This unit is for an 11th grade US History class. The student body is an academic magnet school. The 11th-grade cohort consists of 36% Asian, 29% African American, 17% Caucasian, 13% Latino, and 5% Multicultural students. Additionally, 4% of students are in Special Education, and 7% are English Language Learners. This diversity enriches classroom discussions and provides a wide range of perspectives and experiences for learning. Themes of diversity and learning the histories not typically focused in dominant mainstream curriculums garner more energy from this student body and themes of identity speak to the age group.

During my course with Dr. Hey-Colón on Latinx studies, I began to see the need for a unit on Puerto Rico’s special relationship with the United States, particularly around misconceptions in our student populations about their citizenship status. When polled in my class, only students of Puerto Rican descent knew that all Puerto Ricans, whether born on the island or the mainland, were US citizens and do not need passports to travel in either direction. I saw a need also because, even though Philadelphia has a thoroughly established Puerto Rican population, I only had passing units on migration patterns in the 1950s and an addendum to a Black Panther unit for the Young Lords. I did not know any of its history other than to assume it followed similar developments as Hispaniola during initial contact and colonization and its role as an acquisition by the US after the Spanish American War. Even in my unit of US imperialism after the Spanish American War, I had mostly addressed only the political rules set forth for acquired territory. I did not know that this region of the Caribbean is called the Antilles or that pan-Antillian alliances were a continuity since before Columbus. I needed to dive deeper into Puerto Rican history, so that I could do more than just identify a few facts about a place, its food, its music, etc.

This unit also came to be due to my awareness of how the imperial unit I taught was always emotionally taxing with its visceral racist images and rhetoric coupled with the knowledge that exploitation so boldly presented in history, is in reality, still a struggle to overcome. Something so jarring cannot be given to students without a counterweight of how people resist and strive for better. This unit will better educate my students on both political and economic issues, help them formulate their vision of civic rights and responsibilities, as well as be able to cite contributions specific to Puerto Ricans by spending time investigating both everyday identity, works, and struggles for migrants, particularly to Philadelphia. As a lifelong learner and servant, it helps me continually reflect on my own evolution. The hope is that when I answer these for myself, I too can be a better person and member of the community.

I had to do a lot of research, I spent hours learning all I could about Puerto Rico’s history. It benefits the student for the teacher to be able to, more often than not, give background when students ask questions about why or how some history we are presenting came to be. Teachers know the curious student may be the greatest teacher in the room. Initial European contact was on the 2nd Columbus voyage in 1493 and their first settlement was in 1508 by Ponce de León (Monge). I learned during this course, that while some people, even many Puerto Ricans, claim the term Taíno to label their indigenous ancestry, there is debate on using the term because it is the Arawak term for “friend/good/noble” and some contemporaries are uncomfortable that conquistadores chose to write this name in their record when the land mass was already had a name given to it by its original inhabitants and they already had a name for its people. They therefore gravitate towards Boríken which was the Arawak name of the island and being referred to as Boricuas as a people. Slavery was introduced to the island in 1519 to replace the dying labor force as capitalist exploits of the people and land began to push the enslaved to mine and harvest mostly coffee and sugar (Monge). Over 40 recorded rebellions occurred and in 1848, Governor Juan Prim y Prats was impeached for abuse of power, but not before he issued the Bando Contra La Raza Negra [Decree against the African Race] allowing for the rounding up of any black person, trying them in military court, and legalizing white supremist rules out of fear.  On March 22, 1873, the Spanish National Assembly finally abolished slavery in Boriken. The enslavers were compensated with 35 million pesetas per person owned, while the formerly enslaved were required to continue working for three more years (Barlat).

