Puerto Ricans in the Harlem Community, 1917-1948
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THE COLONIA NEXT DOOR: PUERTO RICANS IN THE HARLEM COMMUNITY, 1917-1948 Daniel Acosta Elkan A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2017 Committee: Susana Peña, Advisor Lara Lengel Graduate Faculty Representative Vibha Bhalla Nicole Jackson © 2017 Daniel Acosta Elkan All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Susana Peña, Advisor This study examines the community-based political work of the pionero generation of Puerto Rican migrants to New York City from their collective naturalization under the Jones Act in 1917 to 1948, when political changes on the island changed migration flows to North America. Through discourse analysis of media narratives in black, white mainstream, and Spanish-language newspapers, as well as an examination of histories of Puerto Rican and allied activism in Harlem, I analyze how Puerto Ricans of this era utilized and articulated their own citizenship- both as a formal legal status and as a broader sense of belonging. By viewing this political work through the perspectives of a range of Harlem political actors, I offer new insights as to how the overlapping and interconnected multicultural communities in Harlem contributed to New York’s status (in the words of historian Juan Flores) as a “diaspora city.” I argue that as Puerto Ricans came to constitute a greater social force in the city, dominant narratives within their discursive and political work shifted from a search for recognition by the rest of society to a demand for empowerment from the bottom up and emanating from the Puerto Rican community outward, leading to a diasporic consciousness which encompassed both the quotidian problems of life in the diaspora and the political and economic issues of the island. A localized process of community-building bound diaspora Puerto Ricans more closely together and re-constituted internal social connections, supported an analysis of social problems shared with other Latinx people and African Americans, and utilized ideological solidarities to encourage coalitional politics as a means for mutual empowerment. iv In drawing Puerto Ricans into a broad and rich history of Harlem, I consider the insights of a range of neighborhood individuals and groups, including African American and West Indian (im)migrants, allied white populations such as progressive Italians and pacifist organizers, and Puerto Ricans themselves. The resulting analysis from the spaces between Harlem’s diverse communities in the early 20th century offers contributions to a range of disciplines and fields, including Puerto Rican and Latinx Studies, African American Studies, Urban History, Media Studies/History, and Sociology. v Dedicated to the pioneros of the Puerto Rican Diaspora, especially Daniel Antonio Acosta, my unintentional namesake. ¡Pa’lante! vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Without the support and assistance of a number of family members, friends, and colleagues, this project may well not have come to fruition. Although inevitably some who deserve my thanks will slip my memory, I wish to offer my sincere appreciation to the people named below, and everyone else who supported me over the last three years. My thanks must first go to my advisor, Susana Peña. She remained supportive throughout the entire process, and was always honest with me when I had more work left to do. I know that this dissertation is much stronger because of Susana’s efforts. My committee members, Vibha Bhalla and Nicole Jackson, provided critical feedback on sections which pertained most directly to their expertise, and challenged me to think in ways which I know will assist me as I continue my scholarly work. Though Lara Lengel’s role on my committee as Graduate Faculty Representative was most directly about ensuring procedural integrity, she went well above and beyond this responsibility, and has been a great advocate for my work. Special acknowledgement is also due to Rebecca Kinney, who aided in focusing my academic work and talked through this project with me during the earliest stages of its formulation. Finally, I wish to thank other members of the faculty at Bowling Green State University who provided support at various stages throughout my project’s lifetime, including Thomas Edge, Dalton Anthony Jones, Timothy Messer-Kruse, and Luis Moreno. As I have become more deeply involved in the work of Puerto Rican Studies, I have benefitted from a great deal of support from scholars and institutions in the field. First, I must acknowledge the aid I received as a Dissertation Research Fellow at the Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños at Hunter College (CUNY) in New York. Centro is a critical institution for all who