Ana Roque de Duprey: “Flor del Valle.”

Young Ana was an avid reader who knew how to write by the shockingly juvenile age of three. Little did the passionate learner know she would grow up to be the famed “Flower of the Valley.”

Anna Roqué (Geigel) Duprey (1853 – 1933)

Written by Lahari Thota

Young Ana Roque del Duprey was an avid reader who knew how to write by the shockingly juvenile age of three. Little did the passionate learner know she would grow up to be the famed “Flower of the Valley”, admired by women in every country for her passion in advocating for womens’ rights.

 Duprey was born on April 18th, 1853 in the sandy city of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. She was close to her mother who worked as a teacher and was the reason for Duprey’s exceptional writing skills at such a young age. Sadly, Duprey’s mother passed away merely a few years after her daughter’s birth. Duprey was brought up by her loving father, aunt, and grandmother, who continued to encourage her interest in learning. At the mere age of 7, Duprey studied twice as hard as her peers in a private school and graduated when she was 9. Duprey loved the sciences and studied zoology, astronomy, meteorology, botany, and geology. Just a few years after graduating, the young genius became a teacher’s assistant and just 2 years after that, opened her own school from home where she taught the geology textbook that she herself wrote.

Duprey married Luis in 1872, a wealthy slave and landowner. Dupreu asked her husband for permission to educate the slaves as a condition for their marriage (The very next year, slavery would be abolished in Puerto Rico). Together, the Dupreys had a total of five children, though only half would survive into adulthood. In 1878, the family moved to San Juan but sadly Luis would die two years later, leaving Duprey alone with her three children.

Arecibo Lighthouse with goats and keepers in 1900. Photograph courtesy National Archives.

After her husband’s death, Duprey took up a job 50 miles west of San Juan as a teacher in Arecibo. She also earned her bachelor's degree in philosophy and science during this time. In 1893, Duprey founded La Mujer’s, the very first women’s newspaper in Puerto Rico. Duprey also wrote for many other newspapers and articles. Some other’s womens’ publications she founded were El Mundo and El Imparcial. Duprey also wrote some renowned books such as Sara and La Obera. Through her writing successes, Duprey continued to strive as an exemplary educator.

 She taught English following the years after the 1898 invasion by the US so her students could properly communicate with American officials. By 1902, she had established 3 schools, one of which became the University of Puerto Rico. During this time period, Duprey began to work on the study of Botanica Antillana, one of the most comprehensive texts of Caribbean Flora from the 20th century. She documented over 6,000 species of plants and featured her own colored illustrations in the acclaimed notebooks.

“Botanica Antillana”, the unpublished manuscript of Ana Roque de Duprey.

In 1917, the Jones Act went into effect and allowed all adult males to vote for Puerto Rican legislature excluding women. This angered Roque and other women who teamed up to found the Puerto Rican Feminist League, the very first feminist organization in Puerto Rico which fought for women's suffrage rights. The League’s name changed to the Suffragist Social League in 1921 when its members began to seek further political rights for women. However, disagreements began to emerge and the group splintered apart in 1924. Duprey with other women started the Association of Women Suffragists who fought for women’s suffrage with a lack of restrictions. In 1935, their goal was finally achieved when all women of voting age were allowed to vote, but Duprey would not see the fruits of her lifetime labor.

In 1932, the University of Puerto Rico acknowledged Duprey with an honorary doctorate. Sadly the following year, Duprey died. She was declared president of the Puerto Rican Liberal Party and both a high school and a former elementary school are named after her. Decades later in 2020, Duprey was named a honoree of the National Women’s history alliance. Despite suffering from the loss of several family members and receiving a lack of rights simply due to her gender, Duprey proved to be an unstoppable force who continued to spread her teachings and beliefs to many other young women in the world in order to secure their rights.

Sources

"Ana Roque De Duprey Facts for Kids." Kids Encyclopedia Facts, kids.kiddle.co/Ana_Roque_de_Duprey.

"Ana Roqué De Duprey." National Women's History Museum, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ana-roque-de-duprey.