Born: October 28 1879, United States
Died: October 10 1922
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Luisa Capetillo remains an iconic figure in Puerto Rico’s labor history. An anarchist writer and relentless activist, she championed labor rights, women’s empowerment, free love, and human emancipation.
In 1905, during a farm workers’ strike, Capetillo wrote propaganda and organized the workers. By 1910, she became a reporter for the “FLT” (American Federation of Labor) and traveled across Puerto Rico, educating and organizing women. Arecibo, her hometown, became a hub for unions. She also launched her newspaper, La mujer, addressing women’s issues.
Capetillo initiated a reading program for women working long hours making cigars, likely influencing her feminist principles. In 1908, at an “FLT” convention, she advocated a policy for women’s suffrage, championing equal voting rights for all women. She is considered one of Puerto Rico’s first suffragists.
In 1911, she wrote: “Oh you woman! who is capable and willing to spread the seed of justice; do not hesitate, do not fret, do not run away, go forward! And for the benefit of the future generations place the first stone for the building of social equality in a serene but firm way, with all the right that belongs to you, without looking down, since you are no longer the ancient material or intellectual slave.”
In 1912, Capetillo organized Cuban and Puerto Rican tobacco workers in New York City and Tampa, Florida. She published the second edition of “Mi Opinión” in Florida and supported striking workers in Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
On July 24, 1915, she made history as the first Puerto Rican woman to wear pants publicly, challenging societal norms. That year, she played a role in passing a minimum-wage law in the Puerto Rican Legislature alongside other labor activists.
The following is republished from the National Park Service. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Luisa Capetillo was a Puerto Rican anarchist feminist and labor activist. As a young woman, she worked as a lectora, reading magazines and newspapers to entertain cigar factory employees as they worked. Capetillo and the other readers also shared news of other labor movements, which contributed to the workers’ culture in her hometown Arecibo.
In 1905, Capetillo participated in her first strike, organizing agricultural workers. She became a journalist, public speaker, and organizer for the Federacion Libre de Trabajadores [Free Federation of Workers], an important labor union in Puerto Rico. She spent a decade traveling throughout the island to organize, write, and speak.
Capetillo published her feminist manifesto, Mi opinión sobre las libertades, derechos y deberes de la mujer [My Opinion on the Liberties, Rights, and Duties of Women] in 1911. In this volume, she declared “Women are capable of everything and anything.” Capetillo’s support for women’s liberation and free love was closely linked to her labor activism. Class struggle was at the heart of both. Capetillo worried that suffrage and other political rights could be restricted to the upper classes based on education or income, so she advocated for education as the key to making society fair for everyone.
When the Puerto Rican government took action against anarchists in 1912, Capetillo moved first to New York City, and later to Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Florida. In 1913, she arrived in Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood, where she organized Spanish, Cuban, Italian, and African American cigar factory workers.
Capetillo also gained a reputation for her “disruptive” attire. When she was in Cuba, she was arrested for wearing men’s pants in public. She was a passionate advocate for workers until her death in 1922.