study the Puerto Rican Diaspora, and my fellowship allowed me to conduct extensive research in this important archive. All members of the Centro staff deserve my thanks, but I wish vii to particularly acknowledge its director, Edwin Meléndez, associate director José de Jesus, senior archivist Pedro Juan Hernández, reference librarian Félix Rivera, and archival assistants Yosenex Orengo and Juber Ayala. Several of my more senior colleagues in the field have encouragement and feedback on various aspects of my work, including José Cruz, Aldo Lauria Santiago, Lorrin Thomas, and two anonymous reviewers from Centro Journal, who assisted me in refining a version of Chapter II for publication. Finally, Antonio Hernández Matos, Jorge Matos and Darrel Wanzer-Serrano have made me feel welcome as an emerging member of the Puerto Rican Studies community. I greatly appreciated the work of two translators, Miguel Meléndez and Antonio Hernández Matos, in preparing initial translations of the archival material utilized in Chapter V. Their assistance made the drafting of that chapter significantly quicker. Any errors in rendering or interpretation which remain at this stage are my own. My fellow graduate students in the American Culture Studies program at Bowling Green have been exceptional friends and thoughtful colleagues. I wish to especially acknowledge the efforts of Tori Arthur, Stephanie Salerno and other members of my cohort who assisted in the initial formulation of my project. I also owe thanks to Becky Denes, Diana DePasquale, Starlit Hill, Becky Jenkins, Tiffany Knoell, Clitha Mason, Nathan Micinski, Mariah Postlewait, Debbie Ribera, Chris Wagenheim, and all of my other valued friends from Bowling Green. Their companionship was key to my development during my doctoral work. In addition to these comrades-in-arms, I have been fortunate to have the support of former professors and friends from earlier in my academic life. Kritika Agarwal has been a supportive and true friend since my time at the University at Buffalo. Despite having recently taken a well-deserved retirement, Peter Ahr has continued to encourage me in achieving my potential, as I have no doubt he does for generations of his students from Seton Hall University. viii John Burdick was kind enough to offer me a place to stay in New York during more than one research trip, as well as much-needed breaks from my archival work. Josh Cerretti offered essential feedback on some of the final aspects of my work. Asha (Lynette) Cintrón connected me to helpful resources in Puerto Rico. Cayden Mak has helped me to feel a sense of community despite the sometimes-isolating work of research. Paul McCutcheon somehow managed to make me relax and think critically at the same time. Matt Rasmussen gave me opportunities to escape the heat of New York, and to breathe some fresh country air, when I needed it. Finally, although we were in infrequent contact during my research and writing. T.J. Tallie is a living example of what engaged scholarship can be, and his encouragement was of great help to me. Of course, my final and deepest thanks must go to my family, all of whom were essential to making my work what it is. My grandmothers, Marie Acosta and Joanne Elkan, are the people I most want to make proud of what I’ve accomplished, and I hope I’ve done that. The memories of my grandfathers, Richard Acosta and John Elkan, gave me the courage to continue despite my own self-doubt. My parents, Maryanne and Mike Elkan, have done more to support me in all of my work than I could possibly repay them for, and they’ve both (in their own ways) been an example of what quiet strength looks like. Without that strength, I don’t know that this project would have been realized. My sister and brother-in-law, Katie and Matt Hooper, have been wonderful in forcing me to relax when I needed to, and in reminding me not to take myself too seriously. George DeMeulenaere, Shane DeMeulenaere and Andrew Weedon have helped to keep me grounded and focused on being a better person. Finally, my partner Ann DeMeulenaere Weedon has done more to support me than I could have ever reasonably asked of anyone. She kept me going when I didn’t have the energy to be a functioning adult, helped me to sound just a little less pedantic in my writing, and believed in me when I couldn’t believe in myself. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. ALL DIASPORAS ARE LOCAL: CONTEXTUALIZING THE RISE OF EAST HARLEM’S PUERTO RICAN COMMUNITY, 1917-1948 ………...... 1 Historical Roots of New York’s Puerto Rican Community………………………... 7 Theorizing a Locally-Rooted, Racialized Citizenship……………………………… 12 Recent Works in Harlem Political and Migration History…………………………. 31 Key Research Questions……………… ...................................................................