Drops of Inclusivity

Milagros Denis-Rosario is Associate Professor of History in the Department of Africana, Puerto Rican, and Latino Studies at Hunter College of the City University of New York.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Illusion of Living in a Non-Racist Racist Society1. A Revised Account of the New "Colored" Possession: 1898–19202. Reshaping Education, Race, and Citizenship: 1920–19303. The Twisted Evolution of National Identity: 1930–19404. Intersecting Race and Modernization: 1940–19505. Strategizing Modernity: 1950–19656. The Liga Opened Pandora's "Black" Box: 1950–1965Epilogue: Drop by DropAppendixesNotesBibliographyIndex

"Drops of Inclusivity draws on archival, quantitative, and qualitative data to analyze racial formations, emergent racial hierarchies, and racism in Puerto Rico during the modernization process and in the construction of a national identity. The analysis also importantly reveals the various ways in which Afro-Puerto Ricans navigated racial hierarchies, challenged racial discrimination, and created a place for themselves in Puerto Rican society … To borrow from Denis-Rosario, gota a gota, se llena el vaso (drop by drop, you fill the glass) of equality and justice; this book makes a significant and commendable contribution to that effort." — Latino Studies"…an engaging and important book … that contributes to the understanding of the process of race-making in Puerto Rico, Latin America, and the Spanish Caribbean." — New West Indian Guide"This is a concise, teachable book. It will make an important contribution in a broad range of undergraduate and graduate courses such as Afro-Diaspora, Caribbean, Afro-Latinx, and Puerto Rican studies courses, and disciplines such as history, African American studies, and American studies … Drops of Inclusivity adds a meaningful and complementary account to the existing scholarship about Puerto Rico's anti-Black racism, civil rights activism, and demands for social inclusion that Black Puerto Ricans have been waging all along." — H-Net Reviews (H-Caribbean)"Drops of Inclusivity crucially underscores the agency of Black Puerto Ricans across different time periods and socioeconomic classes, including everyday people who filed lawsuits for discrimination, wrote letters to institutions, and navigated the education system. Their stories show how commonplace and systemic antiblack racism has always been despite depictions of Puerto Rico as a racial democracy. Most importantly, this book centers the varied ways Black Puerto Ricans have negotiated their position within Puerto Rican society, and organized around racial issues." — Petra R. Rivera-Rideau, author of Remixing Reggaetón: The Cultural Politics of Race in Puerto Rico