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Puerto Rican Diaspora (Latino Studies)

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Jun 22nd, 2018
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  1.  
  2. Introduction
  3. Puerto Rican migration to the United States is an ongoing process that began in relatively small numbers during the second half of the 19th century and increased gradually during the early decades of the 20th. The process intensified during the post–World War II years and, since then, migration continues at a steady pace into the 21st century. Numerous stateside Puerto Rican communities have formed and are located in large US urban centers and suburban vicinities. Historically, the beginnings of Puerto Rican migration are linked to Puerto Rico’s long-standing connections to the United States. This relationship began during the early 1820s, when the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico became one of the United States’ major trading partners. Merchants, businessmen, students, and skilled workers were part of this 19th-century migration, as well as political exiles escaping persecution from a repressive Spanish colonial government because of their support for Puerto Rico’s independence. Late-19th-century US territorial and economic expansionist policies and strategic geopolitical interests in the Caribbean ultimately led to the Spanish-Cuban-American War of 1898 and the US invasion of Cuba and Puerto Rico. While Cuba was granted independence in 1903, Puerto Rico remains to this day an unincorporated US territory. Puerto Ricans became US citizens by Congressional decree in 1917 and can travel to or reside in the United States without restrictions and are, therefore, colonial migrants and not immigrants. Since the early years of the US regime, labor migration of agricultural workers to the sugar plantations of Hawaii and Cuba was promoted to deal with the island’s high levels of unemployment and poverty. There was also increased migration of businessmen, professionals, students, artisans (e.g., cigar makers, typographers), and other workers during the early decades of the 20th century, mostly to New York City, but smaller colonias (neighborhoods) emerged at other US locations. Migration policies supported by the United States and island governments facilitated the massive mid-20th-century exodus of Puerto Ricans to the United States, known as the Great Migration. This migratory wave was largely propelled by a US-led industrialization development program that displaced Puerto Rico’s agricultural labor force and, in tandem, encouraged the recruitment of low-wage island workers by stateside agricultural and manufacturing companies. Migration significantly increased the US Puerto Rican population during this period, and large Puerto Rican communities formed in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark, and several other northeastern cities (see Acosta-Belén and Santiago 2006, cited under General Overviews).
  4.  
  5. General Overviews
  6. Major studies on Puerto Rican migration, especially those written by North American scholars in the 1950s and 1960s, were focused on problem-oriented or blaming-the-victim cultural-deficit models commonly found in studies of poverty among US minorities. These studies tended to recycle some common stereotypes and misconceptions about the disadvantaged conditions of Puerto Rican migrants. The emergence of Puerto Rican Studies as a field of academic inquiry in the late 1960s and 1970s fostered new historical and socioeconomic analyses of Puerto Rican migration and the formation of a US diaspora. It also generated a sustained critique of the shortcomings of previous scholarship and addressed the connections between US colonial domination in Puerto Rico and the structural and political factors that propelled island Puerto Ricans to migrate to the United States. New migration studies also began to document the history of Puerto Rican settlement and formation of stateside communities, and to draw attention to migrants’ productive lives and contributions to US society. This new historiography about the diaspora includes several notable works. Centro History Task Force 1979 and Centro Oral History Task Force 1998 introduce groundbreaking historical and socioeconomic frameworks for analyzing Puerto Rican labor migration. Sánchez Korrol 1994 is the first study to offer a detailed account of the historical development of New York City’s Puerto Rican community during the early decades of the 20th century. This particular book emphasizes the collective activism of pioneer migrants to create numerous cultural, social, and political community organizations that facilitated the process of adaptation and survival in US society. Torres and Velázquez 1998, an edited volume on the Puerto Rican movement, includes a substantive number of examples that illustrate different forms of social and political engagement during the years of the civil rights movement. Duany 2002 analyzes the contemporary transnational dynamics of a Puerto Rican nation moving between the island and the many US communities of settlement. The increasing demographic dispersion of Puerto Ricans to other geographic destinations besides New York City has compelled researchers to focus on the establishment and evolution of other communities. Whalen and Vázquez-Hernández 2005 is an edited volume that emphasizes old and new patterns of Puerto Rican settlement at various geographic locations. Lastly, few Puerto Rican migration studies provide a historical narrative that interweaves the history of Puerto Rico with the formation of its diaspora. Duany 2002, Acosta-Belén and Santiago 2006, and Ayala and Bernabe 2009 stand out in this regard.
  7.  
  8. Acosta-Belén, Edna, and Carlos E. Santiago. Puerto Ricans in the United States: A Contemporary Portrait. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2006.
  9.  
  10. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  11.  
  12. This interdisciplinary portrait of the development of the US Puerto Rican community illustrates how the historical and socioeconomic development of island Puerto Ricans intertwines with migration and the formation of a stateside diaspora. The book provides valuable statistical data on Puerto Ricans.
  13.  
  14. Find this resource:
  15.  
  16.  
  17. Ayala, César, and Rafael Bernabe. Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History since 1898. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
  18.  
