Puerto Rican Chicago: Schooling the City, 1940-1977

Latinos in Chicago and the Midwest

by Mirelsie Velazquez

Winner of the Critics’ Choice Book awards of the American Educational Studies Association (AESA-CCBA) The postwar migration of Puerto Rican men and women to Chicago brought thousands of their children into city schools. These children's classroom experience continued the colonial project begun in their homeland, where American ideologies had dominated Puerto Rican education since the island became a US territory. Mirelsie Velázquez tells how Chicago's Puerto Ricans pursued their educational needs in a society that constantly reminded them of their status as second-class citizens. Communities organized a media culture that addressed their concerns while creating and affirming Puerto Rican identities. Education also offered women the only venue to exercise power, and they parlayed their positions to take lead roles in activist and political circles. In time, a politicized Puerto Rican community gave voice to a previously silenced group--and highlighted that colonialism does not end when immigrants live among their colonizers. A perceptive look at big-city community building, Puerto Rican Chicago reveals the links between justice in education and a people's claim to space in their new home.

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 25, 2022

Reviews

[Thomas P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative, well-researched academic read about Puerto Ricans in Chicago, up to about 1977 as the title states. If an electronic version is available, better to get that, as the paragraphs tend to be very long, and the print type small.