Reflection Post

I have found the material on the Puerto Rican community from last week most interesting. I had known that many Puerto Ricans migrated from Puerto Rico and settled in what is now known as "El Barrio" and raised new generations there, but what really did once they got there interests me.

The time frame during the Great Migration - after World War I - is when this really all started happening. I guess I find this so interesting because it is just amazing how the community as a whole made this decision together to better their (at the time, colonial) relationship to the U.S. and integrate into what is also theirs. By forming all sorts of groups - especially LULAC, Commonwealth, Puerto Rican Brotherhood in America, etc. - the Puerto Ricans in the U.S. as well as those still back in Puerto Rico really linked together.

Along with establishing an identity to the minority during this time, women throughout the Puerto Rican started to come forth and make their voices heard. This is such an important time in our country's history because women, no matter what racial background, gained confidence in voicing their opinions. From that point on, women were not going to sit on the sidelines and let the men make all the decisions and actions for our country's advancing. All women were coming forth from their own racial groups and joining together as the Puerto Ricans did as a community and started defining the new future of the U.S.

I really enjoyed watching the video on Monday, I think it demonstrated all of this really well. For me, seeing all that we've been learning combined in that way was a really good way for me to kind of connect the missing dots and link all the ideas together into one main concept.

This section of the curriculum is just one aspect that is helping me open my mind and understanding what different Latino communities have done for themselves as well as this country that we all live in together.