  19. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  20.  
  21. An in-depth analysis of the historical, socioeconomic, and cultural development of Puerto Rico and its colonial relationship with the United States. This study also provides a detailed account of Puerto Rico’s historical evolution since the US takeover and the processes that contributed to migration to the United States.
  22.  
  23. Find this resource:
  24.  
  25.  
  26. Centro History Task Force. Labor Migration under Capitalism: The Puerto Rican Experience. New York: Monthly Review, 1979.
  27.  
  28. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  29.  
  30. A critique of the deficiencies of Puerto Rican migration studies published between the 1940s and 1960s by North American and other foreign scholars, and a class analysis of colonialism, the development of capitalism on the island, and the combination of factors that propelled Puerto Rican labor migration at different historical periods.
  31.  
  32. Find this resource:
  33.  
  34.  
  35. Centro Oral History Task Force. Extended Roots: From Hawaii to New York. New York: Center for Puerto Rican Studies, 1998.
  36.  
  37. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  38.  
  39. A collection of community histories from the Voices of the Migration Oral History Project and a 1984 conference, both sponsored by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, The City University of New York. The articles cover migrations to Hawaii; San Jose, California; New York; Lorain, Ohio; Chicago; and Vineland, New Jersey. First edition 1985.
  40.  
  41. Find this resource:
  42.  
  43.  
  44. Duany, Jorge. The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move: Identities in Puerto Rico and the United States. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
  45.  
  46. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  47.  
  48. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the competing discourses on Puerto Rican identity on the island and within the US diaspora that have characterized Puerto Rico’s historical and cultural discourses. It also underscores the transnational nature of Puerto Rican migration.
  49.  
  50. Find this resource:
  51.  
  52.  
  53. Sánchez Korrol, Virginia. From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City, 1917–1948. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.
  54.  
  55. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  56.  
  57. This groundbreaking study remains the only comprehensive history of US Puerto Ricans that examines the factors that contributed to their migration and documents the neglected experiences of the pre–World War II Puerto Rican community in New York. Special attention is given to numerous community organizations created by Puerto Ricans. First edition 1983.
  58.  
  59. Find this resource:
  60.  
  61.  
  62. Torres, Andrés, and José E. Velázquez, eds. The Puerto Rican Movement: Voices from the Diaspora. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.
  63.  
  64. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  65.  
  66. The first comprehensive collection of essays and interviews aimed at documenting the political and social activism of diverse Puerto Rican organizations since the 1960s, and their collective struggles for civil rights, community empowerment, and the liberation of Puerto Rico from US colonial rule.
  67.  
  68. Find this resource:
  69.  
  70.  
  71. Whalen, Carmen T., and Víctor Vázquez-Hernández, eds. The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Historical Perspectives. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005.
  72.  
  73. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  74.  
  75. This collection of scholarly essays provides a wide range of historical perspectives on the formation of different Puerto Rican communities throughout the United States. Among the communities discussed are New York; Philadelphia; Chicago; Boston; Hawaii; Dover, New Jersey; Lorain, Ohio; and Bridgeport, Connecticut.
  76.  
  77. Find this resource:
  78.  
  79.  
  80. Population Data
  81. Census estimates for the year 2012 show a US Puerto Rican population of 4.9 million, compared to the 3.5 million residents of Puerto Rico. Since 2008, the population of the Puerto Rican diaspora has surpassed the population of the island. According to a US census population estimate for the year 2012, Puerto Ricans represented 9.2 percent of a total Hispanic/Latino population of over 53 million. Census decennial reports show that the US Puerto Rican population was only around 2,000 people in 1910, but grew significantly to 11,811 by 1920, 52,774 by1930, 69,967 by 1940, and 301,375 by 1950. The population almost tripled again to 892,513a decade later. The described pattern of growth continued in following decades, and by the year 2000 there were 3,406,178 Puerto Ricans in the United States. The continuing population growth was due to migration and new generations of Puerto Ricans born in the continental United States (see Acosta-Belén and Santiago 2006, cited under General Overviews). Brown and Patten 2011 notes that at present, only 31 percent of stateside Puerto Ricans were born in Puerto Rico. New York holds the largest number, and they are still the largest group of Latinos/Latinas in the city, with slightly over a million of the total US Puerto Rican population currently residing there. Yet the New York Puerto Rican population has been declining gradually since the 1970s deindustrialization period that afflicted the manufacturing sector of major US cities. A geographic dispersion of Puerto Ricans to other parts of the United States intensified, most notably after the 1990s. Significant Puerto Rican population growth has occurred in recent decades at other points of destination, such as Central and South Florida; Hartford, Connecticut; and Springfield, Massachusetts. The Orlando–Central Florida metropolitan area is currently the second largest in terms of Puerto Rican population. Ennis, et al. 2011 and Collazo, et al. 2010 indicate that in the US census of 2010, about 23 percent of the total US Puerto Rican population resided in the state of New York, 18 percent in Florida, 9 percent in New Jersey, 8 percent in Pennsylvania, and about 6 percent in each of the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts. Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico or the United States are also known as Boricuas, a Spanish adaptation of a Taino indigenous word used since the colonization period to identify the island’s population.
