Gregorio Luperón

Gregorio Luperón was born on 8 September 1839 in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, to Pedro Castellanos and Nicolasa Luperón, a Black family of modest means who sold homemade sweets on the street to support themselves.

When Spain annexed the Dominican Republic in 1861, the 22-year-old Luperón was swept up in the rising tide of nationalism, and after being briefly arrested and fleeing to the United States, he returned to take part in the 1863 uprising at Sabaneta that launched the Dominican Restoration War.

Luperón quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the war's most important military commanders, amassing an army of thousands of insurgents and playing a central role in the eventual defeat of Spanish forces and the restoration of Dominican independence in 1865.

Over the following decade Luperón remained a central figure in Dominican politics, briefly serving as Vice President in 1865 and being repeatedly exiled for opposing the return of authoritarian leadership, before finally assuming the presidency himself in October 1879.

As the 20th President of the Dominican Republic, Luperón reorganised the army and local administration and settled years of unpaid government wages, before later serving as a diplomat representing his country in Paris; because of his lasting contributions to Dominican nationhood, he is often regarded as the fourth founding father of the Dominican Republic.