"Puerto Rican Problem" in Postwar New York City

EDGARDO MELÉNDEZ is a retired professor from the department of political science at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras and the department of Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino studies at Hunter College. His latest books are Patria: Puerto Rican Exiles in Late Nineteenth Century New York City, and Sponsored Migration: The State and Postwar Puerto Rican Migration to the United States.

• Introduction1 The Study of Puerto Rican Migration and Incorporation in the United States2 The "Puerto Rican Problem" Campaign in New York City3 Dealing with the "Puerto Rican Problem" in New York City4 The "Puerto Rican Problem" in New York City and Puerto Rico's Migration Policy5 Marcantonio, the "Puerto Rican Problem," and the 1949 Mayoral Election in New York City6 The Mayor's Committee on Puerto Rican Affairs7 The Demise of MCPRA and the Redefinition of the "Puerto Rican Problem"8 In the Aftermath of the "Puerto Rican Problem" in New York CityEpilogueAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

"Meticulously researched and politically savvy, Edgardo Meléndez illuminates how the mainstream U.S. press, government agencies, academia, and public opinion mistreated the Puerto Rican exodus after 1945. A highly readable, insightful, and thought-provoking analysis."— Jorge Duany, author of Puerto Rico: What Everyone Needs to Know"The first in-depth study of the origins, ingrained biases, and stereotypes of the 'Puerto Rican problem' discourses propagated in most of the early post-World War II mass migration research about the Puerto Rican community. An outstanding and indispensable addition to Puerto Rican migration studies."— Edna Acosta-Belén, Distinguished Professor Emerita, University at Albany, SUNY