Puerto Ricans in New York City

The 2020 Census showed that New York's Puerto Rican population continued to decline over the preceding decade despite estimates that fostered contrary expectations.

Consequently, the New York City Metropolitan Area witnessed a significant increase in its Nuyorican population, New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent, from 1,177,430 in 2010 to a Census-estimated 1,494,670 in 2016,[3] followed by a decline to 1,072,950 in 2022.

Most of the Puerto Ricans who moved there came from well-to-do families or were people whose economic situation could permit them the luxury of traveling from the island to New York City by way of steamship, an expensive and long trip.

[13] Four other Puerto Ricans who moved to New York because of political reasons were Manuel Besosa, Antonio Vélez Alvarado, Juan Ríus Rivera, and Francisco Gonzalo Marín.

Yo hice la proposición a los patriotas puertorriqueños que asistieron al mitin de Chimney Hall y fue aprobada unánimemente."

Which translated in English states the following: The adaptation of the Cuban flag with the colors inverted was suggested by the patriot Francisco Gonzalo Marín in a letter which he wrote from Jamaica.

[15] It is also believed that on June 12, 1892, Antonio Vélez Alvarado was at his apartment at 219 Twenty-Third Street in Manhattan, when he stared at a Cuban flag for a few minutes, and then took a look at the blank wall in which it was being displayed.

In 1897, Antonio Mattei Lluberas, a wealthy coffee plantation owner from Yauco, visited the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee in New York City.

There he met with Ramón Emeterio Betances, Juan de Mata Terreforte and Aurelio Méndez Martinez and together they proceeded to plan a major coup.

The uprising, which became known as the Intentona de Yauco was to be directed by Betances, organized by Aurelio Mendez Mercado and the armed forces were to be commanded by General Juan Ríus Rivera from Cuba.

Puerto Ricans no longer needed a passport to travel to the U.S. and were allowed to seek public office in the mainland U.S.[21] The economic situation in the island was bad and continued to worsen as a result of the many hurricanes which destroyed most of its crops.

[24] Hernández, his brother Jesus and 16 other Puerto Ricans were assigned to the United States Army's Harlem Hellfighters musical band, the Orchestra Europe.

He became the first Puerto Rican boxer to gain acclaim when in 1917 he fought against "Panama Joe Gans" at Harlem's Palace Casino which was located at 28 East 135th St., between Fifth and Madison Avenues, in Manhattan.

As the economic situation in the United States worsened in a prelude to the Great Depression, many Puerto Ricans in the mainland found themselves competing with other groups for the positions of unskilled labor such as dishwashers, maintenance and laundry workers.

Its mission was to mediate between the island and the New York/Puerto Rican community, assuage the adjustment experience of new arrivals, and generally inform them about jobs, housing and other critical concerns.

Puerto Rican music flourished with the likes of Rafael Hernández and Pedro Flores who formed the "Trio Borincano" and gained recognition in the city.

Myrta Silva who later joined Hernandez's "Cuarteto Victoria" also gained fame as a singer after the group traveled and played throughout the United States.

[45] In the 1980s, Nuyorican Break dancers Rock Steady Crew and DJ Charlie Chase helped shape the early South Bronx hip hop scene.

[46] Following the in migration of large numbers of Puerto Ricans to New York in the 1950s, folk style jibaro, bomba, and plena music became part of the cultural fabric of East Harlem (El Barrio) and the South Bronx.

[47] The Afro Puerto Rican styles of bomba and plena enjoyed a renaissance in New York in the 1980s and 1990s through the efforts of the drum and dance ensemble Los Pleneros de la 21, led by Santurce native Juan "Junago" Guiterrez.

Puerto Rican women confronted economic exploitation, discrimination, racism, and the insecurities inherent in the migration process on a daily basis, however they fared better than did men in the job market.

[11] Operation Bootstrap ("Operación Manos a la Obra") is the name given to the ambitious projects which industrialized Puerto Rico in the mid-20th century engineered by Teodoro Moscoso.

In 1948, Puerto Ricans elected their first governor Luis Muñoz Marín, who together with his government initiated a series of social and economic reforms with the introduction of new programs in the island.

[52] New York Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. began a campaign to recruit Puerto Rican laborers in the island to work in the city's factories.

[77] However, as Puerto Ricans continue to climb the socioeconomic ladder and to enter professional occupations in greater numbers, they are also purchasing homes in New Jersey's more affluent suburban towns.

Other neighborhoods with significant populations include Williamsburg, East New York, Brownsville, Coney Island, Red Hook, and Sunset Park.

[98] The Migration Division (known as the "Commonwealth Office"), also part of Puerto Rico's Department of Labor, was created in 1948, and by the end of the 1950s, was operating in 115 cities and towns stateside.

Currently, the Commonwealth operates the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and has 12 regional offices throughout the United States.

Puerto Ricans in New York have preserved their cultural heritage by being involved actively in the different political and social rights movements in the United States.

[103] Subsequently, on the one-year anniversary of the storm, in September 2018, Governor Cuomo announced plans for the official New York State memorial to honor the victims of Hurricane Maria, to be built in Battery Park City, Manhattan, citing the deep cultural connections shared between New Yorkers and Puerto Rican Americans.