Miracle's Boys

The Bailey brothers’ mother, Milagros, immigrated to their unnamed New York borough from Puerto Rico. The decades after the end of World War II brought an influx of immigrants from Puerto Rico to New York City because of a joint effort by the United States and Puerto Rican governments to satisfy the labor shortage in the US following the war. Meanwhile, the Puerto Rican government could not support its growing population. Historically, Puerto Rico was an agrarian-based economy, but after focusing too heavily on the single crop of sugar cane, its economy suffered. As the 1950s approached, its government sought to shift from a farming-based economy to an industrial one. The plan, termed Operation Bootstrap, sought to address both nations’ dilemmas by encouraging Puerto Rican immigration to the US.

While some Puerto Ricans migrated to the American Midwest, where farming jobs were available, the majority went to the Northeast. Eighty-five percent of these Puerto Ricans immigrants settled in New York City and the areas immediately surrounding it. In the 20-year period following World War II, the Puerto Rican population of this area expanded from 70,000 to nearly 900,000 people (Román, Iván. “Why Puerto Rican Migration to the United States Boomed after 1945.” History, 2023). During the war, Puerto Rico’s skilled seamstresses were instrumental in making uniforms for American soldiers; after the war, they helped to grow New York’s textile industry. Factory jobs in general provided employment, as did dock work in the shipping industry. Other immigrants opened grocery stores, known as bodegas, and shaved ice vendors, or piragueros. The Puerto Rican population became well-established in many areas, including an area that became known as Manhattan’s Spanish Harlem. New York has hosted the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, the largest Puerto Rican celebration in the US, since 1958.

By 2000, the Puerto Rican population of New York declined for the first time. Though part of this population loss is attributed to descendants of immigrants moving to other areas of the United States, roughly one third of the loss is attributed to citizens emigrating to Puerto Rico. Despite the success enjoyed by some in the second half of the 20th century, poverty proved the norm for many people of Puerto Rican heritage (Navarro, Mireya. “Falling Back: Puerto Rican Presence Wanes in New York.” The New York Times, 2000). By the 1990s, 40% of New York’s Puerto Rican population was living at or below the poverty line. The decline in manufacturing jobs is cited as a key reason for this. These socioeconomic struggles are addressed directly in Miracle’s Boys.