Past Exhibitions > Željka Blakšic AKA Gita Blak

Blanca Canales (1906 -1996) was a Puerto Rican revolutionary and educator who helped found Daughters of Freedom, the women’s branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in 1931. She also was one of the organizers of the Jayuya Uprising against the United States in 1950. Afterwards, she was arrested and accused of killing a police officer and burning down the post office. She was sentenced to life imprisonment plus sixty years and served seventeen years until fully exonerated by the Puerto Rican governor. She continued to be an advocate for justice until her death and is celebrated as a hero in resistance to United States’ imperialism.