In 1953, Puerto Rican migration to New York reached its peak when 75,000 people left the island. By 1960, the United States census showed that there were well over 600,000 New Yorkers of Puerto Rican birth or parentage. Estimates were that more than one million Puerto Ricans had migrated during this time of the Great Migration [8,9,10,11,16].
The first Puerto Ricans to "immigrate" to New York was during the mid 19th century, when Puerto Rico was still a Spanish colony. But the largest wave of migration came about in the late 1950s in what became known as "The Great Migration". In 1948 the United States government began Operation Bootstrap, ambitious projects which invested millions of dollars into the Puerto Rican economy, in order to transform it from a rural agricultural society (sugar cane plantations) into an industrial working class (manufacturing).
Unfortunately, not enough jobs were being created to replace the number of jobs lost in agriculture. Puerto Ricans eager for economic opportunity were attracted by U.S. factory owners and employment agencies that sent agents to recruit workers. The demand for workers in New York City was so great that the Mayor Robert Wagner publicly stated in 1953 that he and all New Yorkers would welcome any Puerto Rican willing to work. So, people left the Island in search of a better life.
With the advent of affordable air travel, for $52.50, one could take an 11pm night coach to New York City -- a crammed, frightening, nauseating, unpressurized flight that was jounced around the air like a ship in a storm-tossed sea. In 1953, Puerto Rican migration to New York reached its peak when 75,000 people left the island. By 1960, the United States census showed that there were well over 600,000 New Yorkers of Puerto Rican birth or parentage. Estimates were that more than one million Puerto Ricans had migrated during this time of the Great Migration.
Women were pivotal in retaining Puerto Rican cultural heritage through the transmission of language, customs and traditions to the new generation, their families and communities. They often provided links between the Island and mainland communities for new migrants coming into the community from La Isla. Over factory sewing machine, across stoops, in bodegas, or over cafe in their own homes, women helped newcomers understand the intricacies of mainland culture and get connected to jobs, housing, traditional medicines, schools, churches, best places to shop.
In the 1950s, the garment industry in New York was booming. Among the working class, many home-centered business ventures were invented in response to real economic need. Among these, piecework ranked as the most popular of home enterprises, including hand crafts (jewelry making, home decorations), needlework (embroidery, crochet), and sewing garments. Some of these businesses ventures brought extra cash into the household, as women took on projects to do at home, outside of normal working hours. Some women worked from home in-lieu of having a traditional job. While these women were horrendously underpaid, most were happy to have the income, as any income was better than none, especially among women whose young children necessitated work-at-home convenience. As children matured, stay-at-home moms were often able to transfer their skills to the factory. Some would even work their way up to position of "plant-lady".
In addition to providing economic means, piece craft and needlework provided a setting for social interactions. Almost exclusively a feminine world, multiple generations, young and old would often gather in someone's home and work together. Crafting traditions were transmitted to the new generation as curious children were encouraged to participate.
Meanwhile back in the garment district, Puerto Rican women were hired by the thousands as sewing machine operators, one of the lowest paying jobs in the trade during this timeframe, thanks to competition overseas with available laborers who could do the work for only a fraction of the cost. By the 1950s, although many of our mothers were already experienced needleworkers, clothing production was changing; the garment industry no longer needed such fine skills. Seamstresses who used to make whole garments found themselves sewing only sections in assembly-line fashion, and as a result, receiving less pay for less skill. While the work was monotonous, the work was simple, and they could earn more money if they worked fast.
Many Puerto Rican women looked for union shops where they expected to get protection, benefits and higher wages. During the fifties, labor unions were stepping up their organizing, and many of our mothers and grandmothers led that effort. Some became union chairladies and organizers, and sometimes the chairlady had the power to stop a shop with a strike!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bootstrap
"Puerto Rican migration to New York," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rican_migration_to_New_York "History Puerto Rican Migration," Latino Education Network Service, http://palante.org/History.htm
Puerto Rican [Migration] / Cuban Immigration http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/cuban3.html
"Long Night's Journey," The Puerto Ricans: a documentary history, Kal Wagenheim and Olga Jimenez de Wagenheim, Markus Wiener Publishers, 1994.
"From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City, Virginia E. Sancheck Korrol, University of California Press, 1983.
Jimenez de Wagenheim, Olga, "Puerto Rico: An Interpretive History from Pre-Columbian Times to 1900," Markus Wiener Pub., 1998.
