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The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Educa5on and Cultural Exchanges
Prepared by: Dr. Carmen H. Sanjurjo
Associate Professor of Teacher Educa>on Metropolitan State University of Denver
Migra>on to the US
• At nine percent of the La>no popula>on in the United States, Puerto Ricans are the second largest Hispanic group na>onwide, and comprise 1.5% of the en>re popula>on of the United States.
• An es>mated 4.9 million Hispanics of Puerto Rican origin resided in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia in 2011, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. That is a slightly greater number than the popula>on of Puerto Rico itself in 2011, which was 3.7 million. Puerto Ricans in this sta>s>cal profile are people who self-‐iden>fied as Hispanics of Puerto Rican origin; this means either they themselves were born in Puerto Rico or they trace their family ancestry to Puerto Rico.
Puerto Ricans in the United States • Immigra'on status. Most Puerto Ricans in the United States—3.4 million in all—were born in the 50 states or the District of Columbia. Addi>onally, about one-‐third (31%) of the Puerto Rican popula>on in the U.S.—1.5 million—was born in Puerto Rico. People born in Puerto Rico are also considered na>ve born because they are U.S. ci>zens by birth. A small number of people of Puerto Rican origin—51,000—were born outside of the U.S. or Puerto Rico and were not U.S. ci>zens by birth. They are considered foreign born.
The Puerto Rican Community in the United States
• 1917: the U.S. Congress passed the Jones Act declaring all Puerto Ricans ci>zens of the United States
• U.S. ci>zenship facilitated a migra>on freed from immigra>on barriers which sparked both labor recruitment and social networks
• Between 1920 and 1940 the Puerto Rican popula>on in the States grew from fewer than 12,000 to almost 70,000. New York was the preferred des>na>on but the Puerto Rican community in Philadelphia also grew
• Contract laborers were the pioneers who established these communi>es • The peak period of migra>on and the first airborne migra>on began with the end
of WWII. Puerto Ricans boarded the twin-‐engine planes, many of them army surplus planes, for the six-‐hour trip from San Juan to New York City.
• Despite drama>c economic changes and displacement in the mid and late 1940s, policy makers con>nued to define Puerto Rico’s problem as “overpopula>on”. Migra>on was an escape valve for Puerto Rico’s economic and social problems.
• In the early 1960’s the preeminent Puerto Rican ins>tu>on in New York City was the Migra>on Division of the Department of Labor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The Struggle for Bilingual Educa>on • The Puerto Rican community gradually forged inroads into dominant American culture in the decades
following the massive migra>on of the 50s and 60s but not without resistance and struggle. • The importance of educa>ng U.S. Puerto Rican youth was one that permeated the New York barrios since
the >me of the pioneer genera>on. Knowledge of one’s language, history and cultural heritage was frequently included in the mission statements and programma>c agendas of inter-‐war community associa>ons.
• The natural expansion of Puerto Rican barrios, augmented by an increased migra>on following the Second World War, meant sharp increases in the numbers of children enrolled in the public schools. From the decades of the 50s to the 70s, depending on the geographic loca>on of Puerto Rican and La>no communi>es, these students would overwhelm public instruc>onal resources.
• There was lihle guidance that could be given teachers and school administrators in the instruc>on and accommoda>on of this popula>on except for resuscita>ng total immersion and other old methods for teaching non-‐English speakers. Under these rubrics, limited speakers of the English language in elementary grades were placed one or two years behind their age-‐appropriate grades or in classes for slow learners. Some schools paired the non-‐English speaker with a proficient buddy or relegated the student to remedial classes, equa>ng limita>ons in English proficiency with developmental learning problems. At the secondary level, the few that remained in school were frequently concentrated in nonacademic, voca>onal or general tracks. Across the board, teacher expecta>ons of Puerto Rican scholas>c achievement were generally low.
