Pedro Albizu Campos

Pedro Albizu Campos was a Puerto Rican attorney and politician, and the leading figure in the Puerto Rican independence movement. Gifted in languages, he spoke six graduating from Harvard Law School with the highest grade point average in his law class, an achievement that earned him the right to give the valedictorian speech at his graduation ceremony. However, animus towards his mixed racial heritage would lead to his professors delaying two of his final exams in order to keep Albizu Campos from graduating on time. During his time at Harvard University he became involved in the Irish struggle for independence.

Pedro Albizu Campos was born in the Teneras sector of Barrio Machuelo Abajo in Ponce, Puerto Rico to Juana Campos, a domestic worker of Spanish, African and Tano ancestry, onSeptember 1891. His father, Alejandro Albizu Romero, known as El Vizcano, was a Basque merchant, from a family of Spanish immigrants who had temporarily resided in Venezuela From an educated family, Albizu was the nephew of the danza composer Juan Morel Campos, and cousin of Puerto Rican educator Dr. Carlos Albizu Miranda. The boys mother died when he was young and his father did not acknowledge him until he was at Harvard University.

Source: Wikipedia