Nuyorican

Last updated
Nuyoricans
Total population
Nuyoricans
1,112,123 Americans (2017) [1]
23.15% of nationwide Puerto Rican population in 2010
5.5% of New York state population in 2010 [2]
Regions with significant populations
New York City, New York
Languages
American English (Puerto Rican and New York Latino English), Puerto Rican Spanish, Spanglish
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholic and Protestant
The Nuyorican Poets Cafe in Alphabet City, Manhattan NuyoricanPoetsCafe.JPG
The Nuyorican Poets Café in Alphabet City, Manhattan

Nuyorican is a portmanteau word blending "New York" (or "Nueva York" in Spanish) and "Puerto Rican," referring to Puerto Ricans located in or around New York City, their culture, or their descendants (especially those raised or currently living in the New York metropolitan area). This term is sometimes used for Puerto Ricans living in other areas in the Northeastern US Mainland outside New York State as well. The term is also used by Islander Puerto Ricans (Puerto Ricans from Puerto Rico) to differentiate those of Puerto Rican descent from the Puerto Rico–born.

Contents

The term Nuyorican is also sometimes used to refer to the Spanish spoken by New York Puerto Ricans. An estimated 1,800,000 Nuyoricans are said to live in New York City, the largest Puerto Rican community outside Puerto Rico. Nuyoricans are not considered Puerto Ricans by some island Puerto Ricans due to cultural differences, which remains a point of controversy among both groups of Puerto Ricans. [3] Despite the controversial label of “Nuyorican” the histories of New York, and Puerto Rico are undeniably intertwined. An infamous example of this would be the Puerto Rican Flag which was created in 1895 New York by Juan de Mata Terreforte along with 59 other exiled independistas. [4] Nuyorican has a broad meaning; originally it meant Puerto Ricans, both island-born and mainland-born, living in New York, but many island-born Puerto Ricans use the term to describe assimilated Americans of Puerto Rican descent living in any US state, or very assimilated people of Puerto Rican ancestry who may be more culturally aligned with African Americans, though still identifying as Puerto Rican. [5] Ethnic enclaves centered on Puerto Ricans include Spanish Harlem, Manhattan; Williamsburg, Brooklyn; Bushwick, Brooklyn; and the South Bronx.

Although Florida has received some dispersal of the population, there has been a resurgence in Puerto Rican migration to New York and New Jersey primarily due to economic and cultural considerations, [6] [7] topped by another surge of arrivals after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in September 2017. Consequently, the New York City metropolitan area has witnessed a significant increase in its Nuyorican population, individuals in the region of Puerto Rican descent, increasing from 1,177,430 in 2010 to a Census-estimated 1,494,670 in 2016, [8] maintaining New York's status by a significant margin as the most important cultural and demographic center for Puerto Ricans outside San Juan.

Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary cites this word as evolving slowly through roughly the last third of the 20th century, with the first cited reference being poet Jaime Carrero using neorriqueño in 1964 as a Spanish-language adjective combining neoyorquino and puertorriqueño. Many other variants developed along the way, including neoricano, neorican (also written as Neo-Rican and Neorican), and newyorican (also written as New Yorrican). Nuyorican itself dates at least from 1975, the date of the first public sessions of the Nuyorican Poets Café. Some of the best known "Nuyoricans" who have written and performed their experiences of being a Puerto Rican in New York are: Miguel Piñero, Miguel Algarín, Piri Thomas, Sandra María Esteves, Willie Colón, Pedro Pietri, and Giannina Braschi. [9] Some of the newer poets include Willie Perdomo, Flaco Navaja, Nancy Mercado, Emanuel Xavier, Edwin Torres, J.L. Torres, Caridad de la Luz aka La Bruja, Lemon Andersen, and Bonafide Rojas.[[ [10] ]]

Historically, the term has been used as a derogatory term by native Puerto Ricans when describing a person that has Puerto Rican ancestry but is born outside of Puerto Rico. [11] It also can sometimes include those born in Puerto Rico who now live elsewhere in the United States (other than New York). This changed from the original meaning with the increase in travel back and forth to different parts of the United States and the globe. The definition includes those born in New York who have moved to Puerto Rico as well. [12]

The term is used by some members of this community to identify their history and cultural affiliation to a common ancestry while being separated from the island, both physically and through language and cultural shifts. This distance created a dual identity that, while still somewhat identifying with the island, recognizes the influences both geography and cultural assimilation have had. [13] Puerto Ricans in other cities have coined similar terms, including "Philly Rican" for Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia, and "Chi-Town Rican" for Puerto Ricans in Chicago.