  82.  
  83. American Community Survey 2012 Census 1-Year Estimates. American FactFinder, US Census Bureau.
  84.  
  85. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  86.  
  87. In addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau collects monthly demographic information through the American Community Survey and makes statistical estimates based on population samples. The American FactFinder online database provides data on the total US population or on any particular group for all states, cities, and counties.
  88.  
  89. Find this resource:
  90.  
  91.  
  92. Brown, Anne, and Eileen Patten. Hispanics of Puerto Rican Origin in the United States, 2011. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.
  93.  
  94. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  95.  
  96. This brief provides demographic information on the US Puerto Rican population in 2011 and also includes data on immigration status, educational attainment, income, poverty status, age, fertility, language, regional dispersion, marital status, health insurance, and home ownership.
  97.  
  98. Find this resource:
  99.  
  100.  
  101. Collazo, Sonia G., Camille L. Ryan, and Kurt J. Bauman. “Profile of the Puerto Rican Population in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2008.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, Dallas, 15–17 April 2010.
  102.  
  103. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  104.  
  105. Based on information from the American Community Survey 2008 one-year estimates, this paper provides a demographic and socioeconomic portrait of the US Puerto Rican population, including comparisons with the island population.
  106.  
  107. Find this resource:
  108.  
  109.  
  110. Ennis, Sharon R., Merarys Ros-Vargas, and Nora C. Albert. The Hispanic Population: 2010. Washington, DC: US Census Bureau, 2011.
  111.  
  112. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  113.  
  114. A statistical profile of the Hispanic/Latino population based on the US census of 2010. This report also includes demographic data on individual groups, Puerto Ricans among them, and population changes since the census of 2000.
  115.  
  116. Find this resource:
  117.  
  118.  
  119. The Hispanic Population in the United States: 2011. US Census Bureau.
  120.  
  121. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  122.  
  123. This website provides the most recent population data on the collective Hispanic/Latino category and on US Puerto Ricans and other individual Latino nationalities, as well as periodical reports on the US Hispanic/Latino population.
  124.  
  125. Find this resource:
  126.  
  127.  
  128. Data Sources
  129. A few research centers and cultural institutions that promote research on Puerto Ricans and/or Latinos/Latinas have developed a variety of online projects aimed at providing specialists, students, and the general public with relevant demographic data sources on these populations. Most of these centers are affiliated with universities and include the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (CLACLS) at The City University of New York Graduate Center and the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College. There are a few nonprofit organizations offering public access to information. Among them is the fact tank Pew Research Center. Pew’s Hispanic Trends Project provides data on the wider Latino population as well as individual national groups. Another organization is the National Institute for Latino Policy (NILP; formerly the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy). NILP frequently releases data notes, policy reports, and journalistic articles on Latinos/Latinas) or individual groups. A few other organizations have developed interactive educational projects worthy of mention: the online Encyclopedia of Puerto Rico, created by Puerto Rico’s Foundation for the Humanities, which has a section on the Puerto Rican diaspora; and the Latinas in History interactive project, which provides profiles of notable Puerto Rican women and on Latinas from other nationalities.
  130.  
  131. Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (CLACLS), City University of New York Graduate Center.
  132.  
  133. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  134.  
  135. CLACLS releases data on Latino groups compiled from a variety of sources. Information is provided on population by region, state, and metropolitan areas; economic and occupational characteristics; educational attainment, and other subjects. See Latino Data Projects Reports for specific data.
  136.  
  137. Find this resource:
  138.  
  139.  
  140. Center for Puerto Rican Studies (Centro).
  141.  
  142. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  143.  
  144. Centro’s Data Center provides Data Sources, Data Sheets, and Data Briefs on the Puerto Rican population, and the Centro Library and Archives hold numerous special collections donated by community leaders and organizations gathered under the heading of Archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora.
  145.  
  146. Find this resource:
  147.  
  148.  
  149. Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico en Línea/Online Encyclopedia of Puerto Rico. Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades.
  150.  
  151. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  152.  
  153. This online encyclopedia has a section in English and Spanish on the Puerto Rican diaspora with a general overview; essays on history, literature, and education; and biographical entries on many prominent members of the US Puerto Rican community.
  154.  
  155. Find this resource:
  156.  
  157.  
  158. Latinas in History: An Interactive Project.
  159.  
  160. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  161.  
  162. This website offers profiles and bibliographies of prominent Latinas, including Puerto Ricans, and provides information on teaching resources in English and Spanish, as well as bibliographies.
  163.  
  164. Find this resource:
  165.  
  166.  
  167. National Institute for Latino Policy.
  168.  
  169. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  170.  
  171. Offers reports and data notes on various Latino groups, including Puerto Ricans, and on current policy issues of interest to the Latino community. Formerly the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy.
  172.  
  173. Find this resource:
  174.  
