This project was inspired by the Puerto Rican display in one of the hallways of Perkins library. The exhibit presents pictures taken by Frank Espada that illustrate the Puerto Rican diaspora throughout the United States. My project will focus on emigration to the city of Chicago and has the ultimate goal of depicting how the Puerto Rican community in Chicago has created and developed its own niche that is truly unique in the city. I will talk about the struggle to create a Boricua identity -especially with the Young Lords movement- and then discuss el Paseo Boricua and the Puerto Rican Festival to argue that Puerto Ricans have carved out their own unique place in the city and that at the same time it has become something inherently Chicagoan.
To accomplish this, I have developed a website and also have written a research paper to accompany it. The website will consist of audio, video, and other visual resources in order to attractively present what I will research. The research paper is where I’ll present my argument and explain in better detail the sources on the website. However, the website portion will still consist of significant writing in order to properly explain my visual and audio sources.
In my research paper I will draw on many sources that talk about the Puerto Rican community and how it has established its own culture in cities like Chicago. Likewise, I will talk about social struggles and the challenges that they have had to overcome in order to get where they are right now.