On top of the enslaved revolting, there were many attempts by Puerto Rico to establish authority over itself, particularly leading up to 1898, when the U.S. took sovereignty.  Important developments to note for context follow similar patterns of imperialism where people who are resisting impositions on freedom have their civil liberties squashed. By the early 1860s local Spanish authorities, alarmed by conspiracies from separatist groups, applied severe measures against all acts of dissidence on the island. Freedom of the press was non-existent, and group discussions were monitored by the government. A rebellion dubbed “El Grito de Lares” in 1868 that was also trying to end slavery, was led by leaders like Segundo Ruiz Belvis, Eugenio María de Hostos , Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances, and Mariana Bracetti (who has a school named after her here in Philadelphia). These leaders, and their words, deserve a unit unto themselves and would fit nicely into units on self-determination or to parallel the Revolutionary War. In 1887, the Governor supports torture of anti-Spanish leaders in detention centers but by 1887 the island witnessed a pro-independence rebellion, colonial reform, the establishment of the first national political parties, the abolition of slavery, and a short-lived experiment in autonomy under Spanish rule (“Research Guides: World of 1898: International Perspectives on the Spanish American War: Introduction.”). Units on this topic have ties to political movements in New York’s pre-Progressive era as much of the planning was done in New York when they were banished there.

The US fought Spain beginning in April of 1898 and by December the Treaty of Paris was struck in which Spain offered the U.S. sovereignty over many land masses and people who would have chosen self-determination instead of another colonizer. Those land masses were Guam, Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. When the U.S. took over sovereignty of Puerto Rico July 25th, 1898, they initially began to try and Americanize the people through educating their children, much like they were doing with immigrant children on the mainland (Jiménez García). Infrastructure issues were always a battle on the island given its natural challenges with hurricanes, universal limited technological advancements of the 19th century, and its status in the Spanish empire as an agricultural colony. Therefore, Puerto Rico’s secondary school system was only 16 years old in 1898, there were 529 schools on the island and illiteracy was at 83%. It is important to note that while illiteracy was high, political awareness was also very high (del Moral). For example, cigar rollers would pay a few cents to read the paper and intellectual works as they did the manual labor of the day (Colón). The island had one of the highest voter turnouts in the world with a 71% turnout for the 1898 election right before US takeover. Its people had a well-defined national identity and sense of their own culture, with as much right as others to freedom and respect.

Efforts were made to Americanize the island’s residents particularly through education when the US came with 18,000 troops on July 25th, 1898. This shares continuity with what was being done with the large European immigrant populations and public education on the mainland. In Puerto Rico though, they were able to resist in significant ways. Most amazingly, they were able to resist English being imposed as the primary language. “Local teachers therefore posed a grave challenge to the state goal of Americanization. They advocated for a citizenship building project that would serve emerging national Puerto Rican identities..they did not promote the creation of “tropical Yankees” or Americans”. (Jimenez Garcia) This is important for context when students study issues of rights and self-determination in the rest of this unit. It is evident that the people had a sense that their own culture was equal to any and that speaking a language other than English should not have an effect on access to all the rights afforded to a citizen of the United States. It also proves that the U.S. government intended for Puerto Rico to assimilate to its culture as they imposed sanctions on teachers for not adhering to their curriculum. The fact that the teachers endured blacklisting and firings for refusing to teach English primarily is proof of the sacrifice they were willing to make to maintain their identity. It also shows that Puerto Rico was forming a new identity with the absence of Spain, and it did have elements of American democratic principles, it just wasn’t going to be in the image of mainland U.S. This example can also be used as a good comparison tool when looking at the Carlisle schools or the public school motivations of the time.

My students will have already had a unit on U.S. imperialism illustrating the greed and bullying relationship dynamic it imposed on Guam, Hawaii, Cuba, Philippines, and Puerto Rico. Students defined some ideological terms of the time such as Manifest Destiny and Social Darwinism as well as applied that ideology to its influence on foreign policies of the late 1800s-early 1900s. They would have already had notes on factors of the new imperialism with Alfred Mahan and naval power pushing the US to intervene in the Caribbean. Prior to that unit, the foundations of civic protections from the Constitution will have been covered as well.

