This Bulletin on the Puerto Rican Migrant Consists Primarily Of
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DOC UMF.N T RFSVMF ED 021 941 up 006 756 By- Goldberg Gertrude S.; Gordon, Edmund W. PUERTO RICAN MIGRANTS ON THE MAINLAND OF THE UNITEDSTATES. Yeshiva Univ., New York, N.Y. ERIC Clearinghouse for Urban Disadvantaged Pub Date Jan 68 Note- 12p. Journal Cit- IRCD Bulletin; v4 n1 Jan 1968 EDRS Price MF-$0.25 HC-$0.56 Descriptors- ACCULTURATION, ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES BOOKREVIEWS, CHILD REARING, CULTURAL TRAITS DATA, DEMOGRAPHY, ECONOMIC DISADVANTAGEMENT,FAMILY (SOCIOLOGICAL UNIT), *FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS IMMIGRANTS *INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS,*LITERATURE REVIEWS, MIGRATION PATTERNS *PUERTO RICANS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, RESEARCHREVIEWS (PUBLICATIONS), STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS SUBCULTURE URBAN AREAS *URBAN IMMIGRATION Identifiers-New York City, Puerto Rica San Juan This bulletin on the Puerto Ricanmigrant consists primarily of (1) a review of research whichexaminesthesocialscienceliteraturedealingwiththeisland background of the Puerto Rican immigrantas well as hislife on "La Vida" which questions whether the family described by Lewis isrepresentative of slum dwellers in urban San Juan who migrate to the mainland. AlsoAt:Wed in the bulletin is a brief review of Piri Thomas' "Down these Mean Streets:a book which describes the experiences of a Puerto Rican youth growingup in the Spanish Harlem area of New York City. An annotated bibliographyon the Puerto Rican population and a list of reviews of "La Vida" are also presented. (LB) 1RCD BULLETIN PUBLICATION OF THE ERIC INFORMATION 111.111 RETRIEVAL CENTER ON THE DISADVANTAGED PROJECT BEACON - FERKAUP GRADUATE SCHOOL OP HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES - 53 FIFTH AVENUE, N.V.. N. Y. 1000$ YESHIVA UNIVERSITy Volume IV, No. 1 January 1968 Puerto Rican Migrantsonthe Mainland of the United States A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE LA VIDA: WHOSE LIFE? Gertrude S. Goldberg, M.S. Gertrude S. Goldberg, M.S. Edmund W. Gordon, Ed.1:Y. In attempting to increase our knowledge of Puerto Ricans In her study of Italians in Greenwich Village during the on the mainland of the United States, we are confronted 1920's, Caroline Ware observed the disinterest of the schools with several types of potentially relevant materials. As is the in the culture of the immigrants: case with all newcomers, there iS the culture of the former ...the local schools were indifferent to the byalties and home, as well as the way of life that develops in the new customs of the Italian group and did not consider it world. And, in view of the wealth of the American ex- necessary to be familiar with the ethnic background of perience with migration, there is also the literature of the the children in order to prepare them for their role in European immigrationstoconsider.Thisdiscussionof Amerkan fssms4 potential sources of knowledge concerning mainland Puerto Today, educators are likely to maintain a very different Ricans will be confined to materials available in English. attitude toward the "loyalties and customs" of disadvantaged In reviewing these materials, it should be noted that we groups. Itis, however, by- no means certain that the con- ON are dealing witha population group larger than the nearly temporary ethos of cultural pluralism, as it is translated into r...4 900,000 persons of Puerto Rican birth and parentage on the practice, is any more conducive to educating today's disad- continent according to the 1960 census,1 for there has been vantaged groups than the ethnocentric approach described considerable return migration. For example, the New York by Ware. One finds.a tendency either to assume prima facie 0 City schools received 54,750 Puerto Rican pupils from Puerto that all of the poor are culturally different from the rest of cn Rico between 1956 and 1961 and discharged 32,210 to us or to develop stereotyped and over-generalized notions U./Puerto Rico during the same period.2 It has been estimated about the culture of those who do have styles of life which-; by a member of the Puerto Rico Planning Board that there deviate from the American middle class. An education were over 100,000 return migrants between 1955 and 1963.3 which scarcely emphasizes careful study of disadvantaged Finally, although New York City is the home of about 72 population groups and a professional life which rarely per, percent of the migrants on the continent,4 dispersion to mits, time to offset this deficiency are some reasons why other areas has begun, and only about 60 percent of the net educators' mere interest in the cultures of today's poor is migration since 1957 has been to New York City.5 not in itself an advance over yesterday's disinterest. The Island Background Knowledge of the Puerto Ricans, the most recent group to The relevance of materials Jealing with the former home migrate in large numbers to the mainland of the United depends, to a considerable extent, upon the demographic States, is particularly limited. Their relatively recent arrival, characteristics ofihe migrant group, particularly upon their insufficient emphasis on the history of Caribbean peoples socioeconomic status and their place of residence at the throughout our educational system, and a paucity of social time when they migrate. For even if a society were more science materials directly relevant to the migrant population (Continued on Page 2) are factors which compound the barriers to understanding GERTRUDE S. GOLDBERG is a Research Associate of ERIC-IRCD. all disadvantaged groups. 