His mother emigrated to the United States in hopes of attending college, and his father had been a cigar maker and had served in the U.S. Cavalry.
Bonilla was raised around East Harlem, a neighborhood full of diversity of culture and race.
[2] He said that children were very often exposed to multiple languages at an early age and that they became bilingual to interact with people in their day-to-day lives.
It was there that he was invited to join the Puerto Rican National Guard near Frankfurt and assigned as the company clerk.
"[citation needed] Bonilla returned to the United States after he was discharged from the military and made use of the educational benefits of the G.I.
[3] For 20 years, he directed CUNY's Center for Puerto Rican Studies, where he served as founding director until his retirement in 1995.
[1] The Frank Bonilla Public Intellectual Award was created in his honor by the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).