Luis Muñoz Marín named Alegría the first director of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture in the late 1950s. Alegría established the Center of Popular Arts, the Institute of Puerto Rican book publishing division. Alegría was responsible for the renovation and restoration of historical Old San Juan under the leadership of the San Juan mayor Felisa Rincón de Gautier. He also spearheaded the restoration of the ruins of the Caparra Archaeological Site and Fortín de San Gerónimo. As a result of his work Old San Juan was declared a Historical World Treasure.

In 1976, Alegría opened the Center of Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. In 1992, he established the Museo de las Américas. He also formed the General Archive of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican Theater Festival. Alegría was also a professor at the University of Puerto Rico, where he created the Archaeological Research Center.

Alegría was a pioneer in the anthropologic studies of the Taino culture and the African heritage in Puerto Rico. '' Caribbean Business'' points out that, "His extensive studies have helped historians understand how the Taínos lived and suffered, before and after the Spanish conquistadors arrived on the island." Alegría estimated that about one-third of all Puerto Ricans have Taíno blood—results of recent DNA studies have proved him right.

Awards and recognition

In 1993, President Bill Clinton presented Alegría with the Charles Frankel Prize of the National Endowment for the Humanities for contributions to the field of archaeology. Alegría received the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal in 1996. Alegría received The Haydee Santamaria Medal in 2001. In 2002, the Puerto Rican Governor Sila Calderónpresented the Luis Muñoz Marín Medal to Alegríain recognition of his life achievements.

Alegría received recognition and honorary degrees from cultural and architectural organizations in Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. The city of Havana recognized his influence in the project to remodel the city's historical district (similar to Alegría's work in Old San Juan) by honoring him with a plaque, placed in front of the basilica de San Francisco de Asis in Old Havana, Cuba.

Puerto Rican folk duo ''Los Niños Estelares'' dedicated a tribute song to Alegría, named "Alegría, Doctor Alegría", in their 2010 album, ''Namasté''. In it they describe many of Alegría's accomplishments, his educational background, and -partly in jest, due to Alegría's impressive credentials- likened him to Indiana Jones. In the lyrics, they name Alegría "the last Puerto Rican hero."

In 2011, the Museo de las Américas host a special exhibit, "Richard Alegría: An Intimate Look", featuring photographs by Chendo Pérez. In 2021, the museum and filmmaker Amalia García Padilla released the documentary ''500 and 100: Ricardo Alegría on the Isleta de San Juan,'' commemorating the 500th anniversary of San Juan with narration by Alegría.

Puerto Rican artist Lorenzo Homar honored Alegría in an artistic graphic poster. Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa was inspired by Alegría and included a fictional character based on him, named Ricardo Santurce, in the play ''El loco de los balcones''.

Personal life

Alegría lived in Old San Juan in his later years, until his death on July 7, 2011. He had been hospitalized in San Juan's ''Centro Medico'' (Medical Center Hospital) a few weeks before his death. After a brief recovery, he relapsed and was returned to the medical center, where he died of heart failure. Flags of Puerto Rico government offices were flown at half staff for five days of mourning. He was buried at Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Publications

Books

*La Fiesta de Santiago Apostol en Loiza Aldea he Feast of St. James the Apostle San Juan: Coleccion de Estudios Puertoriquena, 1954.
*''The Archaic Tradition in Puerto Rico''. with Henry Bigger Nicholson and Gordon R. Willey. Salt Lake City: Society for American Archaeology, 1955

* ''Los renegados: narración inspirada en un cuento popular puertorriqueño'' 'The Renegades: narration inspired by a Puerto Rican tale'''.'' San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertoriquena, 1962.

