Hispanic Americans | Definition, History, Activism, People, & Facts

Puerto Ricans

Residents of Puerto Rico are not a single ethnic group. They, like other Hispanics, have inherited a mixture of cultures. Puerto Ricans have lived in the mainland United States since at least the 1830s. At that time there was a fairly sizable trade between the island and New York City, but migration was not large. By the end of the 19th century there were only about 1,500 Puerto Ricans in all of the United States.

The Spanish-American War (1898) changed the status of the island by making it a United States possession. In 1917 the Jones Act conferred U.S. citizenship on Puerto Ricans. Over the next 23 years several thousand residents moved to the mainland. By 1940 there were nearly 70,000 Puerto Ricans in the mainland United States, mostly in or near New York City.

The great migration began after World War II, and the reasons for it were economic. The Puerto Rican economy was struggling while the United States prospered. Inexpensive airplane fares between San Juan, Puerto Rico, and New York City made it possible for the Puerto Rican migrant community to more than triple in size by 1950. By 2000 there were about 3.4 million Puerto Ricans living on the mainland.

The earliest migrants settled in the East Harlem section of Manhattan, New York, a region they called El Barrio, meaning the neighbourhood. They moved fairly rapidly into the other four New York City boroughs as well as into upstate New York. In 1970, 64 percent of Puerto Ricans living on the mainland were in New York. By 1980 that figure had dropped to 50 percent, and Puerto Rican enclaves had grown in other major cities—particularly Hartford, Connecticut; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; and Miami, Florida.

Patterns of migration fluctuated in relation to economic conditions in the mainland United States and on the island. During the 1950s an average of 46,000 islanders moved to the mainland annually. During the 1960s that number dropped to 14,000 because economic conditions had improved in Puerto Rico. During the 1970s, with worsening economic conditions in the United States, more Puerto Ricans returned to the island than came to the mainland. That is not unusual, as there has always been a two-way migration pattern—especially for those born on the island.

Some Puerto Ricans have worked as seasonal migrant labourers along the East Coast and in the Midwest. The sugarcane season on the island is in the winter, whereas harvesting on the mainland is in the late summer and fall. Thus, migrant workers sometimes work at harvests in both places.

In the 1980s a new wave of migration to the mainland began, and it was significantly different from previous ones. Puerto Rico had entered a state of severe economic decline brought on in part by the recession in the United States proper. Unemployment in Puerto Rico averaged more than 20 percent for several years. For those who were employed, the average income per person was lower than in any state.

Many who lost their jobs in the 1980s were highly educated professional people and government workers. They began to leave the island in great numbers, creating what many called a “brain drain,” the loss of some of the island’s most educated residents. Individuals with graduate degrees in such professions as engineering, law, and medicine left the island for jobs on the mainland, and American companies actively recruited new workers from the island.

By the late 20th century much of the island’s poverty had been eliminated, and unemployment rates were lower. However, large-scale migration from Puerto Rico continued into the 21st century. By about 2006 the number of Puerto Ricans living on the U.S. mainland was greater than the population of Puerto Rico itself. A long, severe economic recession on the island then fueled an even larger wave of migration. Unlike earlier waves, many of the migrants moved to Florida. Today more than five million Puerto Ricans live in the United States. They are concentrated especially in New York, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, California, Illinois, and Texas. Puerto Ricans have carved out a place for themselves in North American society, occupying leading positions in government, business, education, and the arts. Since virtually every Puerto Rican residing on the U.S. mainland has relatives on the island, there is frequent back-and-forth travel, particularly during summer and Christmas holidays.