The Battle for Harmony": Intergroup Relations Between Blacks and Latinos in Philadelphia, 1950S to 1980S (original) (raw)
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Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, 2019
This article profiles three black and Puerto Rican neighborhood leaders of Philadelphia. Their civic efforts reveal a certain style of leadership that they used to navigate their communities through the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. They charted a middle path between identifying with the established power structure and pursuing purely oppositional politics. In addition to expanding our perception of civic leadership, these figures defy binary typologies of leadership style while demonstrating continuity at the local level. With diverse backgrounds and personalities, they created and maintained interethnic and cross-class alliances. Their accomplishments reveal how migrants could quickly become representative figures in their new communities. These leaders effectively mobilized a sense of shared group identity to build legitimacy among neighborhood residents.
Black–Latino/a relations in Boston: Two trends of collective identification
Latino Studies, 2010
This study compares and contrasts two ongoing and yet opposed sociopolitical trends that are symptomatic of today's situation in Boston in the area of Latino/a-Black relations. On the one hand we find the New Majority, a top-down movement that emerged shortly after Boston joined the growing number of American cities in which the non-White minority population has surpassed in numbers the aggregate population of all the White communities, and having the principal objective of building inter-minority-group consensus at the leadership level by issuing calls for the creation of a working coalition among the city's growing number of minority communities, and hoping ultimately to see a unified agenda for all of the city's people of color. On the other, the search for unifying plans of common action is being undercut by drastic and ongoing changes in demographics-particularly due to high levels of immigration in the past two decades-that have provided the background for the collision of interests in minority groups competing for greater access to the scarce federal, state and local resources assigned to Boston's impoverished urban areas. The example of this trend in this study is an English-only workplace policy at Boston's Whittier Street Health Center, implemented in 2003, that went on to have a divisive effect on relations between the city's Blacks and Latinos/as.
Divided or Together? Conflict and Cooperation between African Americans and Latinos
Political Research Quarterly, 2004
This article examines the political relationships between Latinos and African Americans in 194 multiracial school districts. The empirical results indicate that at times the relationship between Latinos and African Americans is competitive and at times it is complimentary. When scarcity is a factor, such as in administrative and teaching positions, gains by one group often result in losses by another. When the focus changes to policy questions where scarcity is not a factor (e.g., student performance), both groups gain at the same time. Power and its exercise are the lifeblood of the political process. The struggle for resources and favorable policies among racial and ethnic groups has been a defining characteristic of American politics (Hero 1998; Carmines and Stimson 1989). Because politics is often perceived as a zero-sum game, one group's benefits may come at the expense of another's. Much of the analysis of American politics has focused on this phenomenon. Multiracial/multiethnic political relationships have grown in importance as the American community has become more diverse. The 2000 census found that American society was 7.5 percent more minority than in 1990. African Americans now comprise 12.3 percent of the American population, Hispanics 12.5 percent, and Asians 3.6 percent. The Hispanic percentage in particular represents a significant growth over its 1990 share of the populace, growing from just under 9 percent to its current level. Even prior to the recent growth in minority populations, the issue of how minority groups relate to one another and to the majority population has been a subject of considerable inquiry by political scientists (
The Evolution of Puerto Rican Leadership in Philadelphia
During the period of the 1960’s and 1970’s, the Puerto Rican community in Philadelphia transformed politically from a community that was willing to collaborate with the municipal power structure to a community that was politically fractured. The cause of this fracture was the development of radicalism within younger members of the community and the lack of centralized leadership within Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican community. The first wave of Puerto Rican leadership in Philadelphia that emerged in the post-war period felt that its primary responsibility was to raise awareness of the obstacles that their community faced. Later members of the community were concerned with solving their community’s problems without the aid of the local government. Both the first wave and second wave of Puerto Rican community leaders felt that culture was an important component of the political dynamics within their community. While the older members of Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican leadership wanted to display the beauty of their culture, younger members were using their history and culture as a way to politically galvanize their people. While Puerto Rican’s in Philadelphia at the end of the 1970’s had a wide array of community members that spoke out on its behalf, the public nature of the political infighting weakened this community’s power. Key Words: Puerto Ricans, Philadelphia, Political culture, Community leadership, 1960’s, 1970’s.
Challenging the Sociological Notion of the 'Ghetto': A Case Study of South Los Angeles
Institute For the Study of Social Change, 2006
Just as the inner cities of America were transformed by the great African American migrations from the South, immigrants from Latin American countries, such as Mexico, have begun to change the contemporary urban landscape. As early as 1990, the Mexican and Central American population was close to edging out African Americans as the largest ethnic population in South Central Los Angeles. This paper relies upon ethnographic fieldwork to assess the impact of Latino neighborhood settlement on politics in the ghetto. An examination of two key and interrelated institutions-local L.A. City chartered Neighborhood Councils and a local Catholic churchshows that even though Latinos are the majority population, they have had a minimal impact on politics in South L.A. when measured in terms of their participation in Neighborhood Councils. Moreover, the comparatively high rates of participation among African Americans in Neighborhood Councils can be understood, in part, as a direct response to the influx of Latino immigrants into South L.A. As result of their marginal position in local politics, Latinos have developed an alternative set of institutions that serve as sites of civic engagement. In light of the findings of this study, a new concept of the ghetto is needed to explain the significance of "two worlds" that coexist in South L.A.
The Evolution of Leadership within the Puerto Rican Community of Philadelphia, 1950s-1970s
The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 2012
Hernández describes an event in 1953 that signified the first public recognition of Philadelphia's growing Puerto Rican population-a riot in the Spring Garden section of the city. 1 This incident prompted the city government, through the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (PCHR), to conduct its first study of Philadelphia's Puerto Rican community. To facilitate this study, the city turned to prominent individuals within the Puerto Rican community to help lift the veil on this rapidly growing ethnic group. Among them was José DeCelis, perhaps Philadelphia's most prominent Puerto Rican community organizer during World War II. Trained as a dentist, DeCelis was president of the locally organized Latin America Club, chairman of the Health and Welfare Council's Committee of Puerto Rican Affairs, and the first Puerto Rican to graduate from Temple University. 2 Through his participation in the 1954 PCHR study, DeCelis helped mold policy decisions that would affect Philadelphia's Puerto Rican community in the years to come. By the end of the 1970s, however, at least one member of this community observed, "There are too many people in the community who want to be chiefs, and not enough Indians." 3 Within a generation,