'Puerto Rico Department of Labor, Migration Division, A Summary in Facts and Figures, 1964-1965: Progress in Puerto RicoPuerto Rican Migration, New Given these sets of conditions, it is likely that a study of York: The Commonwealth, p. 16. Puerto Ricans by Oscar Lewis, the noted anthropologist, 'Madeline M. Morrissey and Gary Zouzoulas, Pupil Migration in the New would be heavily consulted by practitioners. Such usage is York City Public Schools, 1956-7957 to 1965-1966, New York: Board of Educa- tion, 1967, pp. 8 and 15. particularly probable because his works read more like lit- 5Jose Hernandez Alvarez, Return Migration in Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. Social erature than most social sciencean attribute by no means Science Research Center, University of Puerto Rico, 1964, p. 6. Cited in Clar- ence Senior and Donald 0. Watkins, "Toward a Balance Sheet of Puerto Rican undesirabie per se. Thus, it is the popularity of Lewis' most Migration," Status of Puerto Rico. Selected Background Studies Prepared for the recent book, La Vida: A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture United StatesPuerto Rico Commission on the Status of Puerto Rico, Washing- ton D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1966, p. 721. of PovertySan Juan and New York, rather than its merits "This estimate is based on figures given for New York City and total mainland (Continued on page 6) Puerto Rican population in 1960 in Puerto Rico Department of Labor, Migration EDMUND W. GORDON isProfessor and Chairman of the Department of Division, A Summary in Facts andTigures, pp. 16-17. Educational Psychology and Guidance, Yeshiva University. 5Puerto Rico Department of Labor, Migration Division, A Summary in Facts 'Caroline F. Ware, Greenwich Village, 1920-1930: A Comment on American and Figures, p. 16. Civilization in the Post-War Years, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1935, p. 167. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION &WELFARE THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCEDEXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE OFFICE OF EDUCATION PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATINGIT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENTOFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY., THE LITERATURE What goes by the label of "Puerto Rican National char- (Continued from page 1) acter"for instance, the speaking of Spanish or a sexual double standard--may not only fail to hold for everyone, static than Puerto Rico, which all observers regard as a very but in all likelihood has very different symbolic connota- rapidly changing society, and ifit displayed less than the tions in different social segments of the national society.11 considerable cultural heterogeneity of that small island, it would still be necessary to match migrants' backgrounds The important sociological work of Tumin, Social Class and Social Change in Puerto -Rico, emphasizes the impor- with available social science studies. For example, 90per- cent of early postwar migrant Puerto Ricans departed from tance of knowing the educational attainments of migrants, urban areas.8 Thus, materials describing rural subcultures for this variable was found by him to be the most important would be of scant applicability. And now, when nearly predictor of attitudes and behaviors for an island-wide two-thirds7 of the newcomers are coming directIy from the sample. Although Tumin was probably incorrect in the rural areas, the studies of rural subcultures, several of them extent to which he de-emphasized the ruralurban variable, first-rate ethnography, lack blanket relevance, even for rural sincehis consideration of rural respondents as a group migrants. Some, like Steward's The Peop/e of Puerto Rico, tended to blur the heterogeneity among the rural subcul- are based on field data collected nearly 20 years ago. The tures, his stress on the educational variable should be noted. life portrayed in the four lower-class subcultures studied by Despite the importance of such demographic character- Steward and his associates may be comparable to that ex- isticsof migrants as educational levels, former place of perienced by migrants from similar rural subcultures who residence, and the time at which they migrated, these data came during the early 1950's, a time of heavy migration. are neither complete for the entire postwar period, nor are (Net out-migration from Puerto Rico was over 45,000 every those available well circulated. For the early postwar years, year between 1951 and 1956.8) Such -materials may also the Columbia study, reported by Mills, Senior, and Goldsen describe life styles that these migrants would attempt to in The Puerto Rican Journey, is an important source of hold onto in their new home, but they would not by the demographic and attitudinal data, as well.