Author: e.law

Briggs, Laura. Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science and U.S Imperialism in Puerto Rico

Whalen, Carmen Teresa and Victor Vazquez-Hernandez, The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Historical Perspectives

Navarro, M. (2000, Feb 28). Puerto rican presence wanes in new york. New York Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from http://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/91763777?accountid=8500

By, P. K. (1953, Feb 23). Flow of puerto ricans here fills jobs, poses problems. New York Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from http://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/112606466?accountid=8500

By, D. V. (1977, Sep 11). The gains they made in the 60’s have evaporated; economically they’re at the bottom. New York Times (1923-Current File)Retrieved from http://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/123184103?accountid=8500

I will be doing option 1 for my final paper.

In class we watched a movie from 1962 called “West Side Story.” It started on the streets of New York where a gang of white guys called the Jets were hanging around the park. Then a gang of Puerto rican guys, called the Sharks, came in and we immediately see tensions between these two gangs. The tension could be caused by each gang not liking each other because of their race or just a territorial issue. A white guy named Tony falls in love with a Puerto rican girl and she feels the same way. She is cautious of the relationship because she is scared that her family will disapprove of him because he is white and because he is affiliated with their rival gang. In the reading “Reproducing Empire” by Laura Briggs discusses American imperialism in Puerto Rico and how it views Puerto Ricans at the time. It tells of a common idea that Americans had of Puerto Ricans, “One held that Puerto Ricans were, definition, sick and needed to be kept at arm’s length from our soldiers and sailors, who could be infected by them and thus endanger wives and children on the mainland.” (Briggs 17). This quote from the reading explains a thought that people had of Puerto Ricans, that you have to avoid them or you might contract an illness or disease. This relates to the movie because the Jets probably think of Puerto Ricans as lower than them and are racist towards them.

White zombie was made in 1932 and was the first film to introduce zombies to the Americans. The setting is in Haiti where people believed in voodoo and zombies. The Magic Island also takes place in Haiti, both White Zombie and The Magic Island highlight the beliefs of the natives during that time. They believed in magic and bring the dead back to life. In the movie, White Zombies, we see a white man named Murder Legendre in Haiti who possesses the power to create zombies. There is a rich white man who asks for Legendre’s help to reanimate a girl who he couldn’t get with alive. After the girl was killed and zombified, the man finally has her to himself, but little does he know that the girl was brought back to life yet had no life in her. When he realizes that she was just a soulless body, he regrets his decision. In both the book and the movie, zombies are a symbol reflecting on how the whites viewed the slaves. When these zombies are brought back to life, they are manipulated by their “master” and do as he says. This is just like the reality of slavery at that time. This is proved by the scene in the movie where the white men uses the zombies to work in the factory and were basically enslaved. This is a mirror of slavery, where slaves are used to do the hard work in Haiti. This is also described in the novel when they described the majority of the zombies. “just as naturally the zombies were nothing but poor, ordinary demented human beings, idiots, forced to toil in the fields.” This quote from the book explains how most zombies were mostly just poor people who worked the fields, a.k.a. the slaves.

Today we visited the African burial grounds in Manhattan. It was quite the humbling experience, I learned a lot about slavery in New York and it gave me a new perspective on the city. In 1991, this burial ground was discovered where they found 419 human skeletons. It was estimated that 15,000 Africans, both enslaved and free, were buried on these ground from the 1690’s to 1794. More than 40% of the people buried there were children under the age of two. Many of the slave owners didn’t want to support so many slave kids, they often kept just 1 or 2 for house chores, but the rest were neglected. Not only children suffered tremendously, but women also. Bodies found in the burial grounds had signs of severe injury and long term stress. They had endless amounts of tedious work and it really took a toll on their body as we see in their remains. During 1731, a law in New York limited the amount of enslaved Africans who could come together for a funeral to the maximum of 12. They still gathered together for funerals of their families outside the city walls which is now the African burial grounds. This relates to Brown’s “The reaper’s garden,” because it shows the truth in our history with slavery. The slaves would rather kill themselves rather than work another day of their lives. The slave owners would also “disrespect” the dead bodies of slaves to show dominance or instill fear into other slaves. The burial grounds and the book really illustrates the death in the slave trade, how slaves would kill themselves or be killed anyways by their masters.