I begin our introduction of this topic with a beautiful mural entitled La Borinqueña created by Edgardo Miranda Rodriguez located here in Philadelphia. A Borinqueña is a woman of Puerto Rican descent with indigenous, African, and European racial heritage. The image lionizes her strength by portraying her as a superhero while also paying homage to the vast sources of her being, as her forebearers of many races are there in the mural with her as well. The unit is also called “Nosotros la gente” which translates to “We the People” so that she is also associated with all the rights and inclusion that those 3 words tend to invoke in Americans. I will ask the students what they notice, what questions they have, and what they can infer from the picture to begin an assessment of prior knowledge while also giving background. Then we will transition to the next slide which holds the focus of our investigation: “What is owed to citizens by the government if its citizens are required to defend the government with their lives?”. The sources I have picked should help students build defenses to their thesis on this question and my next slide outlines the lesson sequence so that kids have an idea of the path we will take to answer our query. Areas of future inquiry that I intend to build from this unit are, the issues of tax status and FEMA failures like Hurricane Maria.

When students write a thesis, they need to establish context, so a history of the island before US contact will be presented, along with a video that does a concise job while also providing clarifying visuals in terms of maps and movements. We will digest the pieces of the video in small bits, as they relate to a particular lesson, and in this case the first 5:37 seconds of the 21-minute video are needed. Students are directed to take notes on a note taking doc that is color coded with each lesson having its own assigned color that is the same color highlighted in my slides. This informs the students which notes they should be taking on which day in the rather lengthy slide deck. I find that color coding is the easiest way to alert the group as to what goes with what. In this first lesson, we will address U.S. attempts to Anglicize Puerto Rico as one of its first initiatives and discuss why we think this is so. It is important for students to understand that demands for cultural inclusivity and language needs were not a given, and that the demand that education circles be inclusive paves the way for other parts of society to do it as well. Not only do these rights and respects have to be demanded, they are always vulnerable to political whims, therefore citizens need to be on the lookout for maintenance of their defense.

In the next lesson, the students will get direct instruction on what is given and denied in the Jones Act of 1917. This will allow them to compare the political status of a Puerto Rican citizen to one in an incorporated state. Many of these rules were surprising to me while I was doing my research, such as that the federal government keeps sovereignty over any decisions at the local level, that Puerto Rico’s representation in the US House of Representatives can listen but cannot vote. The first Resident Commissioner, Federico Degetau, did not even have a chair to sit in while Congress was meeting in 1899. A big piece of the Jones Act that is repeatedly brought up in research is that it allowed for the drafting of Puerto Rican men just as the United States participated in World War I. This, coupled with a prevailing misconception that Puerto Rico is not a full contributing commonwealth in the United States, needed to be rectified. I felt that having students investigate the military contributions of Puerto Rico to US History would be a powerful narrative to dispel that misconception. There are not many things that seem to demand full civic inclusion of people other than military service. Student gathering of aggregate factual data as well as personal anecdotes from this site serve that purpose perfectly. I even found a local hero, Colonel Hector Andres Negroni, who went to Frankford high school to help students connect with community contribution. After students gather data, they have to re-evaluate the Jones Act and go back to the question: What is owed to citizens by the government if its citizens are required to defend that government with their lives? Students will then take 10 minutes to think pair share at least 3 categories to grade the fairness of the Jones Act. This will help them formulate their expectations of civic duty and rights for all.

In the next lesson, students will learn about the Supreme Court’s decisions when some citizens challenged the fairness of the Jones Act via direct instruction from me into their notes as well as a bit from the video we keep referring back to on how the U.S. “stole” Puerto Rico (Harris). They will have to take my evidence and build on or revise their value judgements of the Jones Act using these additional pieces. One key piece of this that should be taken away is the citizens are not entitled to the same level of Social Security benefits as state residents consume.

