Descended from an illustrious family of Puerto Rican intellectuals, Consuelo Lee Tapia was the granddaughter of the noted philosopher/playwright, Alejandro Tapia, and daughter of the writer, Albert Lee. She grew up in the island but was sent to study in the U.S. at the age of fifteen. A sensitive, politically astute young woman, she was concerned about a number of social issues, among them, poverty, political repressions, and colonialism. She joined the Communist party; met and married the poet activist, Juan Antonio Corretjer, a militant Nationalist. During the 1940s the couple lived in New York and published the progressive newspaper, Pueblos Hispanos. In its pages, she advocated for women’s and workers’ rights and Puerto Rican independence. In 1969 Lee Tapia and Corretjer were charged with conspiracy but later exonerated. In the 1980s she headed the Puerto Rican Political Prisoners’ committee. She spent her later years attending the museum/library she helped establish in Corretjer’s honor.

LINKS
Consuelo Lee Tapia de Corretjer Poem: A Child Images