Isabel Luberza Oppenheimer (23 July 1901Funeraria Jackie Oliver. Museum. Avenida Las Americas, Ponce, Puerto Rico. 15 February 2012. – 4 January 1974), better known as "Isabel la Negra", was a Puerto Rican

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

owner and

madam Madam (), or madame ( or ), is a polite and formal form of address for Woman, women in the English language, often contracted to ma'am (pronounced in American English and this way but also in British English). The term derives from the French la ...

in barrio

Maragüez Maragüez (''Barrio Maragüez'') is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Magueyes, Ponce, Puerto Rico, Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués (Ponce), Portugués, Montes Llanos, Machuelo Arriba, Sabanetas, Ponce, Pue ...

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

. Her name and her brothel, Elizabeth's Dancing Club, became part of Puerto Rican

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

both during her life and posthumously.

Early years and youth

Isabel Luberza Oppenheimer was born in the San Anton neighborhood of

, on 23 July 1901 to Joselino Luberza and María Oppenheimer. Apart from her business as a

, well documented in many Puerto Rican newspapers such as '' El Dia'' and ''

El Vocero ''El Vocero de Puerto Rico'' is a Puerto Rican free newspaper that is published in San Juan. Published since 1974, ''El Vocero'' was at first the third of the four largest Puerto Rico newspapers, trailing '' El Mundo'' and '' El Nuevo Día'' and ...

'', not much is known about her early life. One widely circulated version is that Isabel left home as a young teenager to live with a wealthy man only to find out that he was married. Another version says she dated and married a much older man, a wealthy American. A well researched and documented story of her life is presented by the prominent criminal attorney and businessman José Ángel “Chiro” Cangiano. In his legal documentary ''"Receso del Tribunal: Vivencias Judiciales of Jose Angel Cangiano"'' ("Courtroom Recess: Judicial Experiences of Jose Angel Cangiano"), he debunks those stories and documents Isabel's true story: As a young girl of the poor lower class in Ponce, Isabel fell in love with the son of a wealthy upper class homeowner in the city where her mother worked as a housemaid. The elegant gentleman, a young attorney, returned her love in various ways, including purchasing her a home where he would later enjoy her cooking and would occasionally also invite his professional friends, including attorneys, judges, and prosecutors, for socializing with their wives. Their romance, however, ended abruptly when Isabel, walking downtown with her cousin Norma, recognized her wealthy boyfriend as the groom in the nuptial caravan that passed her during her boyfriend's unannounced marriage to another girl, also a member of Ponce's upper class. Emotionally affected by the experience and "in a bath of tears", Isabel told her cousin Norma that "the man that from that day hence wants to enter my house has to pay a charge." Thus developed the beginnings of Isabel as a brothel owner.Jose Antonio Cangiano. "The People of Puerto Rico v. Isabel Luberza Oppenheimer." In, "Receso del Tribunal: Vivencias Judicales". Dominican Republic: Editoria Centenario. First Edition. 2007. page 5.

Business and career

From the late 1930s to the mid-1960s, she owned and operated her

bordello A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

in the municipality of Ponce. At that time prostitution was tolerated in Puerto Rico. Her bordello was allegedly visited by politicians, businessmen, and clerics, although this remains unconfirmed.Frances R. Aparicio
''Listening to salsa: gender, Latin popular music, and Puerto Rican cultures''
Wesleyan University (1998), pp. 3, 45, 52, 54. Dubbed by the public ''Isabel la Negra'', she declared herself " Madame" of her brothel. Isabel had two brothels: one in Barrio San Anton and another one in Barrio Maraguez. Some sources claim that, while her brothel businesses made her quite wealthy, the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

did not accept her donations because of her past and the nature of her profession; but others state the she made many numerous well-received and significant contributions to the Catholic Church in Ponce. Also, for many years, she gave free toys and food to underprivileged children in Ponce on 6 January, Epiphany day (Three Kings Day, in Puerto Rico)

Death

Isabel la Negra was shot dead on 4 January 1974, an innocent bystander of a drug-related homicide which occurred near one of her establishments. She was 72 years old. She was buried at

Cementerio Civil de Ponce Cementerio Civil de Ponce (Ponce Civil Cemetery), a.k.a., Cementerio Municipal de Ponce, is a historic burial ground in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1901. It was designed by Manuel V. Domenech. Some of the people buried at Cementerio ...