The 4th stop in our journey moves away from the federal government’s policies and on to the people’s exercise of their civil liberties as citizens, particularly Dr. Pedro Albizu-Campos and Ms. Lolita Lebrón. Dr. Hey-Colón suggested these figures as important to the nationalist struggle and particularly compelling in their principled pursuit of full rights. They are also both people who grew up in Puerto Rico but migrated to the U.S. as well. The video highlights Dr. Albizu-Campos’s context for being a leader in the nationalist cause and the article I chose the kids to use to investigate Lebrón shows that part of her motivation was to liberate him. Given Dr. Albizu-Campos’s visible mixed racial heritage, he is also an excellent example of someone who has had to bear the discrimination of a white supremist environment and one who also needs to be considered under the lens of how his perceived race affected his access to justice. This right of access to justice is one of the categories in citizenship that students will have been judging. Similarly, Lebrón’s gender and ethnicity will have to be considered when she was in the justice system as well. If students choose, they may also use a source on the experiences of Blanca Canales to add to their evidence base. I decided to add a video for homework that highlights Dr. Albizu-Campos’s experiences at Harvard and his contributions to movements because he is so often mentioned in the nationalist struggle, he is so fascinating, as well as that he is the focus of much of the FBI’s punishment. I chose to do it outside of class because it was not a hard one to understand for my student body and I gave detailed guided questions. This will allow students more context for our other materials. Having it be homework allows us to use the class time for the more rigorous work of discussing how his background affected his access to justice.

In the 1950s, Puerto Rico changed its relationship to the US from a territory to a commonwealth, though this did not do much about federal sovereignty interference or give equal rights to their relationship to the US, it did allow for direct election of their governors rather than having one imposed by the US for US interests. I will deliver this via direct instruction. This can be evaluated by the students as a more democratic shift in the continuum, though as the video will show, there are still egregious racist crimes committed by individuals such as Dr. Rhodes. Dr. Rhodes was an American medical doctor sent to Puerto Rico to study anemia in 1931 by the Rockefeller Foundation. During his time there he left a confidential letter on his deck in which he admits to intentionally killing 8 people motivated by race extermination. This letter was found by a lab assistant and publicized, causing mass protests on the island and many to join the nationalist movement. He claimed it was a joke and was never charged with any crimes in his lifetime, in fact he did not suffer any professional sanction at all. Memorials to this man have been stripped since the scandal of his racism have been revived in the 21st century. I will also ask students to think pair share about 5 graphs that show voter wishes mostly undecided but that those that have decided tend to be for statehood. They can use this information to both practice analysis of graphs and also to add to their evaluation of voter voice in Puerto Rico.

The 1950s also saw a big migration shift from Puerto Rico. The causes of this migration are many, but some were that Operation Bootstrap created less agricultural job opportunities. Operation Bootstrap was an industrialization program launched under Luis Munoz Marin in 1944, in which industrial ventures like textile and clothing production and eventually pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and electronics replaced agricultural work. This shift led to high unemployment on the island while wages were higher on the mainland and the sacrifice to leave home in order to send remittances to family is a continuity among migrant families. By 1952, Marin became the first democratically elected Governor. He was the first person elected by the people of Puerto Rico, and not a Governor imposed by the US. I’m sure there was pressure for him to perform even more tangible signs of success than his predecessors. His administration encouraged some people to migrate in the hopes that stabilizing the economy would stabilize his administration and gain support for his policies. In addition to these factors, technology progressed so that, while expensive, airfare came to a lower market price and more flights were going to cities like New York, Chicago, or Philadelphia. We will shift our focus on answering fulfillment of citizenship rights after the 1950s to experiences in Philadelphia. We will ask ourselves if Puerto Ricans experience the full rights of citizenship when they come to the mainland and if not, what needs to be done? We will also look at how this community contributed to the fabric of the city. While this question is not one that comes to a single right and static answer, it is something worth a student’s time and worth helping them come up with a process of questions to ask themselves in order to get close to a truth that makes sense for them. It is also worth the process of helping them decide which things in society point to evidence of justice’s existence or a need that requires social activism.