  175.  
  176. Pew Research Hispanic Trends Project.
  177.  
  178. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  179.  
  180. Issues periodic reports on a wide range of Hispanic population topics (e.g., demography, work and employment, education, immigration) and provides a data and resources publication series that includes demographic profiles, statistical portraits, state and county databases, and election fact sheets. An interactive section offers Hispanic Origin Profiles on different national groups.
  181.  
  182. Find this resource:
  183.  
  184.  
  185. Journals
  186. US academic journals that focus strictly on Puerto Ricans are few in number, although there are several scholarly journals in Puerto Rico published in Spanish that occasionally include articles on the Puerto Rican diaspora. However, there are several US-based interdisciplinary and discipline-focused journals that also publish scholarship on US Latinos or on individual Latino national groups, including Puerto Ricans. To date, Centro Journal is the leading interdisciplinary academic journal with a focus on the Puerto Rican diaspora. The journal also publishes articles that stress the transnational migration dynamics as they influence the lives of island and stateside Puerto Ricans, but its main focus is the US Puerto Rican experience. Scholarly articles on Puerto Ricans also appear frequently in the two leading interdisciplinary Latino Studies scholarly journals: Latino(a) Research Review and Latino Studies.
  187.  
  188. Centro Journal.
  189.  
  190. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  191.  
  192. The only peer-reviewed journal in the United States that focuses entirely on Puerto Ricans. This interdisciplinary journal is published by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, The City University of New York, and started publication in 1987.
  193.  
  194. Find this resource:
  195.  
  196.  
  197. Latino(a) Research Review.
  198.  
  199. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  200.  
  201. This peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal has been published by the Center for Latino, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies (CELAC) at the State University of New York at Albany since 1999. Most issues include articles on Puerto Ricans; one issue was devoted entirely to “The Legacies of Puerto Rican Political, Social, and Cultural Activism in the United States.”
  202.  
  203. Find this resource:
  204.  
  205.  
  206. Latino Studies.
  207.  
  208. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  209.  
  210. A Palgrave Macmillan peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal that began publication in 2003. Articles on Puerto Ricans often appear in this publication.
  211.  
  212. Find this resource:
  213.  
  214.  
  215. Community Studies
  216. Most of the early studies on Puerto Rican migration were written by North American and other foreign scholars, and focused primarily on New York City. Scant attention was given to other growing communities until the emergence of Puerto Rican Studies academic programs in the late 1960s and early 1970s and the founding of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (Centro) in 1973 (cited under Data Sources). The acquisition of books, newspapers, and numerous documents from notable community leaders and organizations set the foundation for the Centro Library and Archives. Among the most important collections came from the now defunct Migration Division, first established in New York City in 1948 by Puerto Rico’s government but with branches in other major cities. Centro’s Library and Archives is currently the largest repository of documents and collections on the history of the Puerto Rican diaspora and an indispensable research and resources institution for scholars, students, and the general public. Community education is also part of Centro’s mission. Studies of the post–World War II Great Migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States continued to focus on New York City, with few exceptions. Padilla 1985 shifts the attention to Chicago, for a long time the second largest city (now the third) of Puerto Rican population. A small number of studies have expanded the historical record on the early-20th-century pioneer settlements in New York, such as Sánchez Korrol 1994 and Haslip-Viera, et al. 2005. As the Puerto Rican population began to decline in New York and increase at other points of destination, research interests shifted to efforts at documenting the histories of communities in other cities and states. An example of how Puerto Ricans use identity politics to effectively organize and increase their political power is found in Cruz 1998, a study of Hartford, Connecticut, a city where Puerto Ricans represent over 25 percent of the total population. Whalen 2001 documents the history and socioeconomic conditions that prompted Puerto Ricans to settle in Philadelphia. A more recent study on how the Chicago Puerto Rican community has evolved since the Great Migration years is the focus of Rúa 2012. Duany and Silver 2010 provides ample evidence of the demographic wave that has turned Orlando and Central Florida into the second largest and the fastest growing Puerto Rican community in the United States. Studies of Puerto Rican presence in various US cities are included in Whalen and Vázquez-Hernández 2005.
  217.  
  218. Cruz, José. Identity and Power: Puerto Ricans and the Challenge of Ethnicity. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.
  219.  
  220. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  221.  
  222. The first detailed account of the formation of the Puerto Rican community in Hartford, Connecticut, and of how Puerto Ricans in the 1980s used identity politics and collective mobilization as successful strategies to increase their political power in this city.
  223.  
  224. Find this resource:
  225.  
  226.  
  227. Duany, Jorge, and Patricia Silver, eds. Special Issue: Puerto Rican Florida. Centro Journal 22.1 (2010).
  228.  
  229. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  230.  
  231. This journal special issue offers a wide range of articles that document the history, significant growth, and socioeconomic profile of the Puerto Rican community in Orlando and Central Florida, especially since the 1990s and early 2000s.
  232.  
  233. Find this resource:
  234.  
  235.  
