Founded in 1973 by a coalition of students, faculty, and activists, the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (centro)
is the largest university-based research institute, library, and archive dedicated to the Puerto Rican experience in the United States.
We provide support to students, scholars, artists, and members of the community at large across and beyond New York. We produce original research, films, books, and educational tools and are the home of The Centro Journal—the premiere academic journal of Puerto Rican Studies. Our aim is to create actionable and accessible scholarship to strengthen, broaden, and reimagine the field of Puerto Rican studies.
The Emmy Award Winning TV show Puerto Rican Voices has in the past featured individual portraits of Puerto Ricans in the Diaspora and in the aftermath of Hurricane María it documented stories of resilience in Puerto Rico. This series focuses on investigative storytelling, looking at the Puerto Rican experience through a transnational lens, building a bridge between the Diaspora, and the archipelago. Our purpose is to cover themes of actuality based on new migration patterns, population shifts, transformations in racial identity, new queer expressions, and the impact of the economic crisis, ongoing disasters, and pandemics.
CENTRO Documentaries + Films contain useful tools for teaching about Puerto Ricans in the United States through the lives and work of notable Puerto Ricans who made a difference. Established in 1983 with the production of "Manos a la Obra: The Story of Operation Bootstrap", directed by Pedro Ángel Rivera and Susan Zeig, CENTRO Documentaries + Films has produced short and long format nonfiction narrative work on diverse topics including "Plena is Work, Plena is Song" (1991), "Clemente Soto Vélez: A Revolt Through Letters" (2014), "American Poet Tato Laviera" (2019) and “Cucarachita Martina’s Musical Adventure” (2021).
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to get the latest updates on event recordings, episode releases, and new exciting content highlighting the resources and initiatives at CENTRO.
