Drops of Inclusivity examines race and racism on the island of Puerto Rico by combining a wide-angle historical narrative with the individual stories of Black Puerto Ricans. While some of these Afro-Boricuas, such as Roberto Clemente and Ruth Fernández, are well known, others, such as Cecilia Orta and Juan Falú Zarzuela, have been largely forgotten, if remembered at all. Individually and collectively, their words and lives speak to the persistent power of racial hierarchies and responses to them across periods, from the Spanish-American War at the turn of the twentieth century to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s visit to the island in the early 1960s. Drawing on rich archival research, Milagros Denis-Rosario shows how Afro-Boricuas denounced, navigated, and negotiated racism in the fields of education, law enforcement, literature, music, the military, performance, politics, and more. Each instance of self-determination marks a gain in inclusivity—gota a gota, or drop by drop, as the saying goes in Puerto Rico. This study pays homage to them.
ISBN-13: 9781438488684
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Publication Date: 01-02-2023
Pages: 240
Product Dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Series: Suny Series, Afro-Latinx Futures
Milagros Denis-Rosario is Associate Professor of History in the Department of Africana, Puerto Rican, and Latino Studies at Hunter College of the City University of New York.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Illusion of Living in a Non-Racist Racist Society
1. A Revised Account of the New "Colored" Possession: 1898–1920
2. Reshaping Education, Race, and Citizenship: 1920–1930
3. The Twisted Evolution of National Identity: 1930–1940
4. Intersecting Race and Modernization: 1940–1950
5. Strategizing Modernity: 1950–1965
6. The Liga Opened Pandora's "Black" Box: 1950–1965
Epilogue: Drop by Drop
Appendixes
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Show More
