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The Racial Struggles of Puerto Ricans Essay

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The Racial Struggles of Puerto Ricans

Another large component of Puerto Ricanness is Race. All of the different cultures that have throughout history combined to form Puerto Rico effect their nationality, history, lifestyles, traditions, music, and foods.

The "discovery" or infiltration of the island of Borinquen (or Puerto Rico as it was later renamed) in 1493 by Spain resulted in the decimation of the native Taino population. With the loss of an immediate source of cheap labor to work the fields for their sugar cane industry, they introduced African culture into the region by importing slaves to replace the Taino field workers. In addition to the introduction of African culture into Puerto Rico voluntary immigration brought …show more content…

Not necessarily the history but the story or interpretation of the past as perceived by the elite. Gonzalez suggests that the recreation of the history of Puerto Rican society can be expressed metaphorically as the construction of a building. "As the new layers of the history or floors are added the foundation becomes more and more obscured from view" (Figueroa 9/15). As the higher levels continued to build they were able to create the illusion of a "pure, white" society by rejecting and denying their Taino and African heritage.

The United States gained Puerto Rico in 1898 through the Treaty of Paris, signed after the Spanish-American. Although the Puerto Rican community initially embraced U.S. intervention in 1898, hoping that the land of the free would finally bring liberty to the island, the following years were full of disillusionment. The sad reality was that the U.S. had no intention of ever giving up control of Puerto Rico because of its strategic location in the Caribbean. The United States government tried to Americanize the island. Which was acceptable for the island in the eyes of the elite until their power was being threatened. The elite’s on the island looked to the Jibaro as their symbol of national identity.

"In response to this situation, certain intellectuals turned to the margins of their society, where they

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