PUERTO RICO
Jessica Pitts
Axia College of University of Phoenix
ETH 125 Cultural Diversity
My perception of life has changed since having to write this journal entry for my Cultural Diversity Class on which I chose PUERTO RICO, an enchanted island to which a part of me belongs to, a place to which my ancestors come from and yet a place I have yet to explore. I have however, learned much of where I come from and also more appreciative… I am a full blooded Puerto Rican. My father born in Moca, Puerto Rico came to the United States at the age of seven. My mother also a Puerto Rican (but what you may refer to the term as a New York Rican), was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.
Puerto Rico (meaning Rich Port), an island in the Caribbean’s, and also referred to as “the commonwealth of Puerto Rico”, is a self governing unincorporated territory in the United States. It was initially inhabited by the Arawak Indians known as the Tainos, who came from South America. They called the island “Boriken” or in spanish “Boriquen” which means “the great land of the valiant and noble Lord.” The Taino Indians inhabited a major portion of the island when the Spaniards arrived. By the mid 1500’s, differences between the Spaniards and the Taino Indians began. Spain having much power began to take control over Puerto Rico, forcing the Taino Indians into slavery and eventually decimating the population. Those who were able to escape to the mountains, eventually inter-married with the Spanish poor farmers and became known as the jibaros. Years later, slaves from Africa (Sudan, Kongo, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leon and the Gold Ivory) were imported to Puerto Rico from the Spaniards to work on the plantations. French families also flocked here from both Louisiana and Haiti. My grandmother born and raised in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico is a result from the inter-marriages of the Spaniards and the Tainos. Her great, great grandfather was a Spaniard and his wife,...