I will begin this segment with numbers to show the magnitude of the community migration to Philadelphia. I will give context to a picture showing positive economic impacts by these migrants to neighborhoods and I will model what I want them to do with a classwork presentation project involving pictures. I want them to find a picture related to Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia, I want them to give me the context of the photo and then I want them to show me that they’ve analyzed it as a historical document by giving it a caption, telling me what questions it elicited in them (hopefully coming up with some answers to the questions) and finally making inferences based on the pictures. Pictures are great for inference because so much of the story has to be made while still being given so much evidence to weigh from throughout an image. My picture will reference the Young Lords and I will use mine as a mini-lesson on their origin, platform and impact in Philly. Students will probably see more references to them when they do their research. I picked two major sources to give to the students. One was given to us by Dr. Hey-Colón, when she took us to the Temple Archives and they exposed us to the bank of pictures donated by the now closed newspaper interest The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and the others were collected for an essay by historian Alyssa Ribiero who has focused her research on Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia since the early 1800s. These 2 sources provide context and are rich photos that are suited to the relatively niche level of study. I also made sure to have a spectrum of open-ended photos that students who feel confident in research could use to meet the requirements of the project, and also ones that I have filled in some holes for in case I have a less than confident researcher that may try to explain context or offer an inference if given a scaffold. Students will do this activity over three days and present their pictures on the 3rd day. These will offer 20 or so pieces of evidence for our question of contributions but also whether Puerto Ricans experienced the full rights of citizenship when they came to Philly, and if not, what needed to be done?

Dr. Hey-Colón exposed me to so many autobiographical readings with compelling authors such as Jesus Colón, who make us immerse ourselves in his experience as a newcomer to an East Coast US city. Teachers cannot help but see how literary jewels could help a student decipher their struggles with identity or being first generation or non-English speakers by reading him as he makes sense of his struggles. Now that we have spent a few class periods trying to understand the history of Puerto Rico and its people’s struggles with both equality under the US and their specific pressures in migration, I think we can better appreciate one of his vignettes. I will give the students three to pick from in the hopes that they want to read all three. I will end the class instruction with the end of the Harris video because it does a fair job of analysis on recent exercises of US Imperialism that will segue into our next area of study, which will be tax status and unequal response from FEMA in cases like Hurricane Maria. This unit will end with a discussion of their notetaking docs and a draft thesis given what we’ve covered so far.  The final assessment will be writing a thesis to that original question of “What is owed to citizens by the government if its citizens are required to defend the government with their lives?”.

Graphic Organizers: These give students a concrete guide and help those that have trouble focusing on what ideas to capture. It is also a way for me to assess learning and hold students accountable.

Art and Primary Source Analysis: Used in the lecture to help illustrate opinions of the time period in ways that literary sources may not. Political cartoons especially have the purpose of persuading public opinion.

Think Pair Share: In order to quickly hear evidence of thinking, foster community, and allow students the opportunity to process thoughts into memory, the strategy of turning and talking, also known as Think Pair Share will be employed after every prompt on the note taking doc.

Lecture with Guided Notes: Students will need direct instruction on some concepts due to the time constraints of the course as a test on all U.S. history is coming for them in May. Lectures will be limited to 7 min intervals with breaks in delivery for questions and notetaking.

Historical Interpretation and Analysis: Students will examine secondary sources and question how the context it was created under or the point of view of the author influences the source.

Presentation: Students will have to present a picture and show analysis via creating a caption for it and making inferences about it.

Baralt, Guillermo A. Slave Revolts in Puerto Rico: Conspiracies and Uprisings, 1795-1873. Markus Wiener Publishers, 2015.

• Baralt researched all of the slave uprisings in Puerto Rico and found over 40 documented rebellions. I would use this information to make sure students know that injustice was never accepted.

Colón, Jesús. A Puerto Rican in New York, and Other Sketches. 2nd ed., International Publishers, 1982.

• This work is filled with several short and understandable personal narratives with social commentary that will speak to students. Four, in particular, will be presented by me as choices for students to write a reflection on. The first one, “A Voice Through the Window” is a personal reflection back in Puerto Rico as a child on the dignity and resilience of the workers in the cigar rolling industry. His reflections also show their ability to foster community and cultural continuity in the face of adversity and the presence of the lector underscores the importance of cultural preservation and education in immigrant communities. The second, “Stowaway, 1917,” recounts a harrowing journey of him as a young Puerto Rican boy, about the age of our high school students, as he stows away on a ship to the United States. It highlights themes of hope, fear, and the pursuit of a better life. The third, advocates for greater recognition and respect for more worldly education in the US as Simon Bolivar’s portrait is not recognized by many of the Anglo identifying people in New York street but his significance is not lost on Colon and his wife. Colon finds connection with at least one educated American friend is culturally literate enough to not only recognize but appreciate Bolivar. Fourth, “Little Things Are Big”, is when Colon is faced with a moral dilemma of helping a white woman while he has lived in New York long enough now to know that there could be safety issues for him if he interacts with her. It is a powerful essay that captures a moment of internal conflict influenced by societal prejudices and how racism complicates even simple acts of kindness, it also highlights his struggle with cultural shifts between Puerto Rico and the United States.

