Juanita Arocho

Juanita Arocho (1910–1998) was a Puerto Rico-born immigrant known for her community activism and journalism in East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, in New York City.

Life Arocho was born in 1910 in Lares, Puerto Rico. She took the opportunity to migrate to the United States in 1933 aboard the U.S.S. San Jacinto with many others from the island who were seeking new opportunities in New York City. After arriving, she settled with her mother on 112th Street and 7th Avenue and quickly became politically active, both in her own community and in her homeland promoting the push for Puerto Rican independence. was particularly notable because he was imprisoned several times, during which he relied on Arocho to "heighten the awareness of women’s issues in the independence movement."

CUNY collection Archives from Arocho's life and work, covering the years 1940 to 1994, are held at the Puerto Rican Diaspora Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, CUNY. The Juanita Arocho Papers, the bulk of which are in Spanish, offer a glimpse into the community organizing efforts of Puerto Rican community members in Spanish Harlem with regard to the Puerto Rican independence movements both on the island and in the U.S. mainland. It also includes documents that concern Puerto Ricans, like Arocho, who participated in the Masonic Order.

The archived materials consist of "a small array of personal documents, correspondence, publications, clippings, Masons related materials, and organizational ephemera. In addition, the Papers contain a strong collection of photographs, particularly of Masonic activities."