One thing was clear from an anecdote that the author Jose Enrique Ayoroa Sanataliz retells in the documentary “Who is Albizu Campos” from a very young age, Don Pedro was determined to become the voice of the Puerto Rican people and, we get an understanding on how he became known “El Maestro”.
“I am told that Don Pedro used to, almost every Sunday…or very often…he would set up a stand in Ponce’s plaza which consists of two plazas divided by the cathedral and Ponce’s Old Fire Station…Don Pedro use to set up a stand there on Sundays, without affiliation to any group or political party, and it didn’t show any flag, not even the Puerto Rican flag…and from there, he would speak to whoever wanted to listen, according to Victor Bono Rodriguez many people gathered around because he quickly became a distinguished man in Ponce. He would talk about the history of Puerto Rico would clarify any confusion about our History which has been stolen from us, hidden from us, or distorted. We’ve been taught history backward, heroes are villains and villains are heroes. So from this stand Don Pedro would straighten out things regarding our history and if there was any important event taking place in Puerto Rico or in the world, he would comment about it. He would hold classes from this public stand in the plaza.”
Later on, Don Pedro would give conferences in his former high school Ponce High and as we learn in the same documentary, Ramon “Moncho” Usera Vives a very famous and renowned Puerto Rican composer would pride himself in saying that he learned history from Don Pedro Albizu Campos. [1] It is said that therefore he is called “El Maestro”.
After arriving at the University of Vermont he later transferred to Harvard University in 1913 to study law. He paused his studies and enlisted to fight in World War I, the Army was segregated then and Puerto Ricans that were of African Ancestry was sent to fight with the African American 375th Infantry Regiment. Once in the army Don Pedro experienced and witnessed a lot of racism. It is said that his experience in the Army is what influenced his strong beliefs on the importance of Puerto Rico becoming free. Soon after coming back from serving in World War I and returned to finish his studies in Law at Harvard University. In Harvard, he meets his wife Laura Meneses from Peru who was there to expand her studies on Natural Sciences and later on also fought hard alongside her husband for the independence of her adopted country. In Harvard, Albizu met other foreign students and contributed to other political movements that would just incite more in him the fight for his country’s independence. It is at Harvard that he meets the Irish political leader Eamon de Valera, who later consulted Albizu in the drafting of the constitution of the Irish Free State.
Don Pedro graduated from Harvard Law in 1921, but even then, he still faced the ugly face of racism. Despite being at the top of his class and being valedictorian of his class, and having job offers from the Supreme Court, a professor delayed his exams to avoid the embarrassment of having a Puerto Rican law valedictorian. Despite the promising law career he could have had in Washington D.C., Don Pedro returned to the island. In Puerto Rico, he took the exams he needed and received his diploma in the mail later in June of 1922. Also in that same year, he married his wife Laura Meneses in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico.