Ricardo Alegría

Ricardo Enrique Alegría Gallardo was a Puerto Rican scholar, author, cultural anthropologist, and archaeologist known as the "father of modern Puerto Rican archaeology". He was a professor at the University of Puerto Rico and the first director of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. Alegria was the founder of the Museo de las Américas and of the Alpha Beta Chi fraternity. His father, José S. Alegría, was a former vice president and founding member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. It was Alegría's father who instilled in him a sense of love and pride for Puerto Rico, its history, and culture. He received his primary and secondary education in San Juan, before attending the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). While there Alegría and Yamil Galib founded a new fraternity, Alpha Beta Chi. In 1942, Alegría earned his Bachelor of Science degree in archeology from the University of Puerto Rico. He continued his academic education at the University of Chicago where in 1947 he earned his master's in Anthropology and History.