Olivia Paoli (1855–1942), born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, was a Puerto Rican suffragist and activist who fought for the rights of women in Puerto Rico.[1][2][3][4] She was the sister of Antonio Paoli, a opera tenor and of Amalia Paoli, a soprano.[5]

Olivia Paoli
Born1855
Died1942
Ponce, Puerto Rico
NationalityPuerto Rican
Occupation(s)Suffragist, activist
SpouseMario Braschi

Civic career

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Paoli founded the first theosophist lodge in Puerto Rico on 31 December 1906. She was also the director of the magazine La Estrella de Oriente, which was dedicated to publishing the movement's philosophical, religious, and esoteric texts.[6][7] In her work as an activist, Paoli was a contemporary of Ana Roque, Beatriz Lassalle, Carmen Gomez, and Isabel Andreu de Aguilar. She was also one of the architects of the Puerto Rico's suffrage campaign from the 1920s, participating in the Social Suffragette League, of which she was its vice president.[8][9][10]

Family life

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In 1875, Paoli married Mario Braschi, and they had nine children: Amalia, Selene, Julio, Estela, Mario, Aida, Poliuto, and the twins Angel and Angelino.[11] Mario Braschi was a liberal journalist who suffered political persecution by the Spanish during the 1880s.[12] On 27 February 1942, Paoli died in the Sagrado Corazon Hospital in San Juan. She is buried in the Puerto Rico Memorial Cemetery located in Carolina, Puerto Rico.[13] The local government of San Juan, Puerto Rico named a street "Calle Olivia Paoli" in her honor.[14]

Selected works

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  • Corona literaria a la memoria de Mario Braschi (1894)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Lilliam Torres-Braschi. Olivia: Vida de Olivia Paoli Viuda de Braschi, 1855–1942. 1979. p.160. ISBN 978-844-990-312-0 (in Spanish)
  2. ^ Asociación de Periodistas de Puerto Rico. Dos siglos de periodismo puertorriqueño: II. Volume 2. Casa de Periodistas Editorial. 2006. p. 154. ISBN 978-097-431-021-3 (in Spanish)
  3. ^ Mario R. Cancel, editor. Anti-figuraciones: bocetos puertorriqueños. San Juan: Asociación Puertorriqueña de Historiadores-Postdata. 2003. p.176. ISBN 978-193-227-122-5 (in Spanish)
  4. ^ Mario R. Cancel, editor. Historia y género: Vidas y relatos de las mujeres en el Caribe. Asociación Puertorriqueña de Historiadores. 1997. p.126. ISBN 978-096-334-274-4 (in Spanish)
  5. ^ Socorro Girón. Ponce, el teatro La Perla, y La Campana de la Almudaina. Ponce Municipal Government. 1992. p. 282.
  6. ^ Rosa María García Baena, Cazorla Granados, and Francisco José. Otras voces femeninas: educación y producción literaria en las logias teosóficas. Universidad de Málaga. 2010. p. 337. ISBN 978-849-747-305-7 (in Spanish)
  7. ^ César J. Ayala and Rafael Bernabe. Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History Since 1898. University of North Carolina Press. 2009. p. 448. ISBN 978-080-789-553-5.
  8. ^ Roy-Féquière, Magali. Race, gender, and the 'Generación del Treinta': toward a deciphering of Puerto Rican national identity discourse. Doctoral Thesis. Stanford University. 1933. p. 500.
  9. ^ Magali Roy-Féquière. Women, Creole Identity, and Intellectual Life in Early Twentieth-century Puerto Rico. Temple University Press. 2004. p.310. ISBN 978-159-213-231-7.
  10. ^ María de F. Barceló Miller. La Lucha por el Sufragio Femenino en Puerto Rico, 1896–1935. Centro de Investigaciones Sociales. 1997. p. 239. ISBN 978-092-915-745-0. (in Spanish)
  11. ^ Socorro Giron. Ponce, el teatro La Perla, y La Campana de la Almudaina. Ponce Municipal Government. 1992. p.282.
  12. ^ Eileen Findlay. Imposing Decency: The Politics of Sexuality and Race in Puerto Rico, 1870–1920. Duke University Press. 1999. p.316. ISBN 978-082-232-396-9 (in Spanish)
  13. ^ Olivia Paoli grave
  14. ^ Olivia Paoli Street