Puerto Rican Citizen: History and Political Identity in Twentieth-Century New York City (Historical Studies of Urban America)

By the end of the 1920s, just ten years after the Jones Act first made them full-fledged Americans, more than 45,000 native Puerto Ricans had left their homes and entered the United States, citizenship papers in hand, forming one of New York City’s most complex and distinctive migrant communities. In __Puerto Rican Citizen__, Lorrin Thomas for the first time unravels the many tensions—historical, racial, political, and economic—that defined the experience of this group of American citizens before and after World War II. Building its incisive narrative from a wide range of archival sources, interviews, and first-person accounts of Puerto Rican life in New York, this book illuminates the rich history of a group that is still largely invisible to many scholars. At the center of __Puerto Rican Citizen__ are Puerto Ricans’ own formulations about political identity, the responses of activists and ordinary migrants to the failed promises of American citizenship, and their expectations of how the American state should address those failures. Complicating our understanding of the discontents of modern liberalism, of race relations beyond black and white, and of the diverse conceptions of rights and identity in American life, Thomas’s book transforms the way we understand this community’s integral role in shaping our sense of citizenship in twentieth-century America.

By the end of the 1920s, just ten years after the Jones Act first made them full-fledged Americans, more than 45,000 native Puerto Ricans had left their homes and entered the United States, citizenship papers in hand, forming one of New York City’s most complex and unique migrant communities. In Puerto Rican Citizen, Lorrin Thomas for the first time unravels the many tensions—historical, racial, political, and economic—that defined the experience of this group of American citizens before and after World War II.

Building its incisive narrative from a wide range of archival sources, interviews, and first-person accounts of Puerto Rican life in New York, this book illuminates the rich history of a group that is still largely invisible to many scholars. At the center of Puerto Rican Citizen are Puerto Ricans’ own formulations about political identity, the responses of activists and ordinary migrants to the failed promises of American citizenship, and their expectations of how the American state should address those failures. Complicating our understanding of the discontents of modern liberalism, of race relations beyond black and white, and of the diverse conceptions of rights and identity in American life, Thomas’s book transforms the way we understand this community’s integral role in shaping our sense of citizenship in twentieth-century America.

By the end of the 1920s, just ten years after the Jones Act first made them full-fledged Americans, more than 45,000 native Puerto Ricans had left their homes and entered the United States, citizenship papers in hand, forming one of New York Citys most complex and unique migrant communities. In Puerto Rican Citizen , Lorrin Thomas for the first time unravels the many tensionshistorical, racial, political, and economicthat defined the experience of this group of American citizens before and after World War II. Building its incisive narrative from a wide range of archival sources, interviews, and first-person accounts of Puerto Rican life in New York, this book illuminates the rich history of a group that is still largely invisible to many scholars. At the center of Puerto Rican Citizen are Puerto Ricans own formulations about political identity, the responses of activists and ordinary migrants to the failed promises of American citizenship, and their expectations of how the American state should address those failures. Complicating our understanding of the discontents of modern liberalism, of race relations beyond black and white, and of the diverse conceptions of rights and identity in American life, Thomass book transforms the way we understand this communitys integral role in shaping our sense of citizenship in twentieth-century America. By the end of the 1920s, just ten years after the Jones Act first made them legally Americans, more than 45,000 native Puerto Ricans had left their homes and entered the United States, citizenship papers in hand, forming one of New York City's most complex and unique migrant communities. In this book the author unravels the many tensions, historical, racial, political, and economic, that defined the experience of this group of American citizens before and after World War II. Building its narrative from a wide range of archival sources, interviews, and first-person accounts of Puerto Rican life in New York, this book illuminates the rich history of a group that is still largely invisible to many scholars. At the center are Puerto Ricans' own formulations about political identity, the responses of activists and ordinary migrants to the failed promises of American citizenship, and their expectations of how the American state should address those failures. Complicating our understanding of the discontents of modern liberalism, of race relations beyond black and white, and of the diverse conceptions of rights and identity in American life, this book transforms the way we understand this community's integral role in shaping our sense of citizenship in twentieth-century America. -- Book jacket. "Introduction: Puerto Ricans, citizenship, and recognition -- New citizens of New York : community organization and political culture in the twenties -- Confronting race in the metropole : racial ascription and racial discourse during the Depression -- Pursuing the promise of the New Deal : relief and the politics of nationalism in the thirties -- How to represent the postwar migration : the liberal establishment, the Puerto Rican Left, and the "Puerto Rican problem"--How to study the postwar migrant : social science, Puerto Ricans, and social problems -- "Juan Q. Citizen," aspirantes, and Young Lords : youth activism in a new world -- Epilogue: from colonial citizen to Nuyorican ..." Introduction: Puerto Ricans, citizenship, and recognition New citizens of New York : community organization and political culture in the twenties Confronting race in the metropole : racial ascription and racial discourse during the Depression Pursuing the promise of the New Deal : relief and the politics of nationalism in the thirties How to represent the postwar migration : the liberal establishment, the Puerto Rican Left, and the "Puerto Rican problem" How to study the postwar migrant : social science, Puerto Ricans, and social problems "Juan Q. Citizen," aspirantes, and Young Lords : youth activism in a new world Epilogue: from colonial citizen to Nuyorican. Building its incisive narrative from a wide range of archival sources, interviews, and accounts of Puerto Rican life in New York, this book illuminates the history of a group that is still invisible to many scholars and transforms the way we understand this community's integral role in shaping our sense of citizenship in 20th-century America. By the end of the 1920s more than 45,000 native Puerto Ricans had left their homes and entered the United States, forming one of New York City's most complex migrant communities. Here Thomas unravels the many tensions that defined the experience of this group of American citizens before and after World War II