CALIFORNIA PUERTO RICO ARCHIVE, EST. 2022
house of Puerto Rico San Diego
50th anniversary GALA (1972-2022)
Photographers: Jorge L. Rivera & Nicole Hernandez
December 17, 2022 | Portugese Hall, San Diego
PUERTO RICAN MUTUAL AID SOCIETY, CALIFORNIA
85TH ANNIVERSARY (1936 - 2022)
Photographers: Nicole Hernandez & Ivan Valadez
November 19, 2022 | PRUMA Hall, Union City, California
California Census
Dot density maps and county-level maps for 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010
Puerto Ricans in California, the United States, and Puerto Rico, 2014 [source Center for Puerto Rican Studies]
“In 2014, an estimated 200,000 Puerto Ricans lived in California, accounting for four percent of all Puerto Ricans living in the United States. Hispanics represented 38.6 percent of California’s population, but Puerto Ricans accounted for only 0.5 percent of California’s total population. Despite the relatively low proportion of Puerto Ricans, California had the eighth-highest number of Puerto Ricans in the United States.”
puerto ricans-california survey - from puerto ricans in action
puerto rican-California library
A collection of educational materials including books, video, audio, photos, articles, and newspaper clippings.
Puerto Rican Music
Aurora Calderon, Elinor Rodriguez, and Cruz Losada who performed Spanish songs from Puerto Rico on April 10, 1939, collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Oakland
The Puerto Rican Diaspora Project by Frank Espada
Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook
Mendez, et al v. Westminister [sic] School District of Orange County, et al, 64 F.Supp. 544 (S.D. Cal. 1946),[1] aff'd, 161 F.2d 774 (9th Cir. 1947) (en banc),[2] was a 1947 federal court case that challenged Mexican remedial schools in four districts in Orange County, California. In its ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in an en banc decision, held that the forced segregation of Mexican American students into separate "Mexican schools" was unconstitutional
“In 1998, Puerto Rican historian and writer Aurora Levins Morales, and historian/archivist Nitza Medina obtained funding from the Western Region Puerto Rican Council and began collecting oral histories, photographs and documents about the history of that community. Photographer Barry Kleider was commissioned to take portraits of community elders. Additional funding from the Hayward Area Historical Society, allowed Dr. Levins Morales to collect additional oral histories, documents, historical recordings from early radio broadcasts, and to commission additional portraits. The exhibit California Century: Puerto Ricans in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1900-2000, opened in the summer of 2002.”
Westminster vs. Mendez, 1947
Discussion about the case, the family, and the legacy.
“Felicitas Mendez was born Felicita (it’s unclear at what point and why she became known as Felicitas instead of Felicita) Gómez Martinez in Juncos, Puerto Rico to Felipe Gómez Arroyo of Juncos and Teresa Martínez of Naguabo. Felicitas’ father, Felipe was quite an adventurer, and he jumped at the first opportunity to bring his family to the States.
As Sylvia shared, “There was a time in history where Puerto Ricans were allowed to come to the United States to work in the fields, and they got free passage to come here…so my grandparents got all excited and brought the whole family…because my grandfather had gone to New York before, and he had gone back and he wanted to come back to the United States, and this was a way to bring the whole family to the United States to work in the fields of Arizona….”
Cesar Ayala & Jennifer McCormick, “Felicita ‘La Prieta’ Mendez (1916-1998) and the end of Latino School Segregation in California,” in Centro: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (19) 2007: 13-35.
puerto rican-california eateries [past & present]
puerto rican-california festivals [Past & Present]
puerto rican-california comedy
Puerto rican-california music
Talle Bulla: Long Beach Bomba Group
Shefali Shah - Bay Area Bomba - Aguacero
“Boricua At Home, Black In The World: An Afro Latina in LA”
By Nadine Romero
Published Mar 5, 2021 6:00 AM
“Growing up in a diverse city such as Los Angeles has afforded me a look into many different cultures and nationalities. I love and respect African Americans and their very rich culture. I love my Latino brothers and sisters regardless of their color. I love Asian American people of all national origins. I love all of their food and respect their cultures. As I do love my white American and my European friends. (Shout-out to my two French friends who I love so much).
I have been eating sushi, bulgogi, stuffed grape leaves and tacos since before the age of 10. This is what L.A. does, and L.A. is home.”
John Santos
“Born in San Francisco on November 1, 1955, Santos was in his late teens when he started to make his presence felt on the Bay Area's Afro-Cuban/salsa/Latin jazz scene. At 20, Santos became the director of la Orquesta Tipica Cienfuegos, staying with that band from 1976-1980. From 1981-1985, Santos directed Orquesta Batachanga -- and after leaving that band in 1985, he founded the Latin jazz-oriented Machete Ensemble, which was still active in the late 2000s. Santos has led some other groups as well in the 21st century (including the John Santos Quintet), and he has recorded some CDs with El Coro Folklórico Kindembo (which has a very spiritual outlook and specializes in folkloric Afro-Cuban music, all of it heavily percussive). Santos has released many of his albums on his own independent label, Machete Records, which should not be confused with the Universal Music Group-affiliated Machete Music (a label that has recorded a lot of well-known reggaetón artists, including Daddy Yankee, Ivy Queen, La Factoría, and Don Omar). Santos turned 53 on November 1, 2008.” - https://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-santos-mn0000814403/biography
Puerto Rican-california organizations
House of Puerto Rico San Diego
Puerto Rican Organization United for Development - Modesto
Bay Area Boricuas is a nonprofit, grassroots, community-based organization dedicated to promoting the study of Puerto Rican culture, history, and art forms in the San Francisco Bay Area through the development of education, social jsutice, and cultural arts programming. With roots in the Puerto Rican student movement of UC Berkeley, young Puerto Ricans formalized Bay Area Boricuas’ mission in 2000. LINK
Club Puertorriqueño de San Francisco
Western Region Puerto Rican Council, Inc
Puerto Rican Civic Club - San Jose
Puerto Rican Union of Mutual Aid - Union City
National Conference of Puerto Rican Women - SoCal Chapter
Puerto Ricans in Action - Los Angeles