List of Afro–Puerto Ricans

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Arturo Alfonso SchomburgJosé Celso BarbosaJuan Morel CamposJuano Hernández
This is a list of notable Puerto Ricans of significant African ancestry, 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[edit]
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for
completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
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
Heliot Ramos
Henry Ramos
Kellyn Acosta
Carmelo Anthony - professional basketball player, who is currently a Free agent
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 - 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
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 - Spanish reggae 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
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[15]
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
Carlos Delgado - baseball player, Major League Baseball first baseman[16]
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[17]
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[18]
Pedro Flores - composer of ballads and boleros[19]
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[20]
Yvonne Harrison - track and field runner
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[21]
Keylla Hernandéz - 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[22]
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[23]
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
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
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[24]
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[25]
Willie Perdomo - poet, writer[26]
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'
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)[27]
Gina Ravera - actress
Carmen Belén Richardson - actress and comedian; pioneer of Puerto Rican
television[28]
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 Rodriguez - comedian, actress
Johnny Rodriguez - wrestler
Pedro Rosa Nales - journalist, news anchor/reporter; has received over 200
awards[29]
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[30]
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[31]
Rafael "Lito" Sierra - reggaetón artist, member of duo "Lito y Polaco"
Rubén Sierra - former Major League Baseball player
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 Trinidad - professional boxer, world boxing champion[32]
Marcelo Trujillo - politician, current mayor of Humacao and member of the Popular
Democratic Party of Puerto Rico
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[33]
Christina Vidal - actress
Lisa Vidal - actress
Tanya Vidal - actress
Sylvia del Villard - actress, dancer, choreographer and political activist[34]
Otilio "Bizcocho" Warrington - comedian and actor, best known for roles of
"Bizcocho" and "Cuca Gómez"[35]
Bernie Williams - former Major League Baseball outfielder; professional jazz
musician[36]
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[37]
Pedro Zayas - rapper and former member of State Property, known as "Peedi Crakk"
Neil Degrasse Tyson - astrophysicist
Victor Rivera - wrestler
Brandon Servania - soccer player
Héctor Ramos
Jan Mateo
Ryan López
See also[edit]

Puerto Rico portal

List of Puerto Ricans
Afro-Latin American - Central and South America
Black Hispanic and Latino Americans - United States of America
List of topics related to Black and African people
References[edit]

^ 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. 24
(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
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^ 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

^ "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

^ Ruth Fernandez Retrieved Feb. 14, 2009

^ 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 Wayback Machine
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^ Carle, Bill (2005). "SABR Biographical Research Committee - November/December

2005 Report" (PDF). Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the
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^ 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-
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^ 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
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^ "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.

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^ "The Ballplayers - Bernie Williams Biography". baseballbiography.com. Retrieved

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^ Slave Revolts in Puerto Rico: Conspiracies and Uprisings, 1795-1873; by:

Guillermo A. Baralt; Publisher Markus Wiener Publishers; Page: 126: ISBN 1-55876-
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