“Whites were in an extremely precarious situation in mid eighteenth century Jamaica. On the one hand, they had established an awesomely productive economy in which they made enormous profits. On the other hand, they made these profits within a highly distorted social structure that included a mass of exploited, brutalized, and resentful African slaves.” P138

This quote from chapter 5 really illustrates the situation in Jamaica at the time. The white men made a fortune off of slavery, taking advantage of the labor of slaves. They had generated a mass amount of money and many landowners became even more rich, but the slaves were suffering for the white’s benefit. What resulted was a social structure in Jamaica that had the rich whites on top and everyone else who were slaves beneath them. The whites were making money while everyone below them in the social hierarchy worked for them and got nothing but suffering in return. This social structure in Jamaica was really unstable considering that all profits that the white owners had was dependent on slavery. Slavery was a necessity which would cause a collapse in the economy if it would somehow change. That was common during these times, there were 9 black men for every 1 white man and they would attack whites or revolt against them ever so often.

If slavery was suddenly removed, how would the white landowners make their money?

How would the Jamaican economy last without slavery?

“These men were among the most privileged slaves, enjoying significant material advantages and considerable autonomy in their personal lives and generally protected from the harsher features of slave life.” (16)

During the slave revolution of 1831, the Slaves of Jamaica failed to push the white people out of the country, but they did manage to make the revolution influence the abolishment of slavery just a year and a half later. The revolt did make its mark, damaging two hundred twenty six estates with more than a million sterlings worth of damages. The revolution was not a bloody one however, for whites at least, only fourteen whites died during the revolt, which is why it is so surprising that this revolt mainly influenced the abolishment of slavery in Jamaica. It appeared that investigations were held and discovered that the leaders of this revolt were mostly the plantation’s elite. Slaves who earned their master’s trust and were among the more privileged slaves. The quote above states, “generally protected from the harsher features of slave life.” What surprised the white men the most was that the slaves whom they trusted were the ones behind the revolution. The leaders of the rebellion were privileged slaves, so many of them had learned to read and write which allowed them to learn about the abolitionist movement in England which inspired them to start their revolution. That is why this revolt was so significant in the abolishment of slavery in Jamaica, the white men were blindsided by the slaves that they trusted most.

How did the revolt have so much influence in Parliament in 1831?

What led to the privileged slaves turning on the masters whom they gained trust from?

“When these people knew we were brother and sister they indulged
us together; and the man, to whom I supposed we belonged, lay with us,
he in the middle, while she and I held one another by the hands across
his breast all night; and thus for a while we forgot our misfortunes
in the joy of being together: but even this small comfort was soon to
have an end; for scarcely had the fatal morning appeared, when she was
again torn from me for ever! I was now more miserable, if possible,
than before.” (Page 51)

This line in Equiano’s story is really interesting because it shines a new light on their slave masters. Equiano and his sister were kidnapped together and were forced to separate. In his hellish experience in slavery he has finally got a momentary relief of the harsh life of slavery. Luck has brought Equiano and his sister back together which they never thought they would see each other ever again. When their masters figured out they were brother and sister, they allowed them to be together for one night. Equiano and his sister held each other for the whole night finally happy to see each other again. Though, this moment was only temporary because they were soon to be separated from each other again and this will probably be the last time they see each other. Although the masters had compassion for them and allowed them to be together for a night, they soon taken them away from each other. This shows that to them, slavery is still a business regardless of ripping endless families apart. This leaves Equiano in even more sorrow and grief, knowing that his reunion with his sister is to be ended and wondering if they will ever see each other again. This experience seems very brutal to them, knowing that a silver lining has appeared in Equiano’s slave life only to be taken away again. He is now broken in spirit and miserable and this moment signifies the beginning of Equiano’s actual real life hell. Although he was captured and sold to slavery at a very young age, his experiences leading up to this part hasn’t even begun to be as terrifying as events afterwards.

Hello my name is Elwin, I’m from Queens, New York. I enjoy most sports but mostly Basketball and football. I attended Thomas Edison High school in Jamaica where i was studying computer networking, but that got boring so I decided not to go down that path. My intended major is finance here at Baruch and I hope to have a career involving finance. I really like learning about history and I think that history has a big impact in people’s lives. By learning about the past, you can see the mistakes that people have made and the successes they have accomplished and utilize them in your life or career to make the right decisions.