Ureña de Henríquez, Salomé (1850–1897)

Salomé Ureña de Henríquez (b. 21 October 1850; d. 6 March 1897), Dominican educator and poet. Ureña de Henríquez was born in Santo Domingo. Her father, Nicolás Ureña de Mendoza, was a distinguished politician, lawyer, and poet who provided her with an excellent education. Together with her husband, Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal, she implemented important education reforms in the Dominican Republic, stressing the significance of women's education. Ureña de Henríquez was the founder of the Instituto de Señoritas. She was profoundly influenced by the Puerto Rican educator Eugenio María de Hostos (1839–1903), who resided in Santo Domingo for over a decade. A fervent liberal, she supported the Blue Party of Gregorio Luperón and opposed presidents Buenaventura Báez and Ulises Heureaux. Beset by frequent illness and faced with the civil wars and dictatorships of one of the most turbulent epochs of Dominican history, she never lost faith in the positivist creed of order and progress.

Ureña de Henríquez was regarded as one of the finest Dominican poets and her writings became known throughout Latin America. Her poetry takes up a variety of themes, such as patriotism ("A Quisqueya," "En defensa de la sociedad," "Anacaona"), sentimentality ("La llegada de linvierno," "Tristezas," "Horas de anguistas," "El ave y el nido"), and social and political reform ("Ruinas," which is regarded as one of her best poems). She was the mother of the educator and literary critic Camila Henríquez Ureña; the writer, teacher, and diplomat Max Henríquez Ureña; and the writer, philosopher, and educator Pedro Henríquez Ureña. She died in Santo Domingo.

See alsoDominican Republic; Henríquez Ureña, Max; Henríquez Ureña, Pedro.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Enciclopedia dominicana, vol. 7 (1978), pp. 183-185.

Diane E. Martínez, ed., Spanish American Women Writers (1990).

Salomé Ureña De Henríquez, Poesías completas (1989).

Additional Bibliography

Castro Ventura, Santiago. Salomé Ureña: Jornada fecunda. Santo Domingo: Editora de Colores, 1998.

Céspedes, Diógenes. Salomé Ureña y Hostos. Santo Domingo: Secretaría de Estado de Cultura and Biblioteca Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña, 2002.

Cocco DeFilippis, Daisy, selection and prologue. Sin otro profeta que su canto: Antología de poesía escrita por dominicanas. Santo Domingo: Taller, 1988.

                                      Kai P. Schoenhals