Lola Rodríguez de Tió 1843-1924
Lola Rodriguez de Tio, who was born in Puerto Rico and died in Cuba, was a fighter for women’s rights, for the abolition of slavery and for the independence of Puerto Rico.
Revered in both Cuba and Puerto Rico, Rodríguez de Tió used her talents as a writer and poet to promote Puerto Rican liberty and democracy at a time of Spanish colonialism.
Because of their political activities, Rodríguez de Tió and her husband were banished more than once from Puerto Rico by the Spanish-appointed governors.
In 1868, inspired by Ramón Emeterio Betances’s quest for Puerto Rico’s independence and by the attempted revolution called the Grito de Lares, she wrote the revolutionary lyrics to the existing tune of La Borinqueña, Puerto Rico’s national anthem. This led to one of their banishments. They made their way to Cuba.
Their political activity for Cuban independence caused Rodríguez de Tió and her husband to be expelled from Havana in 1892. They joined a group of Cuban exiles in New York City, where Rodríguez de Tió met Cuban revolutionary and poet José Martí, who regarded her as an equal in poetry and in politics. This period in her life was one of intense political activity—the group of political exiles created the Cuban Revolutionary Party in 1895. When Martí was killed in Cuba later that year, the exiles carried on their efforts through political clubs. Rodríguez de Tió was elected president of the ‘Ruis Rivera’ political club in 1896, and secretary of another club, Caridad’ in 1897. She and her family returned to Cuba in 1899 after the Spanish-American War. She would devote the rest of her life to achieving independence for both her homeland and Cuba.
It is believed by some that the design of the Puerto Rican Flag, which were adopted in 1954, came from Rodríguez de Tió’s idea of having the same flag as Cuba with the colours reversed. One of her most famous poems is her alternative version of La Borinqueña – which comes from the indigenous Taino name for Puerto Rico – Borinque. In it she calls on the workers of Cuba and Puerto Rico to rise up, saying ‘the unconquerable woman will also know how to fight’.
(see https://biography.yourdictionary.com/lola-rodriguez-de-tio)
