Esperanza Martell
Revson Fellow 2003-2004
Adjunct Advisor; Visiting Scholar; Adjunct Advisor
Hunter College School of Social Work; Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College; Medger Evers College
Esperanza Martell is a human rights activist, educator, community organizer, trainer, life-skills counselor, mother, and poet/artist. She has a self-healing practice and teaches Community Organizing at Hunter College, and also works as a consultant. Ms. Martell specializes in organizational development, team building, leadership skills, conflict resolution, diversity training, and alternative healing. She facilitates healing circles and support groups using her own culturally based techniques for emotional self healing and empowerment. She is one of the co-founders of Casa Atabex Ache, a board member and teacher at the Brecht Forum and one of the coordinators of the ProLibertad Campaign to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners/POW’s and end US colonialism in Puerto Rico. Of Taino and African decent, Ms. Martell was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico in 1946. At the age of 4 she was forced to leave her homeland, like thousands of Puerto Ricans who have been uprooted for economic and political reasons. Experiencing racism and discrimination in the public school system, Ms. Martell was discouraged from intellectual pursuits. Though she graduated from high school in New York City, she was functionally illiterate and taught herself to read and write over a 24 year course of independent study. She holds a B.A. from City University of New York and an M.S.W. from Hunter College School of Social Work. She has published essays and poetry, including “In the Belly of the Beast - Beyond Survival,” The Puerto Rican Movement: Voices from the Diaspora, Temple University Press (1998). She has been honored with many awards recognizing her work in New York and Puerto Rico. In 2002 the Puerto Rican Working Women’s Organization of Puerto Rico gave her the Peace & Social Justice Award. Ms. Martell lives in Washington Heights with her son Amilcar Loi Alfaro-Martell. As a Revson Fellow, she will focus on peace studies, human rights, and women’s studies in order to strengthen her capabilities as an organizer.
(The Revson Fellow’s biography that appears above was last updated in 2003. Revson Fellows may update their biographies on this site by sending email to: revson@columbia.edu)
My year as a Revson Fellow was undeniably a productive experience from which I was able to benefit significantly. It afforded me a unique opportunity for the in-depth examination of child-care services in New York City and for the detailed analysis of public policies influencing the administration of the Human Resources Administration and its Agency for Child Development.