  236. Haslip-Viera, Gabriel, Angelo Falcón, and Félix Matos Rodríguez, eds. Boricuas in Gotham: Puerto Ricans in the Making of New York City. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 2005.
  237.  
  238. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  239.  
  240. This collection of essays continues to solidify and expand efforts to document the historical evolution of the New York Puerto Rican community, with an emphasis on the post–World War II Great Migration period to the present. It also emphasizes Puerto Rican socioeconomic and cultural contributions to the city.
  241.  
  242. Find this resource:
  243.  
  244.  
  245. Padilla, Félix. Latino Ethnic Consciousness: The Case of Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans in Chicago. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1985.
  246.  
  247. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  248.  
  249. One of the first studies to focus on panethnic Latino consciousness in Chicago. It discusses the realities and potential for unity and coalition building among Puerto Ricans, Chicanos/Chicanas, and other Latino/Latina nationalities to mobilize their communities and challenge racism, socioeconomic, political, and educational inequalities, and urban-renewal community displacement.
  250.  
  251. Find this resource:
  252.  
  253.  
  254. Rúa, Mérida. A Grounded Identidad: Making New Lives in Chicago’s Puerto Rican Neighborhoods. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
  255.  
  256. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  257.  
  258. This recent ethnographic study of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community uses interviews and archival sources to provide a well-documented historical narrative of the experiences of Puerto Ricans in this city since the post–World War II years, the formation of their neighborhoods and identities, and their intricate relations with other groups.
  259.  
  260. Find this resource:
  261.  
  262.  
  263. Sánchez Korrol, Virginia. From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City, 1917–1948. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.
  264.  
  265. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  266.  
  267. This classic study examines the factors that contributed to Puerto Rican migration to New York City and documents the neglected experiences of the early barrios in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Special attention is given to numerous community organizations created by Puerto Ricans and to their struggles for survival and equal treatment. First edition 1983.
  268.  
  269. Find this resource:
  270.  
  271.  
  272. Whalen, Carmen T. Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia: Puerto Rican Workers and Postwar Economies. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001.
  273.  
  274. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  275.  
  276. Relying on archival documents and oral testimonies, the author provides a thorough account of migration and the development of the Puerto Rican community in the city of Philadelphia after World War II, and the economic changes that shaped the experience of Puerto Ricans as a colonial ethnoracial minority in this specific geographic setting.
  277.  
  278. Find this resource:
  279.  
  280.  
  281. Whalen, Carmen T., and Víctor Vázquez-Hernández, eds. The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Historical Perspectives. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005.
  282.  
  283. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  284.  
  285. A collection of essays that revisits and expands the historical analysis of several Puerto Rican communities throughout the United States. The communities discussed in this volume include New York; Philadelphia; Chicago; Boston; Hawaii; Dover, New Jersey; Lorain, Ohio; and Bridgeport, Connecticut.
  286.  
  287. Find this resource:
  288.  
  289.  
  290. Political Participation
  291. The scholarly literature on the topic of Puerto Rican participation and incorporation into the US political process is for the most part limited to journal articles that have assessed the issue at different points in time; among the most useful are in Falcón 1983, Cruz 1998, and Meléndez 2003. There is still a scarcity of book-length studies on Puerto Rican politics—Jennings 1977, Padilla 1985, Cruz 1998, and Thomas 2010 are among the best known. Jennings 1977 and Thomas 2010 analyze Puerto Rican political incorporation and activism in New York City. Padilla 1985 focuses on pan-Latino political coalitions in Chicago, while Cruz 1998 examines Puerto Rican political empowerment in Hartford, Connecticut. All of these studies have contributed to documenting the involvement of Puerto Ricans in community activism, their struggles for representation and participation in the US political process, the obstacles that have hindered their incorporation, and their engagement in politics and public service at different historical periods. Research on Latino politics in general and the opinion patterns of different Latino national groups, including Puerto Ricans, have been conducted by various university-affiliated research centers and independent policy-oriented institutes. The Latino National Survey of 2006, based on over 8,500 interviews, and the Latino National Survey–New England of 2006, which interviewed 1,200 subjects, are both projects of the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan. These surveys offer data on demographic descriptions and political views and policy concerns of different groups of Latinos/Latinas. In an earlier ICPSR-sponsored project, the Latino National Political Survey of 1989–1990, the political opinions of a sample of about 3,000 Cubans, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans on different issues were gauged for the first time. These survey reports are available from the Resource Center for Minority Data at the University of Michigan. For almost four decades, the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR), a consortium of university-affiliated research centers, now based at the University of Notre Dame, has been producing policy reports and sponsoring research studies on the US Latino community. Since 1982, the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy (now the National Institute for Latino Policy [NILP], cited under Data Sources) also has drawn the attention of policy makers, politicians, and the general public to the most pressing issues confronting these populations by releasing data briefs, reports, and journalistic opinion articles.
  292.  
  293. Cruz, José E. Identity and Power: Puerto Rican Politics and the Challenge of Ethnicity. Philadelphia: Temple University of Press, 1998.
