BY A.R.
New York City has forever been known as the giant melting pot in the US and has attracted millions of people through the decades. Living with my mom in Sunny-Side and being born into a Latino family, I felt like there were hispanic people all over NYC. This was very true looking back on it now. Based of census data from 2010, the NYC’s population was 8.3 million, but 27.4% was Latino which is almost 2.27 million people. This is a very high number which is why NYC is considered the city with the most hispanics living there throughout the nation. Since this data was from the 2010 census, this number could easily be even higher today. A large majority of NYC’s Latino population is actually Puerto Rican. Based off of census data again there are 1.2 million Puerto Rican's in NYC which is a little more than half. But the question is that when did all these Puerto Rican people come to NYC in the first place and why? Were things really that bad for them that they had to leave the places they called home or was the talk about the American dream persuasive enough to make them leave their homes?
I feel like the best place to start looking as to why the population is so high now is to look back in the past from where is all started. The best place to really look at is around 1917 which was when Puerto Ricans gained US citizenship also known as the Jones Act. Around that time the territory suffered a devastating economic depression and this was most likely the push factor that caused many Puerto Ricans to move in the first place. Especially since before the depression, there were not that many Puerto Ricans in the US until the formation of small barrios in NYC became more common. It is very clear that this depression on the island was the major push. As more and more people went off to the mainland to leave their poor economies, there were many family members that were left behind. This was mostly likely because the boat ride to the mainland was very expensive and there was limited space. The family that members that were left behind most likely wanted to travel to the US as well and since they have family in the US, they have more of a reason to travel.
NYC having much opportunity to offer, tons of immigrants who went to the US wanted a fresh start, to be with family again, and almost of all them were concerned with finding work.(Sanchez, pg.65). Factories in the city would hire Puerto Ricans to fill the positions for low pay. Since Puerto Ricans moved here with little money and started making little money, the possibility of them moving was probably low. Even though these Puerto Ricans who moved to NYC received terrible jobs, terrible pay, poor living conditions, and worked in unhealthy environments, it still must have been better then being completely poor with no money, food, or water from which they emigrated.
"Decennial Census - Census 2010." NYC Population. March 14, 2011. Accessed January 30, 2017. https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/data-maps/nyc-population/census-2010.page.
"Puerto Rican / Cuban - Migrating to a New Land - Immigration...- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress." Puerto Rican / Cuban - Migrating to a New Land - Immigration...- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress. Accessed January 30, 2017. https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/cuban3.html.
Sanchez, George J. Becoming Mexican American. NYC, NY: Oxford University Press.
