Iris was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico. She arrived in East Chicago, Indiana at age 3. Her father was migrant worker who came to the United States and later brought his family.

She has lived in Bloomington since fall 1968, her first year at Indiana University as student.

She became the first Latina to be tenured faculty at Indiana University in 1987.

Multiple identities

“It’s almost like being a chameleon, just learning how to deal in every situation is important…stereotypical thoughts of what a Latina or Latino should look like, be like, I think we are still sort of a mystery to people even within our own Latino community…but culturally you live in a void because you don’t fit anywhere.”

Afro-Latinos

“I think people are sort of confused about “Afro-Latinos.” Africans were dispersed all over the world not only in the U.S. Afro-Latinos do not deny their blackness, but want to be recognized as a force in the African Diaspora that raises the consciousness of people culturally, politically and in many other areas. I did not grow up in the African American culture, but in the Latino culture. It confuses people to see that I am a Black woman, but consider myself Latina/Puerto Rican. This is the culture in which I was raised and with which I identify. Many Latinos don't deal with the history of Africans in the Caribbean or Latin American so, therefore, Afro-Latinos end up educating our own.”