Pantaleón Julian Valdés (original) (raw)

Pantaleón Julian Valdés was a Cuban medical doctor, an activist of civil and political rights for black and mulatos in Cuba and a prominent voice for the Afro-Cuban intellectual elite. In 1917, Valdés became the first elected president of the “Club Atenas” a major twentieth-century Afro Cuban cultural and social Center. Pantaleón Julian Valdés was a member of the Partido Independiente de Color (PIC) and he was arrested with other Independents in 1910 and 1912. Later when some prominent ex-members of the PIC were reincorporated into the political machinery, he was elected to the Havana Board of Education with the support of the Partido Liberal.