[ These unformatted articles are taken from Dr. Maynard's research notes. We provide them here as they are educational and informative! ] Puerto Rican Women & The Garment Industry Research by Ana Maria Maynard Many Puerto Rican women who came to NYC in the 1950s found work as sewing machine operators in garment factories in New York City, where the pay and working conditions were often poor. Women played an important role in the effort to unionize the factories and win better conditions for workers. Here is research about the history of Puerto Rican women in the garment industry. Although Russian Jews and Italians had dominated the garment industry in New York since 1914, many immigrants wanted something better for their children and dissuaded them from pursing similar employment. Their withdrawal from the industry opened opportunities to new groups including migrating Puerto Rican women. The mirgration of Puerto Ricans women was intertwined with the garment district. As they settled in New York City their lives and wellbeing became interwined with the union. Puerto Rican women joined the International Ladies Garment WorkersÂ’ Union (ILGWU) during the 1920s, and an organizing campaign in the early 1930s brought more than 2,000 Puerto Ricans into the DressmakersÂ’ union (DressmakersÂ’ Local 22). Between 1930 and 1936, about 30 percent of gainfully employed Puerto Rican workers in the United States were either garment or hand-sewing (needle) workers. However, most of them worked at home until the 1940Â’s and early 1950Â’s, when they began to enter the garment workshops in great numbers. As migration increased after World War II, so did Puerto Rican womenÂ’s union membership. These women came to New York as labor migrants, displaced from Puerto RicoÂ’s economy. They were part of the first airborne migration and arrived at a critical juncture in the garment industry. In 1947, the ILSWU claimed to have 7500 Puerto Rican women members, and estimated that 4,000-8000 worked in other small shops. In 1959, half of the 8036 members of the Shirtmakers Local 23 Union were Puerto Ricans; they held leadership positions on the Executive Board and various committees. Unfortunately the garment industry was changing in ways that had a major impact on Puerto Rican women workers and on the union. Competition fostered the industryÂ’s relocation to places outside New York, and exerted downward pressure on wages. Puerto Rican and African American workers found themselves earning lower pay than their Jewish and Italian predecessors for the same work, and were generally relegated to the lowest- paid unskilled and semiskilled jobs in the industry. During this time, section work increased, in which workers sewed just one portion of the garment instead of the entire garment, which meant de-skilling and lower wages. As union shops left the city, small contracting shops proliferated. They were far harder to organize and the unions gradually lost their ability to keep sweatshop conditions from returning, even in the former center of its strength in New York. In the 1950s and 60s it was not uncommon to find garment workers who labored with few breaks to earn more money (they were paid by the piece, not by the hour) in factories without air circulation and windows that were all painted green so no one would be distracted by sunlight. Tensions between Puerto Rican workers and the union leadership surfaced during the 1950s, because union leaders and staff were not Spanish speakers. 1957 and 1958 Puerto Rican workers challenged the ISGWUs representation on several occasions. Efforts to create a Spanish-speaking local in the dressmakersÂ’ industry in 1957 and 1958 were rebuffed by the union leadership (as was done in 1933 and 1934), and they did not recognize Local 60A which was mostly composed of Puerto Rican men. While some charged the union with discrimination against the new majority Puerto Rican and African American workers, others noted the garment industry was the first to face economic challenges due to globalization. There was a loss of jobs in the city. Globalization of the industry was affecting everyone and employment and union membership plummeted. March 15, 1958 was “The Day the Dresses Stopped”. As workers came to New York CityÂ’s garment center, 200,000 leaflets were handed out. At 10AM, sound cars called all dressmakers to a general strike in support of better wages, benefits and working conditions, holidays, and severance pay for displaced workers of shops who relocated out of State. They were instructed to leave their machines and shops. Thousands of workers made their way to Madison Square Garden for instructions (my guess) and by the next morning Seventh Avenue was filled with pickets signs. The strike was 100% effective. A billion dollar industry was completely stopped, with the striking of 105,000 union members in New York and six nearby states who joined the strike in solidarity with NY. The success of the strike was going to