. The Catholic Church, which she had allegedly supported for many years, refused to accept her body into the

Ponce Cathedral Ponce may refer to: *Ponce (surname) *Ponce (streamer) (born 1991), French streamer *Ponce, Puerto Rico, a city in Puerto Rico ** Ponce High School ** Ponce massacre, 1937 * USS ''Ponce'', several ships of the US Navy *Manuel Ponce, a Mexican comp ...

as part of the ceremonies for her burial. In spite of, and some say as a consequence of, this over 13,000 people attended her funeral.

Literary and media representations

Several of Puerto Rico's most important authors and filmmakers have been inspired by Isabel Luberza Oppenheimer's life and made works based on her experiences. In 1975,

Rosario Ferré Rosario Ferré Ramírez de Arellano (September 28, 1938 – February 18, 2016) was a Puerto Rican writer, poet, and essayist.

and

Manuel Ramos Otero Manuel Ramos Otero (July 20, 1948 – October 7, 1990) was a Puerto Rican writer. He is widely considered to be the most important openly gay twentieth-century Puerto Rican writer who wrote in Spanish, and his work was often controversial ...

published two stories about Isabel la Negra in the literary journal ''Zona de carga y descarga''. These stories were later reprinted in short-story collections by each author. In 1979, a film about her life was released, starring

Míriam Colón Míriam Colón Valle (August 20, 1936 – March 3, 2017) was a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican actress. She was the founder and director of New York City's Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. Beginning her career in the early 1950s, she performed on Bro ...

as Isabel, with

José Ferrer José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hi ...

Raul Julia Raúl Rafael Carlos Juliá y Arcelay (March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994) was a Puerto Rican actor. He was known for his intense and varied roles on stage and screen. He started his career in the Public Theater before transitioning to film. He ...

Miguel Ángel Suárez Miguel Ángel Suárez (July 5, 1939 – April 1, 2009) was a Puerto Rican soap opera and movie actor. Early years Suárez and his sister were born into a middle-class family and raised in the Santurce section of San Juan, Puerto Rico. His fathe ...

and

Henry Darrow Henry Darrow (born Enrique Tomás Delgado Jiménez; September 15, 1933 – March 14, 2021) was an American character actor of stage and film known for his role as Manolito "Mano" Montoya on the 1960s television series ''The High Chaparral''. In f ...

. The film was titled ''

A Life of Sin ''A Life of Sin'' is a 1979 Puerto Rican-American drama film directed by Efraín López Neris and starring Raul Julia, Míriam Colón and José Ferrer. Premise Paulo (Raul Julia), a Caribbean peasant and Isabel ( Miriam Colon), a politician's mis ...

'', and was directed by

Efraín López Neris Efraín López Neris (born April 1, 1937) is a Sephardi Puerto Rican actor, producer and cinematographer that has had a long trajectory in Puerto Rico's national artistic scene. Born in Caguas in April 1, 1937, he had his start in Puerto Rican t ...

. In 2006,

Mayra Santos-Febres Mayra Santos-Febres (born 1966 in Carolina) is a Puerto Rican author, poet, novelist, professor of literature, essayist, and literary critic and author of children's books. Her work focuses on themes of race, diaspora identity, female sexua ...

published a novel based on the life of Isabel la Negra titled ''Nuestra Señora de la Noche''. The novel was published by Espasa-Calpe in Madrid, Spain ().

Legacy

There is a street in Ponce, crossed by Papo Franceschi street, and named to the memory of Isabel La Negra at Barrio

San Antón San Antón is one of the 31 barrios of Puerto Rico, barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, and Portugués Urbano, San Antón is one of the municipality's five originally rura ...

, the community where Isabel la Negra was born and raised.''Isabel la Negra street''
Travel Ponce, 10 August 2009; retrieved 14 September 2012.

Notes

References

External links

''Se resolvió el Caso de "Isabel la Negra"!''
foro.univision.com 25 August 2006. (See also
''Commentary on 'Libres de pagar a Hacienda grupo herederos de "Isabel La Negra"' ''
Mayra Santos Febres. El Nuevo Día. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Retrieved 28 July 2012
Archived.
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Negra, Isabel 1901 births 1974 deaths People murdered in 1974 Burials at Cementerio Civil de Ponce Businesspeople from Ponce Female murder victims People murdered in Puerto Rico Puerto Rican brothel owners and madams Puerto Rican folklore Puerto Rican murder victims 20th-century Puerto Rican businesspeople 20th-century Puerto Rican businesswomen