Puerto Rican Citizen: History and political identity in twentieth-century New York city by Lorrin Thomas
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P u e r t o R i c a n Ci t i z e n : Hi s t o r y a n d p o l i t i c a l i d e n t i t y i n t w e n t i e t h - c e n t u r y N e w Yor k c i t y Lorrin Thomas The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2010, 354pp., $36.06, ISBN-10: 0226796086 Latino Studies (2012) 10, 437–439. doi:10.1057/lst.2012.30
Puerto Ricans’ migration into the United States has been of interest to the American public, politicians and intellectuals. What seemingly has been overlooked or overemphasized by these groups is the fact that unlike most immigrants, Puerto Ricans have US citizenship. For more than 400 years, Puerto Rico has been a colony and its people have been colonial subjects – first, under Spain, and later under the United States. When the United States became involved in the Spanish–American War of 1898, high hopes arose among various sectors of the Puerto Rican society. For many Puerto Ricans among both the working class and the elite, the United States was a model of economic progress and liberty. Immediately after the War ended, Puerto Rico became a possession of the United States. Issues of citizenship and class between a Hispanic-Roman Catholic culture versus an Anglo-Saxon Protestant ruling culture were broadly discussed among Puerto Ricans. The question of citizenship and the idea of annexing the island to the Union became headlines in the American press and a topic of ongoing debate for political leaders. Due to legal and constitutional arguments in the US Congress,
American citizenship was not conferred on Puerto Ricans until 1917 – indeed, a timely correlation to the US participation in WWI. Although granted citizenship, Puerto Rican migrants had great difficulty settling into areas where they were recruited to work, such as New York City. In her book, Puerto Rican Citizen, Historian Lorrin Thomas embarks on an odyssey spanning from 1917 to 1970, that combines archival research and a critical narrative approach, to tell the story of the members of the Puerto Rican community who became key players in New York City. The book’s six main chapters are richly complemented with detailed endnotes. Each chapter evolves employing specific themes and chronological events in an interrelated manner. The author’s anecdotic approach allowed the individuals to tell their own story in their own voice; while the newspaper headlines frame the sociopolitical setting of the specific argument that the author Thomas seeks to convey. I find her methodology very appealing because it does not overwhelm the reader with data or dates. The first chapter outlines the anatomy of New York City in the 1920s, which was
r 2012 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies Vol. 10, 3, 437–439 www.palgrave-journals.com/lst/
Book Review
characterized by the economic and political activities of Whites, Italians, Irish-Americans, Jews and African Americans. In this human landscape, the presence of a small Spanishspeaking community accentuates the ethnic diversity of the city. The author associates the activities of the early “Spanish
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