depend on the participation of everyone. Puerto Ricans in New York in 1958 were a vital part of the massive dressmaker's strike due to their sheer numbers. Despite they were in the forefront of challenging the forces that were successfully pigeon-holing Puerto Rican women into the most menial, lowest skilled, lowest paying jobs, they participated in the 1958 strike thanks to Spanish speaking workers who volunteered to serve on various strike committees. International Ladies Garment Workers Union Strike - March 15, 1958 Members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union on strike gather in a meeting hall, March 15, 1958. In 1958, 100,000 striking ILGWU members in eight states win the required use of the union label. [References] From: Garment Industry – American Immigration, Encyclopedia of Immigration, December 12, 2011. http://immigration-online.org/512-garment-industry.html Lucy Romano- Brooklyn Garment Factory Work in the 1950s-1960s, The Fabric of Factory Life, Adelphy University, March 08, 2011. http://blogs.adelphi.edu/trianglefire/entry/lucy_romano_brooklyn_garment_factory Vicki L. Ruà Virginia Sáhez Korrol, “International Ladies Garment Workers Union”, Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1, , Indiana University Press, Jun 30, 2006 , pp 348-349. http://books.google.com/books?id=_62IjQ-XQScC&pg=PA349&lpg=PA349&dq=1958+dressmakers+strike&source=bl&ots=WN8JtxjvOW&sig=0IBWJx5rxPeEDqGAkNQYQylbFWI&hl=en#v=onepage&q=1958%20dressmakers%20strike&f=false Carmen Teresa Whalen, “The Day the Dresses Stopped: Puerto Rican Women and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and the 1958 DressmakersÂ’ Strike,” Memories and migrations: mapping Boricua and Chicana histories, Editors: Vicki Ruà John R. Cház, William P. Clements, Center for Southwest Studies, p. 121, 2008. http://books.google.com/books?id=9AYfyYW0LAUC&pg=PA121&lpg=PA121&dq=The+Day+the+Dresses+Stopped:+Puerto+Rican+Women+and+the+International+Ladies+Garment+Workers+Union+and+the+1958+Dressmakers%E2%80%99+Strike,+Carmen+Teresa+Whalen.&source=bl&ots=NtLqEY6G01&sig=knG7RVSNho3hn-Q3BPARmqG2opU&hl=en#v=onepage&q=The%20Day%20the%20Dresses%20Stopped%3A%20Puerto%20Rican%20Women%20and%20the%20International%20Ladies%20Garment%20Workers%20Union%20and%20the%201958%20Dressmakers%E2%80%99%20Strike%2C%20Carmen%20Teresa%20Whalen.&f=false Ricardo Griswold del Castillo, Journal of American Ethnic History, Vol. 29, No. 2 (WINTER 2010), pp. 102-104, University of Illinois Press URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jamerethnhist.29.2.0102 Photo of Members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union on strike gather in a meeting hall, March 15, 1958. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kheelcenter/5279689582/ Unite Here! Workers in US & Canada, Timeline History. http://www.unitehere.org/about/history.php Dressmakers - Kheel Center Labor Photos www.laborphotos.cornell.edu/default.php?cPath=24...1... Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (WHD), History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938 – 2009. http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm Photos of needleworkers – 1940s in Puerto Rico http://pinterest.com/bellavidaletty/puertorican-women/ Photos that show needlework labor conditions in Puerto Rico in the decade BEFORE the 1950s time frame of this story. Title: Utuado, Puerto Rico (vicinity). Stitching needlework at the home of a farm labor family in the hills. It is a widespread practice for factories to distribute hand work in this way Creator(s): Delano, Jack, photographer. Date Created/Published: 1942 Jan. (Utuado is in the mountains.) Title: In the fishing village of Puerto Real (Cabo Rojo), many women take in needlework to do at home to supplement their income from fish. The gloves which these women are stitching are being done for a firm in Mayaguez and will eventually be sold in New York. Puerto Rico Creator(s): Delano, Jack, photographer Date Created/Published: 1942 Jan. Title: San Juan (vicinity), Puerto Rico. In a needlework factory Creator(s): Delano, Jack, photographer Date Created/Published: 1942 Jan. Title: San Juan (vicinity), Puerto Rico. In a needlework factory Creator(s): Delano, Jack, photographer Date Created/Published: 1942 Jan. MarÃLuisa Arcelay de la Rosa Her Biography and contributions By Zulmarie Alverio Puerto Rico se convirtió uno de los principales paÃs de Améca en conceder el derecho al voto a la mujer. En 1932, MarÃLuisa Arcelay, dueñe talleres de costura de Mayagüe convirtió la primera mujer legisladora de Puerto Rico y de toda Latinoaméca. Perteneció Partido Estadista Republicano y fue la ú mujer legisladora durante dos cuatrienios. Apoyo los derechos de la infancia, las mujeres y los envejecientes. Fue empresaria, contadora y maestra. Se le dedico una plena del compositor Mon Rivera, llamada: Alo quien llama? MarÃLuisa Arcelay. MarÃLuisa Arcelay de la Rosa (December 7, 1894 – Oct 17, 1981) Politician, businesswoman