History

Many Nuyoricans are second- and third-generation Puerto Rican living in mainland USA whose parents or grandparents arrived in the New York metropolitan area during the Gran Migración (Great Migration). Puerto Ricans began to arrive in New York City in the nineteenth century but especially following the passage of the Jones-Shafroth Act on March 2, 1917, which granted U.S. citizenship to virtually all Puerto Ricans. [14] The Gran Migración accelerated migration from Puerto Rico to New York during the 1940s and 1950s, but such large-scale emigration began to slow by the late 1960s. [15] Due to this large scale immigration there is a huge Puerto Rican influence that can be felt throughout New York. For instance along with African Americans, Puerto Ricans have had a major influence on popular genres of music such as Hip-Hop, [16] which is a genre of music originating out of the inner city neighborhoods of New York. Another significant contribution is the infamous Puerto Rican Day Parade which has its origins in 1958 Spanish Harlem. [17]

In 2000, the Puerto Rican population of New York was over 1,050,000. [18] As of the 2010 census, Puerto Ricans represented 8.9 percent of New York City alone (32% of the city's Hispanic community), and 5.5% of New York State as a whole. [19] Of over a million Puerto Ricans in the state, about 70% are present in New York City, with the remaining portion spreading increasingly within the city's suburbs and other major cities throughout New York State. Although Florida has received some dispersal of the population, there has been a resurgence in Puerto Rican migration to New York and New Jersey, primarily for economic and cultural considerations, [6] [20] topped by another surge of arrivals after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in September 2017 – consequently, the New York City Metropolitan Area has witnessed a significant increase in its Nuyorican population, individuals in the region of Puerto Rican descent, increasing from 1,177,430 in 2010 to a Census-estimated 1,494,670 in 2016. [8]

Historically, Nuyoricans resided in the predominantly Hispanic/Latino section of Upper Manhattan known as Spanish Harlem, and around the Loisaida section of the East Village, but later spread across the city into newly created Puerto Rican/Nuyorican enclaves in Brooklyn, Queens, and the South Bronx. Today, there are fewer island-born Puerto Ricans than mainland-born Puerto Ricans in New York City. Even though Puerto Ricans are one of the most prevalent ethnic groups in New York City, Americans weren’t always so welcoming to their Nuyrorican neighbors. Aside from the racism that Puerto Rican migrants experienced upon moving into the Tri-state area, [21] the U.S government ran a series of eugenicist campaigns throughout the first half of the 20th century known today as La Operación aimed at decreasing the Puerto Rican population on both the Island, and within the states (especially New York). [22] Under these campaigns countless Puerto Rican women were sterilized after being pressured from health care providers or even without their consent. Due to the effectiveness of this campaign its estimated that by 1956, 1 in 3 Puerto Rican women were sterilized. [23]


Prominent figures of the Nuyorican movement include poets and novelists Piri Thomas, Julia de Burgos [24] and Giannina Braschi, while Miguel Algarín, Miguel Piñero, and Pedro Pietri co-founded the Nuyorican Poets Café, a performance space for Nuyorican poets and musicians. [25]

Notable Nuyoricans

Nuyoricans have made breakthrough contributions in government, science, law, culture, and the humanities, including those who have broken records, significantly impacted U.S. pop culture, won landmark cases that changed laws, or have been recognized by national awards.

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Nuyorican movement is a cultural and intellectual movement involving poets, writers, musicians and artists who are Puerto Rican or of Puerto Rican descent, who live in or near New York City, and either call themselves or are known as Nuyoricans. It originated in the late 1960s and early 1970s in neighborhoods such as Loisaida, East Harlem, Williamsburg, and the South Bronx as a means to validate Puerto Rican experience in the United States, particularly for poor and working-class people who suffered from marginalization, ostracism, and discrimination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miguel Algarín</span> Puerto Rican poet (1941–2020)

Miguel Algarín Jr. was a Puerto Rican poet, writer, co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café, and a Rutgers University professor of English.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedro Pietri</span> Puerto Rican writer (1944–2004)

Pedro Pietri was a Puerto Rican poet and playwright and one of the co-founders of the Nuyorican Movement. He was considered by some as the poet laureate of the Nuyorican Movement.

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The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a nonprofit organization in the Alphabet City neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is a bastion of the Nuyorican art movement, and has become a forum for poetry, music, hip hop, video, visual arts, comedy, and theater. Several events during the PEN World Voices festival are hosted at the cafe.

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References

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  3. ↑ The Nuyorican's Dilemma: Categorization of Returning Migrants in Puerto Rico
  4. ↑ "The Flag of Puerto Rico | District of Puerto Rico | United States District Court". www.prd.uscourts.gov. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
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  6. 1 2 Cindy Y. Rodriguez (March 22, 2014). "Why more Puerto Ricans are living in mainland U.S. than in Puerto Rico". CNN. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
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  11. ↑ "The Unlinking of Language & Puerto Rican Identity". The Library of Congress. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  12. ↑ "Héctor Olivencia rememora el pasado de gloria del BSN". El Nuevo Día (in Spanish). 2017-02-18. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
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  17. ↑ Wynne, Michael (2024-06-10). "A Brief History of the Puerto Rican Day Parade". Nuestro Stories. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  18. ↑ Atlas of Stateside Puerto Ricans: Abridged Edition without Maps. Archived 2019-04-12 at the Wayback Machine Angelo Falcon. Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration. ca. 2002. Page 3. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
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  37. ↑ "Jennifer Lopez". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-11-02. The Latina performer may be the most powerful entertainer on the planet. She raked in an estimated $52 million last year with projects in almost every corner of the industry (fragrance, clothing lines, film and television).
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