The Struggle For Bilingual Educa>on • Puerto Ricans frequently demonstrated concerns for sound, equitable educa>onal
experiences for their young. In 1949 the Commihee of the Associa>on of Assistant Superintendents conducted a study that confirmed the need for at least a year’s prepara>on in the English language before these children were ready for primary content instruc>on. The Elementary Division of the Board of Educa>on responded by appoin>ng ten Puerto Rican teachers, dubbed Subs>tute Auxiliary Teachers, to schools with high concentra>ons of Spanish-‐speaking youngsters. Their task was to assist in the orienta>on of these children and to serve as intermediaries between the schools and the community. Moreover, in less than five years, the Board commissioned a landmark study on Puerto Rican students intended to provide teachers and administrators with a thorough understanding of the group’s heritage and U.S. background. Based on these findings, measures for their instruc>on were recommended. The Puerto Rican Study, 1953–1957, supported the hiring of Subs>tute Auxiliary Teachers, calling for more Spanish-‐speaking Puerto Rican coordinators, school-‐community coordinators, teachers of English as a Second Language, counselors and administrators. The first teachers to fill these posi>ons represented the precursors of bilingual educa>on as prac>ced in the New York City schools.
The Struggle for Bilingual Educa>on • Bilingual educa>on became a unifying cry in Puerto Rican and La>no barrios throughout the
na>on. The early 70s witnessed community mobiliza>on in numbers of ci>es with large Puerto Rican concentra>ons. Interes>ngly, while many non-‐Puerto Rican La>nos generally supported the issue, class ac>on suits demanding redress for language minority students were brought before the courts by American ci>zens. For the most part, this meant intensive community mobiliza>on, mustered by Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans and Cuban Americans. The right of school districts to mount bilingual educa>on programs became Federal Law in 1968, but local systems were frequently resistant to that instruc>onal method.
• THE ASPIRA CONSENT DECREE 1974: The landmark case for educa5onal equity took place in New York City in 1972. It centered on a suit against the largest Board of Educa5on in the na5on by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Educa5on Fund on behalf of 15 school children, their parents, ASPIRA of New York, Inc. and ASPIRA of America, Inc. Evidence that over 80,000 language minority children were denied equal educa5onal opportunity resulted in the ASPIRA Consent Decree 1974, manda5ng bilingual educa5on for all who needed it. A similar class ac5on suit in HarWord, Connec5cut, ensured bilingual educa5on for the Puerto Rican and La5no children in that city. In 5me bilingual, bicultural programs emerged throughout Connec5cut, MassachuseYs, Rhode Island and other regions with large Hispanic popula5ons, but it was seldom accomplished without contes5ng.
Images
Puerto Rican Communi>es in the U.S.
Puerto Ricans in the U.S.: 1950: 301,375 1970:1,391,463 2000:3,406,178 New York: 1950:245,375 1970:817,712 2000:789,172 -‐In NYC and Philadelphia women found jobs primarily in the garment industry and other light manufacturing. Women also found jobs as domes>cs. -‐Migrant workers, mostly men were hired for industrial and agricultural jobs
Puerto Ricans in Exile
• New York: • Jesus Colon arrived to NYC in 1917 as part of a network of tobacco workers and socialists. He was a Puerto Rican ac>vist who
lived in NYC from 1917 to 1974. He wrote A Puerto Rican in New York and Other Sketches where he narrates the development of the Puerto Rican community in that city.
• Jesus Colon was one of the pioneros who came to New York seeking beher employment and educa>on. Juan Flores underscored the importance of Jesus Colon’s wri>ng “as forshadowing the literature wrihen in English by second genera>on Puerto Ricans in the U.S.” ( The Puerto Rican Diaspora, 2005)
• Aker WWII New York was booming especially the garment industry. An effort to bring garment workers, especially women and also men to work in post-‐war industries.
• The flying bus-‐late night flights became a weekly venture and they were so popular that they became known as la guagua aerea. For Puerto Ricans these flights became the jumping pond ( brincar el charco) (Scene for video La Guagua Aerea, based on story by Luis Rafael Sanchez. (El ataque de los jueyes, La Guagua Aerea)
• Between the two world wars, the Puerto Rican community straddled the East River area with well-‐defined neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhahan
• In those years while learning English was cri>cal, retaining Spanish was also important
• Assimila5on: • Accultura5on: • Cultural Remitances
• Race and Ethnicity permeated all levels of Puerto Rican experience
Puerto Ricans in Exile • Migra>on has always been central to the Puerto Rican experience
• In 2000 there were 3.4 million Puerto Ricans in the United States and 3.8 million residents on the island
• In the 1940’s and 1950’s: The Great Migra>on • In the 1970’s a substan>al return migra>on to the Island began. Aker that, New York ceased to be the main hub through which Puerto Ricans migrated
• In the 1990’s Florida becomes the state with the second largest number of Puerto Ricans-‐Orlando Ricans ( Boricuas in Gotham, Puerto Ricans in the Making of Modern New York City, 2005)
Puerto Ricans in Exile • “ The Puerto Ricans are the most researched, yet least understood
group in America” (Sociologist Clara Rodriguez) • Puerto Ricans do not fit into the generally accepted defini>on of
the assimila>on/mel>ng pot model that predicts that over >me and genera>ons they will gradually assimilate into the dominant culture
• For Puerto Ricans, ques>ons of ci>zenship, migra>on, iden>ty and assimila>on are closely linked with the “unfinished project for self determina>on.”
