Twentieth century migration to the U.S. Puerto Rican literature

the nuyorican poets café building on east 3rd street

during part of 20th century, many puerto ricans moved eastern coast , mid-western parts of united states in search of better way of life. settled in cities such new york , chicago. there faced racial discrimination , other hardships. jesús colón, known father of nuyorican movement, discriminated against because black , had difficulty speaking english. wrote experiences, experiences of other immigrants, becoming among first puerto ricans in english.

one of works, puerto rican in new york, preceded literary movement known nuyorican movement . ultimately, nuyorican movement influenced puerto rican literature, spurring themes such cultural identity , discrimination. goal of nuyorican movement maintain cultural identity of puerto rican people in foreign land. movement composed of group of intellectuals, writers , poets express experiences nuyoricans living in united states, including nicholasa mohr (whose el bronx collection of stories earned finalist position national book award), piri thomas, pedro pietri (who founded nuyorican poets café, giannina braschi (author of classic spanglish novel yo-yo boing!, esmeralda santiago, j.l. torres , others.