Del Moral, Solsiree. Negotiating Empire The Cultural Politics of Schools in Puerto Rico, 1898–1952 . University of Wisconsin Press, 2013.

• Del Moral argues that citizenship with the US was negotiated and complicated with regard to Puerto Rico’s onboarding. This source was used to show the agency of the teachers in Puerto Rico but also how education systems are used as a tool of a state to try and get newly acquired territories to acculturate, usually with a primary goal of gaining conformity to what economic ends the imperial nation would like.

Harris, Johnny. “How the US Stole Puerto Rico.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 July 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb9E8fvMPOA.

• Harris created a 21 min documentary that introduces the Spanish-American War of 1898, during which Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States. He shows that despite promises of autonomy, Puerto Rico’s political status has remained controversial and leaders that push for self-determination are punished and surveilled by the FBI.  It shows debates over statehood, independence, or continued territorial status ongoing but also how the people continue to cope and hope for the equal recognition they deserve. It is an excellent example of the fight for citizenship rights and sacrifices that were made while pushing for it. Issues such as economic exploitation, cultural identity, and political representation are addressed, illustrating the complexities of Puerto Rico’s status as a territory of the United States.

The Insular Cases and the Doctrine of the Unincorporated …, www.usccr.gov/files/2024-02/english_pr-ac_memo-1.pdf. Accessed 18 May 2024.

• This source will be used particularly for Balzac v Porto Rico (1922) because this case specifically applied to Puerto Rico, ruling that the island was an unincorporated territory and thus not all constitutional rights applied there automatically. It established a separate legal status for Puerto Rico, differentiating it from incorporated territories like Alaska and Hawaii. But also, Downes v Bidwell (1901) in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution applied in territories acquired by the Treaty of Paris 1898 but did not necessarily grant all rights and protections as in the states. This decision established the concept of “unincorporated territories” where fundamental rights are not fully guaranteed.

Magazine, Smithsonian. “Bringing Taíno Peoples Back into History.” Smithsonian.Com, Smithsonian Institution, 28 Dec. 2017, www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/bringing-taino-peoples-back-history-180967637/.

• This source intends to educate on the often-overlooked history of the Taíno peoples and challenge misconceptions about their extinction. It addresses broader implications of colonialism on indigenous,with archaeological findings and research that provide insights into Taíno society, including their agricultural practices, art, spirituality, and social structures. These findings also serve to emphasize the resilience of Taíno identity and efforts to reclaim and revitalize cultural practices and knowledge.

Jiménez García , Marilisa. Side by Side: US Empire, Puerto Rico, and the Roots of American Youth Literature and Culture. University Press of Mississippi, 2021.

• Marilisa Jiménez García explores the intersection of U.S. imperialism, Puerto Rican identity, and American youth literature and culture. The book traces how Puerto Rico’s colonial status has influenced American literature aimed at young readers, shaping representations of Puerto Ricans and their culture within broader American society. She argues that youth literature has played a significant role in constructing and contesting narratives about Puerto Rico and its people within the context of U.S. imperialism and the quotes pulled for this unit are those highlighting this. The book highlights the complexities of identity, belonging, and resistance for Puerto Ricans both on the island and in the United States. It sheds light on the power of storytelling and representation in shaping perceptions of identity and history in a postcolonial context.

Monge, José. The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World, The New York Times, 1997, archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/monge-puertorico.html.