• The Nuyorican experience has produced ample evidence that migra>on does not always lead to dispersal through throughout the United States, they maintain lo que es puertorriqueno. (Duany)
• Most s5ll iden5fy as Puerto Ricans and insist that they are part of a dis5nct na5on (Delgado,“Jesus Colon and the Making of a New York City Community, 1917 to 1974”, in The Puerto Rican Diaspora, Historical Perpec>ves, 2005.
Revolving Door Migra>on 1970-‐2000
• Two-‐way paherns characterized Puerto Rican migra>on • During the 1970s migra>on slowed considerably, larger
numbers of Puerto Ricans returned to Puerto Rico • During the 1980s and 1990s migra>on increased again but
retained its two way paherns (Revolving Door Migra>on; Circular Migra>on)
• More Puerto Ricans came to the States than returned to Puerto Rico ( The Puerto Rican Diaspora, Historical PerspecGves, 2005)
• During these decades, the U.S. economy experienced recessions, sharp economic fluctua>ons. Economic recessions in the United States had a devasta>ng impact on Puerto Rico’s economy.
Ac>vity My own Migratory Experience
On a piece of paper reflect and write down the following:
1. How many >mes have you moved in your life >me? 2. Did you live in the United States and for how long?
Why did you move to the States? Where did you live? How comfortable did you feel living in the United States?
3. Did you encounter “ Nuyoricans” and what was your percep>on of them? The term “Nuyorican” has been used to describe all Stateside Puerto Ricans.
4. How did these migra>ons, affect you, change you, made you who you are?
*5. If you never lived in the United States what is your percep>on of the “Nuyoricans”?
“Nuyorican” Achievers • Jose Ferrer: First La>no actor to win an Academy Award-‐Best Actor for Cyrano de
Bergerac (1950). Also won a Tony Award. • Rita Moreno: Best Suppor>ng Actress Award for Anita in West Side Story (1961).
She won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony and also a Golden Globe Award.
• Raul Julia: Won Best Actor Award for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985). Also won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award.
• Lin-‐Manuel Miranda: In the Heights (2008) Tony for Best Musical; Hamilton(2016) Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (2016); 16 Tony nomina>ons and winning 11 including Best Musical an d Best Original Score.
• Luis Gu>errez: Congressman, U.S. House of Representa>ves for Illinois’s 4th Congressional District
• Jose Serrano: Congressman, U.S. House of Representa>ves for New York’s 15th District, the South Bronx
• Nydia Velazquez: Congresswoman, U.S. House of Representa>ves for New York’s 12th District
“Nuyorican Achievers” • Sonia Sotomayor: Associate Jus>ce of the Supreme Court
of the United States. Graduate of Princeton and Yale. • Dr. Victor Alicea: Founder and President of Boricua College,
first Bilingual, Puerto Rican college in New York. • Antonia Pantoja: Founder of The Puerto Rican Forum and
ASPIRA (1961) • Ricky Mar>n: Actor, singer. Has received two Grammys. • Rosie Perez: Actress. Nominated for Best Suppor>ng
Actress for Fearless. Was on The View. Documetary: Pa’que tu lo sepas-‐documents her ac>vism. She was arrested for disorderly conduct in Manhahan following a rally to protest US Navy air weapons used against the island of Vieques.
