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Jahkai Pettway

Mr. Sokoloff

Modern World History

1/9/18

Migration of Germans and Puerto Ricans

History Midterm Research Prompt: What factors contribute to people’s patterns of movement?

The world is about evolution, nothing just stays the same forever. People don’t just stay

in one place. They move, they migrate, and expand. My mother’s side of the family is German

and Puerto Rican. My grandfather is Puerto Rican. He came over when he was very young

without any other family members, in order to get a job, and go to school. My grandmother is

German. She was born in America, but not too long before her birth, her parents had migrated to

America for several reasons and she would hear stories about it and continue to pass it down.

During the mid 1930s was the midst of both the holocaust and World War II, some of the most

biggest things in world history. These two events were very dangerous and honestly a big

disruption of regular daily life, so there is no surprise why they left to be safe. Although there are

many reasons for movement, the biggest reasons are economic, educational opportunities, and

safety.

One main reason for people moving is for educational purposes. Education is an essential

key to a successful life because it improves everything. The better education you have the better

your job is, the more you know, and this leads to an overall more wealthy, stress free life. The
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problem is education is not the easiest to access. For example, after finding a timeline on Puerto

Rico in the 1900s, I learned that it was not until 1948 that “The Catholic University of Puerto

Rico was founded”, and before that was only the University of Puerto Rico located in Rio

Piedras (toppuertorico.org). Also, ”the literacy rate at the time was only 15 per cent” (fee.org).

Including the cost and location of school, along with there only being about two schools at the

time, you can see why it was difficult to be educated during this time period. This was the case

for my grandfather. He lived in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico where the living conditions were not

well and the possibility of getting an education was rare. He migrated to America by himself

when he was young to start a new life, and what better way than living in New York and working

and going to school. Relating to this, Puerto Rico “became a U.S. territory in 1898, when it was

acquired from Spain after the Spanish-American War” (puertoricoreport.com). This lead to a

huge number of Puerto Ricans migrating to the United States, and one of the biggest reasons was

because of the better education in America. According to the National Center for Educational

Statistics, “In 1929–30, there were approximately 248,000 public schools”. It is clear based off

this research and my grandfather’s experience, that education played a big part in Puerto Ricans’

move to the United States. Therefore, one main reason for people moving is for educational

purposes.

A second reason for moving is economic purposes. Similar to education, most foreign

countries are not as economically advanced as America. If you do not have a well paying job,

and money is revolving throughout your country, it is very hard to start a family and live a good

life. Most people in Puerto Rico during the early 1900s experienced this. The Foundation for

Economic Education described Puerto Rico’s economic state as “dismal in Puerto Rico at the
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turn of the century” and that “Life expectancy in 1900 was 32 years” (fee.org). Based off of this

information, there is no motivation for citizens to want to stay behind and live in these horrible

conditions. It is obvious why people began to migrate to the United States in hope for a better

life. In my grandfather’s case, he moved to New York and immediately started working in a

factory making more money and living a better life than he was in Puerto Rico. I also learned

from my research that without emigration during the decade, unemployment would have

mounted to 201,000 as compared, to the actual unemployment figure of 101,000 in June, 1950

(fee.org). Not only did this huge trend of migration help better the new lives of Puerto Ricans in

America, but it opened back up jobs in Puerto Rico which eventually decreased the

unemployment rate. When thinking about the big picture, you must ask yourself what you would

do if one place had the opportunities your current location lacked. Most reasonable people would

migrate to that place, especially the Puerto Ricans during the 1900s. Therefore, a second reason

for moving is economic purposes.

A third reason a lot of people move is for overall safety. Where they might live, there can

be a lot of warfare or violence, and you never want to stay in a situation like that. To switch it up,

a prime example is my grandmother and her family. At the time, the holocaust and world war II

was going on causing a lot of warfare and destruction of daily life. In a letter from a German

Soldier to his wife, he writes “the silence of death rests over the battlefield, over the smoking,

destroyed Soviet tanks, over the masses of troops the Bolshevists drove to death. The loneliness

of the steppes returns.” The soldier describes the field as silent and smokey to show how

destructive the war is to the country. A war state is never fun to live through, but especially not

when your country is looking far from victory like Germany. Despite the destructive effects of
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the warfare, this was not even the worst effect during this time in Germany. In a journal entry

from a German teenager during the time, she wrote “the German capital was being bombed

nightly and the Nazi Holocaust was killing thousands … The school had been bombed when we

arrived this morning”. Many people were dying, but besides that the mental damage done to the

innocent people involved, like this teenage girl, was tremendous. People could not go to school,

do their job, or participate in daily life without being cautious of what might happen next. This is

why my grandmother and her family along with others moved to the United States during this

time to escape this state of warfare and destruction. Therefore, a third reason a lot of people

move is for overall safety.

In conclusion, therefore, although there are many reasons for movement, the biggest

reasons are economic, educational opportunities, and safety. Through all my research on why

people move, you can start to see what us humans value in life and what risks we are willing to

take to avoid or gain something. For my German grandmother and her family, they valued safety

and migrated for protection not caring about the consequences that might take place. For my

Puerto Rican grandfather, he valued economic and education leisures in order to start a family

and better his life. Even my mother’s small move from Bridgeport, Ct to New Haven, Ct shows

her value for education and a better economic opportunity for her family. As I close out this

research project, I believe I have a better understanding for why people move.