Ana Livia Cordero

Ana Livia Cordero (July 4, 1931 – February 21, 1992) was a Puerto Rican doctor and political activist.

Early life Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Cordero lived on the island and in New York City. Both of her parents were professors at the University of Puerto Rico. Cordero graduated from Columbia University in New York in 1953. The following year she met American civil rights activist Julian Mayfield, whom she married in 1954 . They had two children.

Career Cordero and Mayfield moved to Puerto Rico in 1954, where they lived until 1959. In Puerto Rico, she conducted a Rockefeller-funded research study to determine how to provide adequate medical care to poor rural communities. In 1960 they traveled to Cuba. In 1961 they moved to the newly independent Ghana, inspired by the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah. While in Ghana, Cordero ran a women's health clinic and served as physician to W. E. B. Du Bois, tending him until his death in 1963. She was affiliated with the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, Accra. Her group maintained active contact with the African-American liberation movement on the mainland. In 1978 she was involved in protesting the Cerro Maravilla murders.