  294.  
  295. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  296.  
  297. A well-documented study about the historical and political development of the Puerto Rican community in the capital city of Hartford, Connecticut. Emphasis is given to how Puerto Ricans used ethnic identity for political mobilization that contributed to increasing their representation and political power.
  298.  
  299. Find this resource:
  300.  
  301.  
  302. Falcón, Angelo. “Puerto Rican Political Participation: New York and Puerto Rico.” In A Time for Decision: The United States and Puerto Rico. Edited by Jorge Heine, 27–53. Baltimore: North-South Publishers, 1983.
  303.  
  304. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  305.  
  306. The author compares Puerto Rican electoral patterns in Puerto Rico, where citizens have a high rate of voting participation, and New York City, where Puerto Ricans are less engaged in this political process, and discusses some of the factors that might explain these differences.
  307.  
  308. Find this resource:
  309.  
  310.  
  311. Jennings, James. Puerto Rican Politics in New York City. Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1977.
  312.  
  313. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  314.  
  315. The first major attempt to explain low levels of Puerto Rican electoral participation and political incorporation in New York City. The author argues that migrants’ transnational lives commuting between the island and the United States have “retarded the pace of politicization of the Puerto Rican community compared to other ethnic groups.”
  316.  
  317. Find this resource:
  318.  
  319.  
  320. Meléndez, Edgardo. “Puerto Rican Politics in the United States: Examination of Major Perspectives and Theories.” Centro Journal 15.1 (2003): 9–39.
  321.  
  322. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  323.  
  324. This article provides an insightful critique of some of the limitations of influential political perspectives and theories used to analyze the US Puerto Rican political experience. The article debunks the myth of “the Puerto Rican exception” used by some scholars to examine Puerto Rican political and socioeconomic realities.
  325.  
  326. Find this resource:
  327.  
  328.  
  329. Padilla, Félix. Latino Ethnic Consciousness: The Case of Mexican Americas and Puerto Ricans in Chicago. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1985.
  330.  
  331. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  332.  
  333. A case study of how Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans in Chicago use their ethnic consciousness to fight the socioeconomic and racial inequalities they face in this urban setting and to empower their communities.
  334.  
  335. Find this resource:
  336.  
  337.  
  338. Latino National Political Survey, 1989–1990 (ICPSR 6841). Resource Center for Minority Data.
  339.  
  340. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  341.  
  342. Data collected by the Latino National Political Survey of 1989–1990.
  343.  
  344. Find this resource:
  345.  
  346.  
  347. Latino National Survey (LNS), 2006 (ICPSR 20862). Resource Center for Minority Data.
  348.  
  349. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  350.  
  351. Data collected by the Latino National Survey of 2006.
  352.  
  353. Find this resource:
  354.  
  355.  
  356. Latino National Survey (LNS)–New England, 2006 (ICPSR 24502). Resource Center for Minority Data.
  357.  
  358. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  359.  
  360. Data collected by the Latino National Survey–New England of 2006.
  361.  
  362. Find this resource:
  363.  
  364.  
  365. Thomas, Lorrin. Puerto Rican Citizen: History and Political Identity in Twentieth-Century New York City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
  366.  
  367. DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226796109.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  368.  
  369. Political struggles for representation and equal treatment as US citizens and as Puerto Ricans are at the core of this study, which covers the history of New York communities from the early 20th century to the Great Migration, and up to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and 1970s.
  370.  
  371. Find this resource:
  372.  
  373.  
  374. Torres, Andrés, and José E. Velázquez, eds. Special Issue; The Puerto Rican Movement: Voices from the Diaspora. Centro Bulletin 2.6 (1989).
  375.  
  376. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  377.  
  378. This edited special issue documents the legacies of Puerto Rican activism that came about during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s.This period of activism in known as the Puerto Rican Movement.
  379.  
  380. Find this resource:
  381.  
  382.  
  383. Narratives of Migration
  384. Memoirs, testimonials, and autobiographical fictionalized narratives are a valuable source for firsthand individual and collective accounts of the multifaceted experiences of Puerto Rican men and women migrants. Among the most notable narratives by first-generation migrants are found in Colón 1991, an edited collection of short stories and journalistic articles; Flores 2006, a compilation of migration narratives of transition to US society; and the autobiographical accounts in Colón 1982, Colón 2002, and Vega 1984. All of these works focus on the experiences of early Puerto Rican migrants arriving to the United States prior to the post–World War II Great Migration. The Bildungsroman genre, found in most ethnic literatures, also has yielded numerous novels and short fiction that capture individual and collective experiences of the generations of Puerto Ricans growing up in the United States. These writings emphasize issues of poverty and racism, as well as the dilemmas of straddling two different cultures and languages. The anthology Turner 1991 captures the voices of Puerto Rican prose fiction writers and poets born or raised in the United States who write primarily in English. The volume includes writings by Piri Thomas, Nicholasa Mohr, Aurora Levins Morales, and Ed Vega. Subsequently, more comprehensive anthologies—Kanellos 2002, Stavans 2011, and Nieves 2013—offer a wider range of narratives of migration and settlement, as well of literary expression in other genres, by US Puerto Rican authors of different generations.
