US History

Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)

Latino Americans

Migration

This collection uses primary sources to explore Puerto Rican migration to the United States.

Teaching Guide: Exploring Puerto Rican Migration to the US

A map of Puerto Rico, including graphics about agriculture and economy, from *World Geo-Graphic Atlas*, 1953.

An airline map of the United States and Puerto Rico showing principal non-stop routes, 1965.

A photograph of Luis Muñoz Marín, governor of Puerto Rico from 1949 to 1965, speaking at the Governors Conference in San Juan, 1959.

A report titled *Puerto Rican Farm Workers in Florida*, published by the US Department of Labor in 1954.

A statement, “The Puerto Rican Farm Labor Program,” delivered by Clarence Senior before the National Advisory Committee on Farm Labor, 1959.

A photograph of Puerto Rican girls, New York City, 1950s-1960s.

Excerpts from a 1956 report by the New York City Board of Education, “Who are the Puerto Rican pupils in the New York City public schools?”.

A 1964 article from *Memphis World* titled “Number of Non-Whites in NYC Colleges Told.”

A 1962 article from *Memphis World* titled “Union policies restrict minority earning.”

A postcard from 1986 depicting Lolita Lebrón escorted from the US Capitol after opening fire from the House of Representatives gallery.

A poster of “Lolita Lebrón, Puerto Rican Freedom Fighter” by Marcos Dimas, 1971.

A photograph of the actress Rita Moreno performing “America” in the 1961 film production of *West Side Story*.

A set of timbales belonging to Tito Puente, a Puerto Rican musician from New York City who popularized Latin jazz, mambo, and salsa, 1990s.

A photograph of Tito Puente and Felipe Luciano, ca. 1970s.

An article celebrating the achievements of Puerto Rican baseball star Roberto Clemente, May 28, 1960.

Resources

1. [Immigration: Puerto Rican/Cuban](http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/cuban2.html), Library of Congress. 
2. [The Story of US Puerto Ricans, Part 4](http://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/education/puerto-rican-studies/story-us-puerto-ricans-part-four), The Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Centro, at Hunter College, The City University of New York. 
3. [Latinas in History](http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/latinashistory/latinashistory.html), an interactive project, Brooklyn College, CUNY. 
4. [An obituary for Lolita Lebron](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/01/AR2010080103400_2.html), *The Washington Post*, 2010.
5. [Latino Americans Timeline](http://www.pbs.org/latino-americans/en/timeline/#y1900), PBS. 

Overview

Puerto Rican migration to the United States exploded in the decades following World War II. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Rican men, women, and families arrived in US cities and towns, and Puerto Rican communities grew dramatically in places like Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, Springfield, Massachusetts, and Newark, New Jersey. Eighty-five percent of Puerto Rican migrants during this time settled in New York City, which had included a sizeable Puerto Rican population since since the 1910s.

For much of the early twentieth century, Puerto Rico was an agrarian society that struggled with high unemployment rates and poverty. With the advent of affordable air travel and a boom in industrial jobs in the United States following World War II, many Puerto Ricans moved to the US in pursuit of better economic opportunities. Operation Bootstrap—a series of state-sponsored programs by the US and Puerto Rican governments in the 1940s and ’50s to urbanize, modernize, and industrialize Puerto Rico’s economy through investment and job creation by US companies—also encouraged Puerto Rican migration. As the economy of Puerto Rico shifted from agriculture to industry, Operation Bootstrap included provisions for farm workers to be transported from Puerto Rico to American farms.

Puerto Ricans had the freedom to travel to the United States as citizens but, like immigrants from a foreign country, they faced challenges of adapting to new cultural, social, and economic surroundings. In New York and other cities, Puerto Rican men and women were employed in a range of industries but also encountered language barriers and discrimination based on race and ethnicity. Puerto Rican communities had an important cultural impact on New York and other places across the country by introducing new styles of music and art. Puerto Rican migration to the US slowed during the economic downturn of the 1970s. Today, however, Puerto Rican communities continue to exist across the United States. In recent years, Puerto Rican migration to the US, especially Florida, has increased again in response to the island’s economic crisis and severe debt.

English

Puerto Rican Migration to the US

puerto-rican-migration-us_02_1b035a9dd18f8bf638622086cf0300d7.jpg

“Airline map of the United States ... 1965,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/f170ad83f01ede7a3e0e39abe8c405b5.

The Puerto Rican migrations of the 1950s and ’60s were among the first major waves of migration that took place by air travel.

An airline map of the United States and Puerto Rico showing principal non-stop routes, 1965.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 2 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Puerto Rican Migration to the US