• Monge examines the impact of U.S. colonial policies on Puerto Rican society, economy, and governance. His discussion of key events and movements in Puerto Rico’s history served as a timeline of sorts for more research. Specific themes identified were struggles for independence, debates over political status (statehood, independence, or continued territorial status), economic development under U.S. rule, and cultural identity.

“Puerto Ricans Represented throughout U.S. Military History.” U.S. Department of Defense, www.defense.gov/news/news-stories/article/article/974518/puerto-ricans-represented-throughout-us-military-history/#:~:text=In%20July%201917%2C%20about%20236%2C000,New%20York%2C%E2%80%9D%20he%20added. Accessed 18 May 2024.

• The U.S. Department of Defense provides a comprehensive overview of the significant contributions and involvement of Puerto Ricans in various aspects of U.S. military history. It highlights Puerto Ricans’ participation in both war and peacetime operations, emphasizing their roles in combat, support services, and leadership positions across different branches of the military. The document covers key historical periods, such as World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, and subsequent conflicts. It provides primary sources for Puerto Ricans’ motivations for service, their experiences, achievements, and challenges faced within the military structure. This source will be used to show the sacrifices for citizenship that Puerto Rico contributes to the U.S. while also not having, and for some not wanting, statehood citizenship.

“Puerto Rico: A U.S. Territory in Crisis.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org/backgrounder/puerto-rico-us-territory-crisis. Accessed 18 May 2024.

• This source serves to provide a current and comprehensive overview of the multifaceted challenges and dynamics impacting Puerto Rico within the context of its relationship with the United States while providing context. It particularly addresses Puerto Rico’s significant debt crisis, which has strained its economy and public services and explores factors such as high unemployment rates, poverty levels, and the impact of austerity measures imposed by the U.S. government and financial institutions. Given Puerto Rico’s vulnerability to hurricanes and other natural disasters, the source addresses the negative impact of these events on the island’s infrastructure, economy, and social fabric.

“Research Guides: World of 1898: International Perspectives on the Spanish American War: The Changing of the Guard: Puerto Rico in 1898.” The Changing of the Guard: Puerto Rico in 1898 – World of 1898: International Perspectives on the Spanish American War – Research Guides at Library of Congress, guides.loc.gov/world-of-1898/puerto-rico-overview#:~:text=The%20formal%20transfer%20of%20Puerto,Brooke. Accessed 18 May 2024.

• This source gives context for all the territories acquired from the Spanish American War and Puerto Rico has its own section but the point of view, including the motivations and attitudes, of Spain, US, Guam, Philippines, Cuba are also addressed using primary sources and secondary analysis by historians. This is an excellent site for the classroom to work on analyzing how point of view affects a source, and it is very organized and easy to navigate.

Ribeiro, Alyssa. “Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans.” Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, 13 Apr. 2022, philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/puerto-rico-and-puerto-ricans/#backgrounders.

• This source provides a comprehensive overview of Puerto Rican history, migration patterns, and cultural contributions to the Philadelphia region using photos and her research into key leaders in Philadelphia. Students will use this source to show the impact of migration from Puerto Rico to Philadelphia. Students will see that Puerto Ricans initially settled in North Philadelphia and surrounding areas. By the late 20th century, the community expanded to other parts of the city and its suburbs. They will also find evidence of specific social, cultural, and religious institutions that they recognize in Philly, including community centers, churches, and advocacy organizations who pushed for educational or labor reforms and cultural festivals.

Wasko. Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.

• The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin did a feature of the Puerto Rican community in the 1970s and took several compelling photos of everyday life. These will be used by the students to do their photo project. The sources show the Young Lords imagery in neighborhoods, Three Kings Day celebrations with diverse racial backgrounds participating. It also had photos of the newspaper article that included quotes from Philadelphians of Puerto Rican descent reflecting on their experiences here in Philadelphia.

1. Slide Deck for Instruction
2. Picture Presentation Project
3. Academic Standards

4. Rubric for Grading the Final Essay

Source: The College Board

FINAL ASSESSMENT:

Discussion or paper answering the essential question: “What is owed to citizens by the government if its citizens are required to defend the government with their lives?”