the patriarch of the Cepeda family. The family is one of the most famous exponents of Puerto Rican folk music, with generations of musicians working to preserve the African heritage in Puerto Rican music. The family is well known for their performances of the bomba and plena folkloric music and are considered by many to be the keepers of those traditional genres. Sylvia del Villard (1928–1990) was a member of the Afro-Boricua Ballet. She participated in the following Afro–Puerto Rican productions, Palesiana y Aquelarre and Palesianisima. In 1968, she founded the Afro-Boricua El Coqui Theater, which was recognized by the Panamerican Association of the New World Festival as the most important authority of Black Puerto Rican culture. The Theater group were given a contract which permitted them to present their act in other countries and in various universities in the United States. In 1981, del Villard became the first and only director of the Office of Afro–Puerto Rican Affairs of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. She was known as an outspoken activist who fought for the equal rights of the Black Puerto Rican artist. In Fiction The popular United States Marvel superhero Spider-Man is of African American and Puerto Rican descent in the alternate Ultimate Marvel timeline. Miles Morales, who is the current Spider-Man, was born to an African American father and a Puerto Rican mother. See also List of Puerto Ricans Immigration to Puerto Rico series: Cultural diversity in Puerto Rico Chinese immigration to Puerto Rico Corsican immigration to Puerto Rico French immigration to Puerto Rico German immigration to Puerto Rico Irish immigration to Puerto Rico Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico Spanish immigration to Puerto Rico Puerto Rican people Afro-Caribbean Afro-Latin Americans – North, Central and South America Afro-Spaniard Black Latino Americans – United States of America Bozal Spanish (language) List of topics related to Black and African people References Further reading Figueroa, Luis A. Sugar, slavery and freedom in nineteenth century Puerto Rico Scarano, Francisco A. Sugar and Slavery in Puerto Rico: The Plantation Economy of Ponce, 1800–1850 Balletto, Barbara. Insight Guide Puerto Rico Ortiz, Yvonne. A Taste of Puerto Rico: Traditional and New Dishes from the Puerto Rican Community de Wagenheim, Olga J. Puerto Rico: An Interpretive History from Precolumbia Times to 1900 Schmidt-Nowara, Christopher. Empire and Antislavery: Spain, Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1833–1874 (1990). Soler, Luis M. D. Historia de la esclavitud negra en Puerto