The Different Experience of Puerto Ricans' Migration to the United States

The Different Experience of Puerto Ricans' Migration to the United States

Some people are inclined to view the Puerto Rican experience as a historical repetition of earlier migrations to the United States. However, the migration experience of Puerto Ricans to the United States is more complex, as well as one of a kind. Similarities do exist between the migration of Puerto Ricans and that of other groups, however, no other ethnic group has shared the tribulations of the Puerto Rican population. Their experience is different from that of anyone else.

When Puerto Ricans migrated to the United States they did it in two major waves. The first wave of emigration occurred in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The second wave occurred from the 1940s to the present. The workings of Bernando Vega and Jose Cruz deal with the different generations of Puerto Ricans that these two waves brought to the United States. While Vega discusses the early emigration of Puerto Ricans to New York City, Cruz discusses the later emigration of Puerto Ricans to Connecticut. Each author describes a different Puerto Rican experience in the United States. The experiences differed in most aspects; from the context in which each wave of emigration occurred to the type of politics that was practiced.

After the Spanish American war of 1898, the United States took control of Puerto Rico. In the initial state of US ownership, the Puerto Rican population faced a major dilemma. The island belonged to but was not a part of the United States, and as a result Puerto Ricans held no citizenship. They simply lingered as citizens of nowhere. It was not until the Jones Act of 1917 that Puerto Ricans were granted statutory citizenship which was not equivalent to constitutional citizenship. Not granted full American citizenship by the United States, Puerto Ricans were, on the other hand, granted the right to be drafted into the armed forces during WWI, and also to be recruited as cheap labor for the defense industry during the time of war.

Such inequality was not the only thing early Puerto Rican migrants experienced on the island. They also experienced severe economic set backs. Under the domination of the United States, Puerto Rico did not have control over their means of production. Instead, the United States possessed that power and transformed their island into a metropolitan economy. Workers were subjected to the changing demands of US capital expansion, and their migratory movements were shaped accordingly.