The History of Puerto Ricans' Migration to the United States

As the country became established, immigration was encouraged and even advertised. There were few restrictions on who can enter and where they could live. Some states were in charge of their own borders and had some policies in place. It wasn’t until the late 1700s that some began to look at what the image of America should be. This was the basis of many early

My fourth source was from a newspaper article called, “Two Men Chain Themselves To Capitol Statue in Racism Protest” from the database Point of View. This article gives a true story of two men who protested in their beliefs that the natives were treated unfairly. The story of these two men will help support one of my topic of why I think Hawaiians were treated unfairly throughout the annexation.

The Japanese Americans sustained many injustices during the pre-World War Two era, including exclusion from traditional establishments and occupations. It was noted, “the [economic] argument and the discriminatory measures are plain contradictions” (Goto 105-106). Although the stated goal of Californians was to have a unified population, their actions belied their true motives. The colossal nature of the assimilatory feats performed by Japanese dictated that “even Californian agitators themselves, in their moments of private reflection, admit the wonderful power of adaptability of Japanese,” but, “in public they do everything to prevent the process of assimilation from running its natural course” (Goto 106). Often, the bigoted owners of white establishments barred people of Japanese

v. Businesses had to shut down; police evict Japanese Americans from homes, firing them from jobs (“Japanese Americans”).

The Portuguese came to America for the opportunity and chance to obtain the American Dream. While most immigrants that came to America worked factory jobs, the Portuguese came for whaling, fishing, ship making, and the aquaculture industry. There was a need for the new wave of Portuguese immigrants to be close to the water since Portugal resides along the Atlantic Ocean, so therefore they settled in regions such as: Southern New England, San Francisco Bay, California, and Hawaii. Considering Portugal’s close approximation to the water, one may understand why mostly all Portuguese immigrants worked in maritime industry. Unfortunately, even considering all the labor and business the Portuguese brought to America, there was still discrimination towards them and their contributions to America’s industrial growth. The ideology, nativism, was the concept of protecting the interests of established inhabitants, which henceforth created countless difficulties for the Portuguese. Nativist beliefs which marginalized against Portuguese immigrants where laws such as the Naturalization act of 1798, which required a citizen to have lived in America for 5-14 years before applying for citizenship, as well as the Johnson Quota act, which limited immigration to 2% of the country’s current population . Portuguese still continued to attempt to make America their home while struggling to make a living and while avoiding the hardships caused by the nativist laws. Even with the constant resentment

police and discrimination in the school system. Chicanos have been treaated as second class citizens in their own country. Their heritage was ignored in society, speacially at school, where they were denied to express their culture. States passed laws to prohibi the use of Spanish at schools. Students that suffer the most were those who did not speak English because they were punished physically, a practice that continue until

In 1850, Puerto Rico and Cuba were the only Spanish colonies remaining. Puerto Ricans have had been migrating to New York since the 19th Century. After the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico became a possession of the United States. About 1,800 Puerto Rican citizens immigrated during this period to New York. Later, in 1902, the US issued new immigration guidelines that changed the status of Puerto Ricans to “foreigners”. A further decision by the Supreme Court stated that Puerto Ricans were not U.S. citizens but “noncitizen nationals,” an ambiguous designation that left residents of the island in political limbo. They could neither vote nor were they independent from the United States. In 1917 the US entered WWI; that same year the government

My grandparents were both born and raised in Cidra, Puerto Rico and so were their three children. They wanted to start a new beginning. Though the exact date is forgotten my grandparents moved to Cleveland, Ohio sometime in 1989. My grandparents were very poor when they lived in Puerto Rico since there were not many job opportunities and barely any resources, my grandparents could barely make ends meet.They wanted to give their children to have more opportunities and resources that they didn't have when they were younger, so they decided to leave their home in Cidra. They choose to move to Cleveland because they already had some family down here such as brothers, sisters, and even cousins.When my grandparents got to Cleveland they already knew they made the right decision for their family, Cleveland gave them a more stable life then what they had in Puerto Rico. There were better-educated schools in Cleveland for their children unlike in Puerto Rico, the food in Cleveland was way more affordable, medicine as well, and it was easier to find jobs that paid well.

To better understand why the immigration acts came into being, it is important to first examine the immigration policies of the United States

The first group of Puerto Ricans migrated to United States in the mid-19th century during the Spanish-American War when the United States took possession of the island of Puerto Rico as part of the Treaty of Paris. After the war and the Jones Act that extended U.S. Citizenship to Puerto Ricans, Puerto Ricans began migrating to the United even more with the promise and hope of better jobs, but in fact one of the minorities groups of the United States experienced poverty, dilapidated housing, schooling and jobs discrimination and really bad health care. By the late 1960s, in response to these conditions a group of young Puerto Ricans began organizing and protesting in large numbers forming the Young Lords Movement.

As a Puerto Rican who was born and raised in Hartford, I did not think much about how or why my parents are here in the United States. It was after reading the articles in Hist 247 Reader: Latinos in the USA that I began to question the reasons and conditions of my grandparent's migration. Many think that Puerto Ricans began to migrate to the United States after 1898 when the United States took over Puerto Rico but Puerto Ricans have been migrating to the US since 1840's. The Puerto Rican migration is best described in two different experiences. The first experience from later 19th Century to early 20th Century is the migration due to the economic and social situations in Puerto Rico

When it comes to the history of Puerto Rico and the United States, there has been plenty of experience with the two. There was such a profound legacy the U.S. policy left as it did in Puerto Rico (Gonzalez, 2011, p. 60). Once the situation started, a couple years went by. In 1900 congress passed the Foraker Act (Gonzalez, 2011, p. 60). The Foraker act declared Puerto Rico U.S. territory. This act granted the islanders their own House of Delegates. The act gave the islanders “less self-government than they had enjoyed under Spain” (Gonzalez, 2011, p. 60) Foraker Act replaced the currency on the island. The islander’s pesos were

The United States claimed Puerto Rico as its territory in 1898 after the Spanish-American War. The island’s residents became citizens in 1917 just – in time for 20,000 Puerto Ricans to be drafted into World War I the next year by a compulsory act by then President Woodrow Wilson (Puerto Rico Report, 2012). Since then Puerto Rican soldiers have served right beside American soldiers in every U.S. military battle (Puerto Rico Report, 2012),

The migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States occurred in two major waves. The first wave was in the 1910s-1940s and the second wave was from the 1960s to the 1990s. Each wave of migrants brought new generations of Puerto Ricans to the United States. Both waves of migrants believed that they were going to live a better life in America and migrated to major cities such as New York City, Chicago, Hartford, etc. The early migrants looked for industrial jobs such as in cigar factories while the later migrants found agricultural work such as in tobacco fields. The communities in which they lived grew larger and larger due to chain migration and because of this, the need for politics evolved.

Lots of young Japanese want’s to study more about western so in 1876 years Japanese middle school make English as part of their education. In Japanese culture first son gets everything from their parents and they have take care their old parents so they can’t move around but other sons are free about does stuff so they don’t have to stay in one place. Chinese son’s are strongly related with their parents but Japanese son’s are not so they take their family to America and live new life. In labor position Japanese get racist from their boss because other labor get paid more Japanese workers get paid 18.00 dollar bout Portuguese Laborers were paid 22.50 dollar. So 7000 Japanese laborer and other Japanese company gives Japanese laborer free healthcare A strong sense of ethnic solidarity inspired the strikers and it make stick together. This strikes held out for four months but they get forced to return to their