  385.  
  386. Colón, Jesús. A Puerto Rican in New York and Other Sketches. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1982.
  387.  
  388. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  389.  
  390. Of the migrant pioneers, Colón was the most prolific writer and a regular columnist in many Spanish-language community newspapers and the English-language socialist labor press. This volume publishes a collection of his journalistic chronicles, rescued from literary obscurity in a new edition by cultural studies scholar Juan Flores. First edition 1961.
  391.  
  392. Find this resource:
  393.  
  394.  
  395. Colón, Jesús. The Way It Was and Other Writings. Edited by Edna Acosta-Belén and Virginia Sánchez Korrol. Houston, TX: Arte Público, 1991.
  396.  
  397. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  398.  
  399. This volume includes articles and stories that Jesús Colón intended to be part of a book he was putting together about the formative years of the New York Puerto Rican community. The unfinished manuscript was among Colón’s papers, now part of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies Library and Archives.
  400.  
  401. Find this resource:
  402.  
  403.  
  404. Colón, Joaquín. Pioneros puertorriqueños en Nueva York, 1917–1947. Houston, TX: Arte Público, 2002.
  405.  
  406. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  407.  
  408. This volume includes memoirs and journalistic articles in Spanish by Joaquín Colón, who arrived in New York in 1916. Along with his younger brother Jesús, he was deeply involved in community and labor organizing, and numerous journalistic endeavors. The book gives recognition to the activism of the early pioneers.
  409.  
  410. Find this resource:
  411.  
  412.  
  413. Flores, Juan, ed. Puerto Rican Arrival in New York: Narratives of Migration, 1920–1950s. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 2005.
  414.  
  415. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  416.  
  417. The first compilation and English translation of personal accounts by Puerto Ricans of their experience of separation from their homeland and entrance to US society. It includes the work of first-generation pioneer migrants, a few associated with labor activism and cigar worker circles (e.g., Bernardo Vega, Jesús Colón). Originally published as Divided Arrival: Narratives of the Puerto Rican Migration, 1920–1950 (New York: Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, City University of New York, 1998).
  418.  
  419. Find this resource:
  420.  
  421.  
  422. Kanellos, Nicolás, ed. Herencia: The Anthology of Hispanic Literature of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
  423.  
  424. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  425.  
  426. The first comprehensive effort to collect the Hispanic legacy of writings in the United States. It includes texts from the early-17th-century Spanish explorations and settlement of the North American continent to contemporary times; and autobiographical narratives, prose fiction, and other genres by Puerto Rican and other Latino/Latina writers.
  427.  
  428. Find this resource:
  429.  
  430.  
  431. Nieves, Myrna, ed. Breaking Ground: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Women Writers in New York 1980–2012. New York: Editorial Campana, 2013.
  432.  
  433. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  434.  
  435. A groundbreaking compilation of poetry and narratives by contemporary Puerto Rican women writers in New York. A valuable source for understanding the experiences of migration and cultural, racial, and gender subjectivities and negotiations through literary expression.
  436.  
  437. Find this resource:
  438.  
  439.  
  440. Stavans, Ilan, ed. Norton Anthology of Latino Literature. New York: Norton, 2011.
  441.  
  442. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  443.  
  444. The most comprehensive and vast selection of Puerto Rican literary texts by stateside authors from colonial times to the present. In addition to autobiographical narratives and prose fiction, the volume includes other genres, and Latino/Latina writers from other nationalities.
  445.  
  446. Find this resource:
  447.  
  448.  
  449. Turner, Faythe, ed. Puerto Ricans at Home in the USA. Greensboro, NC: Open Hand Publishing, 1991.
  450.  
  451. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  452.  
  453. A collection of Puerto Rican fiction, poetry, and essays originally written in English by second-generation US Puerto Ricans. The editor includes a wide selection of poems by New York Puerto Rican authors associated with the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and by writers from other parts of the United States.
  454.  
  455. Find this resource:
  456.  
  457.  
  458. Vega, Bernardo. Memorias de Bernardo Vega. Edited and translated by César Andreu Iglesias. New York: Monthly Review, 1984.
  459.  
  460. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  461.  
  462. The memoirs of cigar maker and community activist Bernardo Vega and his life in New York from 1916 to the 1940s. Vega offers numerous details about migrant workers’ struggles and the founding of community organizations and newspapers. Island writer César Andreu Iglesias edited and first published Vega’s Memorias in 1977 (Río Piedras, PR: Ediciones Huracán, 1977).
  463.  
  464. Find this resource:
  465.  
  466.  