The “Nuyorican” Poets and Writers • hhps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAst86cFdh8 Perfec>on by Noel Quinones
• Mar>n Espada , Litany at the Tomb of Frederick Douglass hhps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiKJXnRCB3c
• Sandra Maria Esteves,The Spirit of the New Rican Village • Diana Gitesha Hernandez • Magdalena Gomez • Tato Laviera , AmeRican hhps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi_fQi0nFNQ • hhps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV5Eyna3xQI (interview with Nuyorican poet, Tato Laviera, NYC, 2009)
• Nicholasa Mohr • Myrna Nieves • Pedro Pietri hhps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCD0IsZ4HLI
• Miguel Pinero hhps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkY9BtSxyWQ • • Esmeralda San>ago, When I was Puerto Rican
Puerto Rican Poetry • hhps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXcFmov2_m8 Pales
Matos, Majestad Negra interpreted by Lucecita Benitez and Alberto Carrion
• hhps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgk3LrpgIY0 Juan Antonio Corretjer, Boricua en la Luna, musicalized and interpreted by Roy Brown
• hhps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlFt2Ki4OJo Juan Antonio Corretjer, Oubao Moin, Musicalized and interpreted by Roy Brown
• hhps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dka-‐z9pQvpU Juan Antonio Corretjer, En la vida todo es ir, musicalized by Roy Brown, interpreted by Haciendo Punto en Otro Son
Ac>vity • Using a Venn Diagram, compare and contrast two poems: one from a
Newyorican writer with one from a Puerto Rican (from the island) writer. Iden>fy topics, themes, styles used by both writers. Look for similari>es and differences. If >me allows specify in which way they are different or in which way they are similar. (5-‐10 mins.) When finished discuss with the person(s) beside you.
• Some possible topics or themes: • Iden>ty • Migra>on • Nostalgia “anoranza” for the ways things were • Explaining present situa>ons or condi>ons in the States or in the island • History and heritage • Themes about living in New York City or in exile • Life circumstances • Styles: free verse, rhyme, musical/rhythm, language use, language interchanges Note: You can use poems handed out or search for other poems on the internet
The Salsa Revolu5on
• hhps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUd8BmvojmE The Salsa Revolu5on, La>n Music USA (2009)
• SALSA became the quintessen>al marker of Spanish Caribbean iden>ty, is in its incep>on the stylis>c voice and prac>ce of the Puerto Rican and La>no diaspora concentrated in New York City (Juan Flores, (2009) The Diaspora Strikes Back)
• Salsa is the musical baggage, the stylis>c, cultural remihance of the diaspora on its return to the island.
The Salsa Invasion • Willie Colon: one of the most frequent passengers on the cultural airbus
• The pioneering salsero and his music commute back and forth between his home turf in the Bronx and his ancestral Puerto Rico
• Had an eclec>c stylis>c agenda comprised mostly of Cuban-‐based sones and guaguancos: – El Malo (Bad Boy), The Hustler, Cosa Nuestra and the Big Break/La Gran Fuga iden>fying with the La>n Superfly and the borderline criminal street thug. These were produced in the 1960s with celebrated vocalist Hector Lavoe
– Vocalist and composer Ruben Blades brings a social/poli>cal strength to Willie Colon’s music: Siembra
Home
• hhp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/la>nmusicusa/#/en/wat/04/
• Lin-‐Manuel Miranda, In the Heights, Broadway Musical, Tony Award Winner, Best Musical 2008
Bibliography
• Breaking Ground, Anthology of Puerto Rican Women Writers in New York 1980-‐2012. Edited by Myrna Nieves. New York: Editorial Campana, 2012
• Boricuas in Gotham, Puerto Ricans in the Making of Modern New York City. Edited by Haslip-‐Viera, Falcon and Matos Rodriguez. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publisher, 2005.
• Duany, Jorge. La nacion en vaiven: idenGdad, migracion y cultura popular en Puerto Rico. San Juan: Ediciones Callejon,2009.
• Duany, Jorge. The Puerto Rican NaGon on the Move, IdenGGes on the Island and the United States. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
• Espada, Mar>n. The Republic of Poetry. New York: W.W. Norton & • Company, 2006. • Flores, Juan. The Diaspora Strikes Back, Caribeno Tales of Learning and Turning. New York: Taylor and Francis,
2009. • Flores, Juan. From Bomba to Hip Hop, Puerto Rican Culture and LaGno IdenGty. New York: Columbia University
Press, 2000. • Gonzalez, Jose Luis. Puerto Rico, The Four Storied Country and Other Essays. Princeton and New York: Markus
Wiener Publishing, Inc., 1993. • Laviera, Tato. AmeRican. Houston: Arte Publico, 2003. • Laviera, Tato. La carreta made a U-‐turn. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1992. • The Puerto Rican Diaspora, Historical PerspecGves. Edited by Carmen Theresa Whalen and Victor Vazquez-‐
Hernandez. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005.
