Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center

1882 - present

The Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center was formerly home to Public School 72, which was initially constructed in 1882 to accommodate East Harlem’s growing immigrant population. As the first full-block school in the city, it remained a school until the Board of Education closed it in 1975 due to a decline in enrollment. Between the years 1975 and 1989, the building served as classroom and office space by Touro College and East Harlem Council for Community Improvement respectively. In 1994 it was converted into a cultural center by the arts organization El Taller Boricua with the aim of creating a space for Latino arts and culture. Today, it also houses the Puerto Rican Workshop, the Heritage School, and Los Pleneros de la 21. It is named after celebrated Puerto Rican poet, journalist, and civil rights activist Julia de Burgos, who tragically passed away in East Harlem at the age of 39 in 1953.

Public School 72
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Details

Categories
Organization/Association, School
Instructional Level
Elementary/Grammar School
Audience
All Ages
Corporate Body
El Taller Boricua
Tags
turnover, closure, community, extracurricular, PuertoRican, bilingual, arts

Location

  • 1674 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10029, USA
    ? - ?

References

  1. “Back to School: Exploring Historic Schools in East Harlem.” Urban Archive. Landmark East Harlem, September 20, 2021. https://www.urbanarchive.org/stories/V3XUerNc9nJ.
  2. “Julia De Burgos Performance and Arts Center.” Julia De Burgos Performance and Arts Center. https://jdbpac.org/.
  3. Perez, Vanessa. “Celebrating 99 Years of Julia De Burgos.” HuffPost. HuffPost, May 4, 2013. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/julia-de-burgos_b_2703750.