  467. Films and Documentaries
  468. The conditions and experiences of Puerto Rican migrants have been the subject of numerous films and documentaries aimed at providing a historical understanding of the factors that explain their presence in US society, or that emphasize the conflicts of adaptation to and incorporation into US urban settings, and their survival struggles in a society in which they often confront socioeconomic hardship and racial discrimination. Fictionalized films such as Morrison 1983, Soto 1986, Kaplan 2006, and Negrón-Muntaner 2008 introduce compelling stories about the conflicts of transition and adaptation to a culturally and linguistically different environment, and what it means to grow up or be Puerto Rican in US society. Documentaries are often aimed at creating historical awareness about Puerto Rican community activism and recognize the contributions of outstanding individuals and organizations to the civil rights struggles and community-building efforts. Morales 2009 highlights the grassroots activism of this group in confronting New York City government’s neglect of poor neighborhoods and denouncing prevailing racial and social inequalities of US society. Robinson 2003 highlights the accomplishments of Piri Thomas, one of the first US Puerto Rican authors to achieve recognition. Aguiar and Montero 2011 pays tribute to the contributions of a prominent scholar, institution builder, and community activist. Bonilla was the founder of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies in New York City. The ten-part documentary series Rodriguez 2012 represents one of the most comprehensive efforts to document the history of the Puerto Rican diaspora.
  469.  
  470. Aguiar, Eduardo, and Melissa Montero, dirs. The Legacy of Frank Bonilla. DVD. New York: Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, City College of New York, 2011.
  471.  
  472. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  473.  
  474. This documentary honors the life and work of educator and scholar Dr. Frank Bonilla, founder of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (1973), and attests to his leadership and contributions to the fields of Puerto Rican and Latin American Studies and to the New York Puerto Rican community.
  475.  
  476. Find this resource:
  477.  
  478.  
  479. Kaplan, Betty, dir. Almost a Woman, 2001. DVD. New York: PBS Video, 2006.
  480.  
  481. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  482.  
  483. Based on the 1998 novel by Esmeralda Santiago, the film focuses on her life growing up in Puerto Rico, moving to New York with her mother and brother, and struggling as a teenager to find a balance between her native cultural norms and her conflicted acculturation into US culture and language.
  484.  
  485. Find this resource:
  486.  
  487.  
  488. Morales, Iris, dir. ¡Palante, Siempre Palante! The Young Lords, 1996. DVD. New York: SubCine, 2009.
  489.  
  490. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  491.  
  492. Produced by former Young Lord Iris Morales, this insightful documentary focuses on the community activism and impact of this youth grassroots political organization, one of the most visible groups of the Puerto Rican movement. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the organization established branches in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other cities.
  493.  
  494. Find this resource:
  495.  
  496.  
  497. Morrison, Jane, dir. Los dos mundos de Angelita, 1982. VHS. New York: First Run/Icarus Films, 1983.
  498.  
  499. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  500.  
  501. A Puerto Rican man comes to New York, uprooting the lives of his wife and young daughter, Angelita. In New York, the family confronts some of the same issues of poverty they faced in Puerto Rico, and tackles the difficulties of adapting to a new culture and language and experiencing prejudice.
  502.  
  503. Find this resource:
  504.  
  505.  
  506. Negrón-Muntaner, Frances, dir. Brincando el charco: Portrait of a Puerto Rican, 1994. DVD. New York: Women Make Movies, 2008.
  507.  
  508. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  509.  
  510. A film written, directed, and produced by Frances Negrón-Muntaner that focuses on the identity dilemmas of a young Puerto Rican woman who migrates to New York, her transition to US society and how she deals with her lesbian sexual identity, and strives to overcome the rejection and prejudices of her father and native culture.
  511.  
  512. Find this resource:
  513.  
  514.  
  515. Robinson, Jonathan Meyer, dir. Every Child Is Born a Poet: The Life and Work of Piri Thomas. DVD. New Haven, CT: When in Doubt Productions, 2003.
  516.  
  517. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  518.  
  519. Combining poetry, documentary, and drama, this film explores the life and work of the late Afro–Puerto Rican poet and author, Piri Thomas, the first writer of Puerto Rican ancestry to receive national recognition in the United States. Thomas wrote his first novel in 1967.
  520.  
  521. Find this resource:
  522.  
  523.  
  524. Rodriguez, Freddie, dir. Válvula de escape: Stories of the Puerto Rican Diaspora. DVD. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Producciones Zaranda, 2012.
  525.  
  526. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  527.  
  528. This ten-part documentary series, in Spanish with English subtitles, introduces a historical overview and discussion of the various factors that contributed to Puerto Rican migration to the United States and the formation of the stateside diaspora. Includes archival footage in addition to numerous interviews with Puerto Rican migration specialists.
  529.  
  530. Find this resource:
  531.  
  532.  
  533. Soto, Luis, dir. The House of Ramón Iglesia. VHS. Los Angeles: NLCC Educational Media, 1986.
  534.  
  535. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  536.  
  537. Based on the play by José Rivera, this film revolves around a Puerto Rican migrant who after many years of living in the United States wants to return to the island with his family. His desire clashes with that of his Americanized son, who struggles to come to terms with his cultural heritage.
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