A Study of Selected Puerto Rican Children Discharged From Catholic Child Caring Institutions to the Catholic Guardian Society in 1949
Abstract
Since 1898 Puerto Rico has been a territory of the United States. It was in that year that this country took possession of the Caribbean Island as a result of the war with Spain. The Jones Act passed in 1917 gave the Island its present status, with the possibility of statehood and made the Puerto Ricans citizens of the United States. Columbus landed in Puerto Rico in 1493 and thus Spain was given first claim to the Island, but colonization did not begin until Ponce de Leon brought about fifty men from Spain for the purpose of gold mining in 1508. The native Indians received the colonizers in a friendly fashion but they soon found themselves under subjugation. When the gold deposits were found to be exhausted, the settlers turned to the agricultural resources of the land. Because of the great demands for labor, negro slaves from Africa were introduced in 1513. They became an important factor in the economy. "His (the negro’s) presence in large numbers, and the comparative absence, from the time of his introduction of strong racial prejudices against him, have tended to produce considerable race mixing.”
Subject Area
African Studies|Religion|Social work
Recommended Citation
Dunne, Julia Theresa, "A Study of Selected Puerto Rican Children Discharged From Catholic Child Caring Institutions to the Catholic Guardian Society in 1949" (1953). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30557776.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30557776