and educator, MarÃVictoria Luisa Fundadora Arcelay de la Rosa was one of the leaders of the Puerto Rican needlework industry in the early 20th century. She was also the first woman elected to the Puerto Rican legislature (1932), and the first female legislator in all of Latin America. Born in Mayagü 1894, she moved to RÃPiedras in 1913, where she earned a teaching certificate in elementary-level English from the Normal School (a teacherÂ’s college). She returned to Mayagühere she worked as an English teacher at the Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School. To earn additional income, she began to work a second job as an office worker at the Benet & Co. sewing workshop. In 1917, she opened her own sewing workshop in Mayagüs the business grew she moved it to an industrial building, where it evolved into a needlework factory employing 400 needlework workers, mostly local women who had no other means to sustain them economically. In the beginning, the embroidery and sewing were done by hand, but industrial machines were later used. She became an activist who defended the island's needlework industry in many public hearings in Puerto Rico, New York City and Washington, D.C. She played an instrumental role in making the industry (both its prices, and it products) compatible with the United States market, by opposing any minimum wage legislation for seamstresses and common workers. The business remained in operation until 1965. In 1929, a law was approved that granted the right to vote to women who could read and write. In 1932, in the first elections in which women could vote, MarÃLuisa Arcelay ran for a seat in the legislature under the banner of the coalition between the Republican Union Party and the Socialist Party. She became the first Puerto Rican woman, and the first woman in all of Latin America, to be elected to a government legislative body. MarÃLuisa Arcelay was re-elected in 1936. During the eight years she represented District 16 of Mayagü the House of Representatives, she created and co-authored a large number of bills and resolutions, among which were the laws that established the Puerto Rico Lottery, created juvenile courts and orphanages, formed a pension fund for teachers and cooperatives for handmade goods, and imposed penalties on parents who did not provide support for their children. She was chairwoman of the Agriculture and Commerce Committee in the legislature and was a member of the Education and the Treasury and Labor committees. Her civil and social work also included directing the Puerto Rico Price and Rationing Board in wartime and the Mayagüildren's Home. She was also a member of the Women's Civic and Cultural Club of Mayagü During the decades of the 40s and 50s, under her leadership, Puerto Rico's needlework industry grew to become the island's second-largest industry...second only to agriculture. There is a portrait of Maria Luisa Arcelay at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. Needlework Strike in Mayaguez 1933 In August 1932, needleworkers (seamstresses) of a local Mayaguez handkerchief factory striked against the factory's owner, Lebanese industrialist William Mamary, to request higher salaries for their work. The seamstresses were "fagotting" [a kind of embroidery], magic by the sewing workers. The employees were always complaining, because they earned little. The leader at the time was Maria Luisa Arecelay, close relative of Jose Luis Moneróhe singer. Maria Luisa Arecelay, who was already a leader “on the side of the worker,”’ incited unrest to encourage the workers to claim their rights. She was a great leader (defender) of the working class. (She was a Senator and the first Puerto Rican woman who had a license to drive car!) Mamery hired replacement workers (whom the seamstresses considered to be scabs). The strike was organized by local labor leader John Vidal, and patronized by local assembly woman MarÃLuisa Arcelay, who both had sewing workshops. Police, who were called to protect employer properties, killed and wounded some strikers who stoned the workshop of Arcelay. Arcelay used her position as president of the Agriculture and Commerce Commission, to continue her defense of the needlework industry before local and federal authorities. She also played an instrumental role in making the industry (both its prices, and it products) compatible with the United States market, by opposing any minimum wage legislation for seamstresses and common workers. A plena standard was born on that day. Puerto Rican musician Mon Rivera wrote a song titled Alo, Quien Llama? (Hello, Who's Calling?), sometimes also referred to as Que Seráwhich describes the seamstress' strike and mentions Arcelay in the song: El mosaico nú uno - Alóuiéñ Mon Rivera Alers ¿Quéeráue pasaráue el taller de Mamery pide gente paÂ’ trabajar. Alóquiéñ? (Coro) ¿QuéeráquéasaráEl taller de Mamery pide gente paÂ’ trabajáAlóquiéñ? MarÃLuisa Arcelay tratando con John Vidal dicen que las bordadoras