{"id":105563,"date":"2025-05-29T13:38:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T18:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=105563"},"modified":"2026-01-01T16:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T22:05:08","slug":"from-resistance-to-acceptance-in-loiza-acknowledging-black-identity-for-puerto-ricans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/from-resistance-to-acceptance-in-loiza-acknowledging-black-identity-for-puerto-ricans\/","title":{"rendered":"From resistance to acceptance: In Lo\u00edza, acknowledging Black identity for Puerto Ricans"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tyler Williamson
\n<\/b>Medill Reports<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Lo\u00edza, PUERTO RICO \u2014 Lo\u00edza mirrors a visit to your grandmother’s house on a summer afternoon, Christmas in July and apple pie on an autumn day. The curving roads of Pi\u00f1ones on the northwestern edge of Lo\u00edza make you feel like the road trip never ends. From El Yunque’s mountains to the small community\u2019s lively streets, it serves as the home to many audacious Boricuas.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Las Fiestas de Mantenedores en Lo\u00edza. (Art by Samuel Lind)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lo\u00edza is formally known as \u201c<\/span>el pueblo de la Cacica,\u201d which translates to \u201cthe village of the Cacica.\u201d A cacique refers to a chieftan of the Taino people, and the town is named in honor of Yuisa or Loisa, one of the women caciques on the island.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The community just outside of San Juan was formally declared a town in 1719, and it remains an epicenter of culture and heritage <\/span>of the Black population in Puerto Rico.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite being a tourist attraction, Puerto Rico can be experienced as a tethered revival of antiquity where you feel truly enveloped by the experience. It didn’t matter where you were from or what you looked like \u2014 once you stepped into Lo\u00edza, you were deemed family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At least that\u2019s how it felt at Corporacion Pi\u00f1ones Se Integra, or COPI, a community organization that celebrates the history and culture of Lo\u00edza \u2013 most notably Lo\u00edza\u2019s iconic dance, bomba.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Understanding Bomba\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Bomba<\/span> is one of the myriad music and dance genres from Puerto Rico, dating back to the 17th century. It was cultivated by enslaved West Africans who worked on sugar plantations along the coastal towns of Puerto Rico such as San Juan, Ponce, <\/span>Mayagu\u0308ez and Loi\u0301za.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The woman is in the ‘home’ dancing position, the final pose in a section. Painting by Samuel Lind. (Jordan Owens\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Specific movements within Bomba have certain meanings. The dance and the experience of protest are fundamentally interconnected, as bomba emerged from the experience of Colonialism. It is a tribute to enslaved ancestors who used dance as a method of expressing themselves.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bomba is an improvisational dance with a sense of style and creative freedom. Typically, the music for bomba has a moderately fast tempo, with musicians following dancers movements with close attention to every twist of the skirt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bomba includes between 47 to 56 rhythmic patterns. Instruments include the subidor, the bomba barrel, maracas and the cu\u00e0, the two sticks played against the drums.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The most recognized rhythms in bomba are sic\u00e1, cuemb\u00e9, seis corrido and corv\u00e9.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In sic\u00e1, there are eight sections, beginning with the basic two-step: right over left, with hands swaying on the opposite foot. Bomba consists of intricate movements that require focus on rhythm, tempo and beat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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