My Ricans

By Jenny P. Ojeda

SYNOPSIS

My Ricans is the story of our family, who migrated to the U.S. mainland during the great migration of the 1920s. It chronicles the family's experiences in a journey that lasted over fifty years and culminated in their return to the Island they called home, Puerto Rico.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hawes & Jenkins Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9781637841020

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My Ricans

Jenny P. Ojeda

ISBN 978-1-63784-101-3 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63784-102-0 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Jenny P. Ojeda

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Hawes & Jenkins Publishing

16427 N Scottsdale Road Suite 410

Scottsdale, AZ 85254

www.hawesjenkins.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Preface

The Arab

Chasing A Dream

Coming to America

Carmita and the Girls

The Neighborhood (El Barrio)

Growing Up NewYorican

The Bronx

Pearl Harbor—The War Years

The West Side

A Home at Last

A Dream Fulfilled

About the Author

Preface

The word Rican is given to the people who came from the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico and went to live in the United States, in the city of New York. Rican is short for Newyorican.

The people of Puerto Rico went to live in the United States after it won the war with Spain in l898.

Through the years they went to other States, but it was in the State of New York where the majority settled. They came with their customs and traditions and their Spanish language. Spain had owned them for over 400 years. The more recent generations that are now moving to the mainland speak very little Spanish, according to the assimilation of their parents, if none at all.

My parents came in l920, for a journey that lasted over 50 years. They came with a desire to participate in the American Dream. They were young, in their twenties, and these early Puerto Ricans were called Spics, because when asked if they spoke English they would answer no spic English. From spics to Marine Tiger (those who came on the ship by that name in the l950s), and later they were called Ricans.

There were other cities where they relocated, such as: Chicago, Ohio, and the State of Florida. However, it was in New York City, especially the boroughs of Manhattan's East Side and Brooklyn, where they felt welcome. They actually settled in a section known as El Barrio, the place where most lived. Later, in the Bronx. Ricans are mostly identified with those who lived in El Barrio. The Oscar-winning musical, West Side Story, gives you an idea of what these early Puerto Ricans had to endure in search of the American Dream.

My parents came chasing a dream. Their dream was fulfilled after years of struggle and hard work when they were able to return to live on the Island and later be buried in their beloved Puerto Rico.

Chapter 1

The Arab

The inquisitive one, that was me. I was always asking questions. Why was speaking English forbidden in the house? Why did we have to take our shoes off when we came from school and entered the apartment? Why was my Mother's maiden name Carvaná? My mother put her finger to her lips,