que sin lana no van paÂ’ allá(Coro) Empezó huelga Dios mà quéarbaridad ¡Ay! las trabajadoras Empezaron a bembetear . . .que si cuchi cu, que si cuchi ca Petra apaga esa plancha No trabajemos naÂ’ ¿Quée cree esta gente? No nos tienen piedad. La lana que aquÃos pagan Ay, no nos da paÂ’na. Notes from Zulmarie Alverio: Eso era en Mayagünde estaban los talleres de costura de John Vidal y de la familia de Gilbert Mamery. Las costureras hacà “fagotting” [una especie de bordado], una magia de la costura obrera. Las empleadas siempre estaban quejáose, porque ganaban poco. La lÃr en aquellos tiempos era MarÃLuisa Arecelay, pariente bien cercana de Joséuis Moneról cantante. MarÃLuisa Arecelay, que ya era una lÃr pro obrera, las agitaba para reclamar derechos. Fue una gran lÃr obrera, senadora y la primera mujer puertorriqueñue tuvo una licencia para guiar automó. Eran los tiempos del papáe Mon, era su éca, su vida y eran las cosas que écantaba. Y Mon cantóo y realmente inmortalizóla familia Mamery, a MarÃLuisa Arecelay y a John Vidal. Translation: This took place in Mayaguez where the sewing workshops John Vidal and Gilbert Mamery Family were. The seamstresses were "fagotting" [a kind of embroidery], magic by the sewing workers. The employees were always complaining, because they earned little. The leader at the time was Maria Luisa Arecelay, close relative of Jose Luis Moneróhe singer. Maria Luisa Arecelay, who was already a leader “on the side of the workerÂ’Â’, created unrest to encourage the workers to claim their rights. She was a leader (defender) of the working class, a Senator and the first Puerto Rican woman who had a license to drive car. It was the time when Mon RiveraÂ’s Dad was famous, it was about his time, his life, was what he sang about. And MonÂ’s song really immortalized the Mamery family, Maria Luisa Arecelay and John Vidal.
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Maria Luisa Arcelay - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Luisa_Arcelay
Mon Rivera (Alo Quien Llama) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_Rivera
MarÃLuisa Arcelay http://www.enciclopediapr.org/ing/article.cfm?ref=09122201
“Mon Rivera: su memoria en plena”, Por Tite Curet Alonso, De su programa radial TropicalÃmo, Radio Universidad el 28 de febrero de 1998. Israel Sáhez-Coll transcribió texto original para Herencia Latina. http://www.herencialatina.com/Mon_Rivera_2/Mon_Rivera.htm
“How Did Women Needleworkers Influence New Deal Labor Policies in Puerto Rico?” Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-1920., Document Project, Alexander Street Press. (subscription required). http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/prns/doclist.htm “Puerto Rican Needleworkers during the New Deal,” article from Document Project, Alexander Street Press. (subscription required). http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/teacher/prns.htm
Maria de Carment Baerga, “La Industria de la Aguja en Puerto Rico y sus Origenes”, Géro y trabajo: La industria de la aguja en Puerto Rico y el Caribe hispáco, Chapter 2, p. 59, La Editorial, UPR, 1993. http://books.google.com.pr/books?id=_-gj0Zb8bIkC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=%22industria+de+la+aguja+en+puerto+rico%22&source=bl&ots=TQ0Y9wnwLs&sig=VdsSSNA4Ig1Xk8P2Vyo5OWQ9Vis&hl=es-419&sa=X&ei=8esmUPNsg-zzBL6jgbAH&ved=0CEEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22industria%20de%20la%20aguja%20en%20puerto%20rico%22&f=false
[8] "Puerto Rican migration to New York," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rican_migration_to_New_York
[9] "History Puerto Rican Migration," Latino Education Network Service, http://palante.org/History.htm
[10] Puerto Rican [Migration] / Cuban Immigration http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/cuban3.html
[11] "Long Night's Journey," The Puerto Ricans: a documentary history, Kal Wagenheim and Olga Jimenez de Wagenheim, Markus Wiener Publishers, 1994.
[12] "Rural Life Under US Rule," Cultures of America - Puerto Ricans, Petra Press, Marshall Cavendish Corp., 1996.
[16] "From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City, Virginia E. Sancheck Korrol, University of California Press, 1983.
[18] Wagenheim, Kal and Jimenez de Wagenheim, Olga, "The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History," Markus Wiener Pub., 1996. (Before I read this book, I hated history. ;) A facinating book that presents history in the words of those who were there.)
[19] Jimenez de Wagenheim, Olga, "Puerto Rico: An Interpretive History from Pre-Columbian Times to 1900," Markus Wiener Pub., 1998.
[20] Kal Wagenheim, "Puerto Rico: A Profile", Praeger Publishers, New York NY, 1970.
[21] Morales Carrion, Arturo, "Puerto Rico: A Political and Cultural History," W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1983.
[22] Pico Fernando, "Historia General de Puerto Rico," San Juan, PR: Ediciones Huracan, 2000.
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