Latinos In New England

The first comprehensive look at the growing Latino presence in New England.

Compelling stories and striking photographs illustrate the challenges and highlights of Latino/a life in Portland, Maine.

Although stoical New Englanders may not be showy about it, religion continues to play a powerful role in their culture. In fact, their very reticence to discuss religion may stem from long-standing religious divisions in the region. Examining Catholics and Protestants, as well as Conservative Protestants, African Americans, and Jews, this third volume in the Religion by Region series provides a very readable account of religion in this most regional of U.S. regions.

Given the importance of Latino issues in the current social and economic times, the publication of Latinos in a Changing Society is both timely and prescient in its contributions to the current discourse of how Latinos are being influenced by U.S. norms and culture and how Latinos are also affecting U.S. society. This volume contributes to our need for comprehensive analysis of how Latin communities compare and contrast with other underserved groups. It also examines how changes are taking place within specific Latino groups particularly between first and second generation Cubans, returning Puerto Ricans, Dominican poverty, and emergent Mexican leaders in the New England area. The opportunities that Latinos and dominant mainstream interests share are identified in this volume, but so are the many areas in need of change. In this current atmosphere of anger and suspicion toward immigrants, this volume presents an analytical perspective that is too often absent from politically motivated debates about Latinos and their role in a changing society. Undocumented immigrants are often portrayed as people who come to this country to take advantage of a generous welfare system contributing little to the economic and social development of the country. This volume critically examines issues such as the Latino commitment to labor participation, the ways that Latino parents engage in schools and in their communities, health access and social programs, the policing concerns within the Latino community, the academic adjustments made by Latino college students as well as the educational opportunities that exist for Latinos across the country. Unlike publications that seek to summarize knowledge about the Latino population in the United States, Latinos in a Changing Society provides a broader range of insights into the types of policy analysis, research, and public consciousness needed to advance the educational, social, cultural, and political participation and incorporation of Latinos in the new century. This volume critically examines such issues as the disparity in poverty among Latino groups, the lack of access to health services, the Latino commitment to labor participation, the ways that Latino parents engage in schools and in their communities, and the educational dropout rates of Latinos across the country and the underlying causes of those rates. Unlike publications that seek to summarize knowledge about the Latino population in the United States, Latinos in a Changing Society provides a broader range of insights into the types of policy analysis, research, and public consciousness needed to advance the educational, social, cultural, and political participation and incorporation of Latinos in the new century.

A Hispanic and Latino presence in what is now the United States goes back to Spanish settlement in the sixteenth century in Florida and the progressive U.S. conquest of the Spanish-controlled territory of California and the Southwest by 1853 and the Gadsden Purchase. Mexicans in this newly American territory had to struggle to hold on to their land. The overlooked history and the debates over new immigration from Mexico and Central America are illuminated by this first state-by-state history of people termed Latinos or Hispanics. Much of this information is hard to find and has never been researched before. Students and other readers will be able to trace the Latino presence through time per state through a chronology and historical overview and read about noteworthy Latinos in the state and the cultural contributions Latinos have made to communities in that state. Taken together, a more complete picture of Latinos emerges. The information allows understanding of the current status-where the Latino presence is now, what types of work they are doing, and how they are faring in places with only a small Latino presence. All 50 states and the District of Columbia are covered in individual chapters. A chronology starts the chapter, giving the main dates of Latino presence and important events and population figures. The historical overview is the core of the chapter. The cast of Latino presence and how they have made their livelihood along with relations with non-Latinos are discussed. A Notable Latinos section then provides a number of short biographical profiles. Cultural contributions are showcased in the final section, followed by a bibliography. A selected bibliography and photos complement the chapters.

Latino City explores the transformation of Lawrence, Massachusetts, into New England's first Latino-majority city. Like many industrial cities, Lawrence entered a downward economic spiral in the decades after World War II due to deindustrialization and suburbanization. The arrival of tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans in the late twentieth century brought new life to the struggling city, but settling in Lawrence was fraught with challenges. Facing hostility from their neighbors, exclusion from local governance, inadequate city services, and limited job prospects, Latinos fought and organized for the right to make a home in the city. In this book, Llana Barber interweaves the histories of urban crisis in U.S. cities and imperial migration from Latin America. Pushed to migrate by political and economic circumstances shaped by the long history of U.S. intervention in Latin America, poor and working-class Latinos then had to reckon with the segregation, joblessness, disinvestment, and profound stigma that plagued U.S. cities during the crisis era, particularly in the Rust Belt. For many Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, there was no "American Dream" awaiting them in Lawrence; instead, Latinos struggled to build lives for themselves in the ruins of industrial America.

More than 53 million Latinos now constitute the largest, fastest-growing, and most diverse minority group in the United States, and the nation’s political future may well be shaped by Latinos’ continuing political incorporation. In the 2012 election, Latinos proved to be a critical voting bloc in both Presidential and Congressional races; this demographic will only become more important in future American elections. Using new evidence from the largest-ever scientific survey addressed exclusively to Latino/Hispanic respondents, Latino Politics en Ciencia Política explores political diversity within the Latino community, considering how intra-community differences influence political behavior and policy preferences. The editors and contributors, all noted scholars of race and politics, examine key issues of Latino politics in the contemporary United States: Latino/a identities (latinidad), transnationalism, acculturation, political community, and racial consciousness. The book contextualizes today’s research within the history of Latino political studies, from the field’s beginnings to the present, explaining how systematic analysis of Latino political behavior has over time become integral to the study of political science. Latino Politics en Ciencia Política is thus an ideal text for learning both the state of the field today, and key dimensions of Latino political attitudes.

This collection of original essays explores the major challenges to Latino political representation in cities where Latino populations do not make up the majority of the population and therefore cannot rely on sheer numbers to gain representation.