Puerto Ricans in the U.S. and their consequences as an ethnic group By Mario Pagan AXIA College of University of Phoenix Cultural Diversity Instructor: S. Gonzalez In the morning of May the 12th of 1898 a bombardment against the Spanish forces took place over the fortified walls of the old San Juan in the island of Puerto Rico commanded by Admiral William T. Sampson; this was part of the Spanish-American War. 10 weeks after the bombardment to San Juan and implementing a naval blockade, United States troops under the command of Gen. Nelson A. Miles, entered the island on July 25 1898. Nineteen days after the war begun and with only 3 American casualties, Spain was forced to cede or trespass the island of Puerto Rico which was the oldest of the colonies to the United States of America. This event reshaped the Puerto Rican history for ever. Although independence advocates from Puerto Rico though the U.S. came to liberate the island from Span, some were disappointed when they learned the United States had different plans with the island including military and economical interests. Investors from the United States increased their investments in the sugar cane plantations controlling the sugar cane trade. After the American invasion the harvest of products like tobacco, coffee, and cattle change dramatically. The production of sugar cane own by absentee American companies now comprehends a 60% of the island’s economy leaving many unemployed Puerto Ricans creating an unprecedented grade of poverty. The high unemployment rate, the rapidly population growth, and the other declining industries contributed to the mass migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States in the early 1900s. History can tell that immigration from Puerto Ricans to the U.S. began when in the 1900s United States corporations were recruiting Puerto Ricans under military control to work in the sugar industry in Hawaii (Castor, 1971). Other contributing factor for the flow of immigrants from...