Final Project: From Puerto Rico to Brooklyn - Starting a New Life
Alicia Araujo, Final Project
Spring 2023
Hist 390-DL1: The Digital Past: Doing Oral History in the Digital Age
Instructor: Katharina Hering, PhD, MLIS
My final project is an interview by John D. Vazquez who interviews Puerto Rican migrant Luis Hernandez, conducted November 4, 1974. Luis Hernandez was approximately 51 years old when this interview took place.
Luis Hernandez and his family migrated from Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, New York in 1926, when he was about 3 years old. He came on a boat, similar to the story from my primary blog post: Voices of Generations, which was the primary location for migration for Puerto Ricans during that time.
PR Immigration Chart
from Wikimedia showing New York has continued to be the primary hub for Puerto
Rican migration
To provide some context for this blog post, I feel it is important to highlight that Puerto Ricans are US Citizens by birth since 1917. As noted by Jorge Duany in his article “Nation, Migration, Identity: The Case of Puerto Ricans,” Puerto Rico sits in a unique status within the Latin American and Caribbean countries. Duany also referenced “US troops invaded the Island during the Spanish-Cuban-American War” and he continued to note that in the year “1917, Congress granted US citizenship to all persons born in Puerto Rico, but the Island remained an unincorporated territory of the United States.” This means the US government maintains oversight in most affairs to include immigration, citizenship, currency, transportation, etc. Therefore, migrating to any part of the mainland United States poses no barriers related to immigration, visa issues, and no sponsorship is required.
The San Juan News clip
from 1904 stating immigration laws do not apply to Puerto Ricans (post
Spanish-American war) from Wikipedia
Hernandez states he was amongst the first Puerto Ricans to arrive in the neighborhood Brooklyn Colony in 1926, however, in “Citizens on the margins: Puerto Rican migrants in New York City, 1917-1960,” Thomas tells the story about Bernardo Verga, a Puerto Rican who traveled by ship in 1916 as “an immigrant full of immigrant dreams,” the year prior to the Jones Act, where Congress granted US Citizenship. This is an example of how the interviewee’s perspective in an oral history may tell a different story.
Hernandez goes on to discuss how he lived in a house with six families and how the house had a bathroom that was in the yard shared by all the families as well as a bathroom in the open kitchen, which was common at that time.
Hernandez’ father, who he described as “very militant, was able to find work right fairly immediately as a tobacco worker.” As described by Julio Morales in “Puerto Rican Poverty and Migration: We Just Had to Try Elsewhere”, jobs in the agricultural sector were seen as desirable by the older Puerto Ricans. “However, as the farms became more automated, as wages rose, and as more local harbor replaced the older men, fewer Puerto Ricans were hired.”
Image from Puerto Rican
Department of Labor & US Department of Labor brochure. The brochure
states that “The people of Puerto Rico
are citizens of the United States. Although the language of the island is
Spanish, many can speak and understand some English. In any sizable group, you
are sure to find at least one who speaks English well.”
Hernandez’s father started the “Spanish-American Club” in Brooklyn to network within the community. As another avenue to network in the community, Hernandez and his friends joined a Boxing team to get better at fighting. As per Hernandez, there were gangs on every street during this time – there was the Irish gangs and the Italian gangs. They used to control their areas and wouldn’t let Puerto Ricans in that vicinity.
Hernandez would split his time volunteering with the Catholic church and Salvation Army and Salvation Army was an ally of the Puerto Rican community, whereas the Catholic church had discriminatory practices against Puerto Ricans. The Salvation Army had a program that benefited Puerto Rican kids with the Fresh Air Summer Camps. Their camps were integrated so you didn’t feel there was discrimination. Hernandez mentioned that the Catholic church at St. Peters was discriminatory; they would hold the Puerto Rican ceremony in the cellar of the church and the Irish ceremony was upstairs.
Hernandez’ father was very involved in the community. He would run voter registration drives and Hernandez mentioned that in those days you had to pass a literacy test to vote, and felt this was one of the worst drawback for the community. It was very difficult because many Puerto Ricans would come unable to speak English. He mentioned this was different “whereas today, anyone could vote by just saying that they had gone to school in Puerto Rico to the sixth grade.”