*''Cafe''. San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1967.
*''The Three Wishes; a collection of Puerto Rican folktales''. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1969.
*'' El Fuerte de San Jeronimo del Boqueron'' 'The Fort of San Jeronimo de Boqueron'''.'' San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertoriquena, 1969.
*''Descubrimiento, conquista y colonización de Puerto Rico, 1493–1599''. iscovery, Conquest, and Colonizaton of Puerto Ric, 1493-1599 with Mela Pons Alegría). San Juan: Coleccion De Estudios Puertorriquenos, 1969.
*''El programa de parques y museos del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña''. he parks and museums program of the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture Barcelona: M. Pareja, 1973.
*''Apuntes en torno a la mitología de los indios taínos de las Antillas Mayores y sus orígenes suramericanos'' otes on the Mythology of the Taino Indians of the Greater Antilles and their South American Origins San Juan: Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, 1978.
*''El Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1955–1973: 18 años contribuyendo a fortalecer nuestra conciencia nacional''. 'The Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, 1955-1973: 18 Years Contributing to Strengthening Our National Consciouness'' Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1979.
*''Las primeras representaciones gráficas del indio americano, 1493–1523''. 'The First Graphic Representation of the American Indian'' Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, 1978
*''El uso de la incrustación en la escultura de los indios antillanos''. 'The use of inlay in the sculpture of the Antillean Indians'' San Juan: Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe Fundación García Arévalo, 1981.
*''History of the Indians of Puerto Rico''. Coleccion De Estudios Puertorriquenos, 1983.
*''La vida de Jesucristo según el santero puertorriqueño Florencio Cabán'' 'The life of Jesus Christ according to the Puerto Rican Santero Florencio Cabán'' Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, 1983.
*''San Juan de Puerto Rico''. with Manuel Méndez Guerrero and María de los Angeles Castro Arroyo. Quinto Centenario: Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana, 1989.
*Cuentos Folkloricos de Puerto Rico olkloric Tales of Puerto Rico Editora Corripio, 1990.
*'' Juan Garrido, El Conquistador Negro En Las Antillas, Florida, Mexico y California c. 1503-1540''. Centro De Estudios Avanzados De Puerto Rico y El Caribe, 1990.
*''Taíno: Pre-Colombian art and culture from the Caribbean''. with Fatima Bercht and Estrellita Brodsky. New York: Monacelli Press, 1998.
*''Las artes populares en las Américas''. San Juan: Museo de las Americas, 1999.
*''La semilla que sembramos: autobiografía del proyecto nacional''. with Pedro Angel Reina Pérez. San Juan: Editorial Cultural, 2003.
*''Cuentos Folclóricos de las Antillas Mayores Cuba - Jamaica - Haití'' - República Dominicana - Puerto Rico e Islas Vírgenes. 'Folk tales from the Greater Antilles Cuba - Jamaica - Haiti - Dominican Republic - Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands''Collection of Puerto Rican Studies, 2008.
*''Excavations at Maria de La Cruz Cave & Hacienda Grande Village Site, Loiza, Puerto Rico''. with Irving Rouse. Yale University Publications in Anthropology, July 2010.

Journal articles

* "Origin and diffusion of the term "Cacique"". ''Proceedings of the 29th International Congress of Americanists, Acculturation in the Americas'' vol 2, 1952.
* "La Fiesta De Santiago Apostol En Loiza Aldea" The Feast of St. James the Apostle" ''Revista de Ciencias Sociales.'' pp. 29-44.
* "Ball Courts and Ceremonial Plazas in the West Indies" Yale University Publications in Anthropology, vol. 7., 1983.

Documentary

* “Las Fiestas de Santiago Apóstol en Loíza Aldea (1949)

See also

*List of Puerto Ricans
*Puerto Rican scientists and inventors

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alegria, Ricardo
1921 births
2011 deaths
Burials at Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery
Puerto Rican archaeologists
Cultural anthropologists
Puerto Rican anthropologists
Puerto Rican scientists
20th-century Puerto Rican educators
Puerto Rican male non-fiction writers
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
People from San Juan, Puerto Rico
University of Chicago alumni
National Humanities Medal recipients
American folklorists
20th-century American academics
Puerto Rican academics
College fraternity founders
20th-century American anthropologists
20th-century Puerto Rican male writers