Photo courtesy of Megan Saltzman.
By Kiera McLaughlin ’26
Global Editor
Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, an Afro-Puerto Rican activist and writer, graced Mount Holyoke College and the surrounding community with facilitated discussions around Puerto Rico and the importance of her movement: the Ancestras — Spanish for ancestors.
On April 16, 2024, Arroyo Pizarro addressed students in Gamble Auditorium during “The Ancestras: Memory of Slavery and Afrofuturism Freedom.” The event was hosted by the Spanish, Latina/o and Latin American Studies Department, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Community-Based Learning and the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives.
As the Director of Afro-Puerto Rican Studies at a creative writing institute based at the Casa Museo Ashford in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the Founder and Chair of Ancestral Black Women, Arroyo Pizarro presented her experience and teachings to the audience. She also highlighted her many popular and award-winning books, including “Negras,” “TRANScaribeñx,” “Pelo Bueno” and “Afroalgoritmos.”
“Yolanda is changing what the world knows and assumes about being Afro-Puerto Rican, being a woman, and being a non-straight person, and of course all of these identities together,” Professor Megan Saltzman, who teaches in the Spanish, Latina/o and Latin American Studies Department and was one of the event’s organizers, said, when Mount Holyoke News asked about the significance of Arroyo Pizzaro coming to speak at the College.
“She is a courageous public intellectual who has written about the histories of these identities, their challenges, their particular joys,” Saltzman said. “Her work and public speaking are inspiring. We knew that MHC students would love to get to know her.”
The event opened with Saltzman introducing Arroyo Pizarro and informing the audience that they would later be able to purchase Arroyo Pizarro’s book, “Negras,” and to have it signed by her, which was met with excitement from the audience. The presentation began in Spanish, with Arroyo Pizarro welcoming everyone with a “buenas tardes.” The discussion continued in a mix of Spanish and English as she shared her work and experience.
In an interview with Mount Holyoke News, Professor Nieves Romero-Díaz, who organized the event with Professor Saltzman and is also a part of the Spanish, Latina/o and Latin American Studies Department, explained that this combination of English and Spanish was important. “English has been dominating … the definition of global. We understand globally that we need to confront that,” she said.
The discussion was focused on the archival research that Arroyo Pizarro has conducted, attempting to reconstruct the history and ancestries of enslaved peoples in Puerto Rico. Through this, she highlights the work of other Black women and the many mediums in which they share their ancestras through songs, lullabies, stories, historical works and so on. She also referenced her grassroots organizing, which works to “emphasize the voices of Black women.” Additionally, she discussed her work creating children’s books that feature more diverse stories and covers featuring Afro-faces.
During her talk, Arroyo Pizarro shared the story of the first festival held in Puerto Rico recognizing the history of Black women, which honored her work alongside other Afro-activists. She shared that this celebration was filled with art and murals, with people sharing stories and Arroyo Pizzaro, herself, reading history relating to her mother and grandmothers.
Now, Arroyo Pizzaro is researching the history of the thousands of slave ships that reached the shores of Puerto Rico. Her goal, she explained, is to provide voices for the enslaved people’s rebellion and spirit.
When she finished her presentation, Arroyo Pizarro was met with applause. Students, professors and community members asked her questions about her life’s work as an activist and writer. Several students in attendance had read her work in their Spanish creative writing courses or were fans of her advocacy for education and reading, and wanted to understand the impact of her work.
Romero-Díaz told Mount Holyoke News that the Spanish department has been bringing Spanish writers and intellectuals in for years to create change and foster an impactful educational experience. Both Saltzman and Romero-Díaz have recently had guest speakers in their classrooms, including Oswaldo Estrada, a Peruvian American writer, and Quan Zhou Wu, a Chinese Spanish graphic novelist. “We’re always having this connection to writers, with experts in our classes that brings this diversity of perspective to the group.”
During the Q&A, Joan Grenier, owner of the Odyssey Bookshop, who provided the books for students and audience members to purchase, came to the mic to offer support for Arroyo Pizarro’s distribution of works. She offered to connect Arroyo Pizarro to Penguin Publishing House for national distribution of her children’s books because of the lack of support for Puerto Rican queer women authors in the publishing industry. She then asked about the lack of representation of Puerto Rico in enslaved narratives and museums.
The Mount Holyoke Spanish, Latina/o and Latin American Studies Department also invited Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro to Holyoke, which has the highest per capita concentration of Puerto Rican residents outside of Puerto Rico. “We are always working, thinking of ways to connect Holyoke with our Spanish-speaking community around us, and we thought that Yolanda would be a perfect fit to create those connections,” Romero-Díaz said in her interview with Mount Holyoke News.
Romero-Díaz shared that the day after the event at Mount Holyoke, Arroyo Pizarro visited The Care Center in Holyoke to talk to other Puerto Rican women, and later that day, a middle school. The professor explained how emotional this trip to Holyoke was, with the women holding a discussion about the impact of “Pelo Bueno” and the students at the middle school having chosen to feature Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro in their new mural.
“I thought, ‘This is why we need to do this more.’ We are in a privileged place [at] Mount Holyoke, and we need to create [and make this] available to everyone to enjoy what we have,” Romero-Díaz said.
“Yolanda tells stories, for both adults and children, that allow others to know that they are capable. I think the people who interacted with Yolanda this week took away the facts that we can write, that we can resist, that our writing and research can bring about social change, and that if we should want to find solidarity, there are others there who will join us,” Professor Saltzman said.
Students and community members who could not attend the events can find a bilingual copy of Arroyo Pizarro’s “Negras” at the Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley. Her children’s book “Pelo Bueno” can be found online.