Ponce Massacre

Date: March 21, 1937 • Location: Ponce, Puerto Rico

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1937.

A police squad, acting under orders from Governor of Puerto Rico Blanton Winship, opened fire on demonstrators protesting the arrest of Puerto Rican Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, killing 21 people and injuring 235 others.

Blanton C. Winship was an American military lawyer and veteran of both the Spanish–American War and World War I. During his career, he served both as Judge Advocate General of the United States Army and as the governor of Puerto Rico. An investigation led by the United States Commission on Civil Rights blamed him for the Ponce massacre, where 19 people were killed.