Early
Puerto Rican “immigrants” in New York City; photo from Wikipedia Commons
Hernandez mentioned that jobs were available at the waterfront in Brooklyn, but you had to give a kickback to the gangsters to get a job in those days. It was rare that you would find any Puerto Rican working in the city government because there were few professionals arriving, as most of those who migrated were poor. The rich would stay in Puerto Rico “like these days” in reference to 1974. It was critical to try to work for yourself because “the minute you work for someone else, you’re no longer independent.” It was important to have the flexibility needed to be able to do other things, such as support politics in the community. He mentioned that each of his siblings had their own business, from being an insurance broker, to owning a hardware store, to real estate.
A Puerto
Rican in NYC posing with their Piragua pushcart in the 1920’s. A “piragua” is a
Puerto Rican shaved ice covered with flavored syrup. This image is of a piragua
business owner. Image from Wikipedia Commons.
Hernandez followed in the footsteps of his father and started a voter’s club in the 1950’s, as a throwback to his father’s club, although there was a key difference: the integration of his clubs. Unlike his father, Hernandez integrated other cultures and political parties in his voter’s club. It was a non-partisan group, although he was a Democrat, he felt they should get as many Puerto Ricans to vote no matter the affiliation. Hernandez’s clubs evolved, and he encouraged as many people as possible to volunteer as inspectors for the attorney general. This would allow them to exercise power within the board, rather than just within the district. The authority was so broad that you could overrule the chairman of the board and you could also have people arrested in that role as a citizen. Having that influence was important to the Puerto Rican community because if you saw disparities, you could put a stop to them, as people took you seriously coming from the attorney general’s office.
Luis Hernandez became the first Puerto Rican appointed in
the Government, as City Collector of New York City. This was important for the
community to help impact other migrating Puerto Rican families. This was more
than just holding a position as an appointed official. This was a giant leap in
obtaining the American dream and supporting thousands of members in the
community.
The USA
and Puerto Rican flags. Credit: Oleksii – stock.adobe.com
Bibliography
Hernandez,
Luis, Oral history interview conducted by John D. Vazquez, (1974), Puerto Rican
Oral History Project records, 1976.001.028; Brooklyn Historical Society. Hernandez, Luis
(1974/11/04) - Oral History | Oral History (brooklynhistory.org)
Mercado, Peter O., Oral history interview conducted by John D. Vazquez, October 23, 1974, Puerto Rican Oral History Project records, 1976.001.043; Brooklyn Historical Society. Mercado, Peter O. (1974/10/23) - Oral History | Oral History (brooklynhistory.org)
Alicia Araujo, Blog Post 1: Voices of Generations: Investigating Brooklyn’s Cultural Identity
https://aliciahist390dl1.blogspot.com/2023/02/first-blog-post.html
Duany,
J. (2003). Nation, migration, identity: The case of Puerto Ricans. Latino Studies, 1(3), 424-444.
Morales,
J. (1986). Puerto Rican
poverty and migration: We just had to try elsewhere. Greenwood
Publishing Group.
Puerto Rican Poverty
and Migration: We Just Had to Try Elsewhere - Julio Morales - Google Books
Thomas,
L. R. (2002). Citizens on
the Margins: Puerto Rican Migrants in New York City, 1917–1960.
University of Pennsylvania.
Citizens on the
margins: Puerto Rican migrants in New York City, 1917–1960 - ProQuest
Migration
Division, Puerto Rican Department of Labor in Cooperation with Farm Placement
Service, United States Employment Service, Bureau of Employment Security, U.S.
Department of Labor (1951). How to hire agricultural workers from Puerto
Rico.
Images
A
map of Puerto Rican immigration to the US showing NY as the focal point
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PRimmigrationchart.png
A
news clip from 1904 (after the Spanish American war but before the Jones Act)
stating how immigration laws do not apply to Puerto Ricans (back then it was Porto
Rican)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Ricans_in_New_York_City#/media/File:TheSanJuanNews.jpg
Piragua 1920 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Ricans_in_New_York_City#/media/File:Piragua1920.jpg
Early Puerto Rican Immigrants in New York City
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Ricans_in_New_York_City#/media/File:EarlyPRimmigrants.gif
The USA and Puerto Rican flags with credit to Oleksii –
stock.adobe.com
https://www.pr51st.com/puerto-rico-statehood-pros-and-cons/
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