Puerto Ricans in Illinois

A community making a home in Illinois

As the first book to document the experiences of Puerto Ricans in the state of Illinois, this inviting book maps the pedacito de patria (little piece of home) that many Puerto Ricans have carved from the bitter hardships faced in Illinois. Authors Maura Toro-Morn and Ivis GarcIa illustrate the multiple paradoxes underlying the experience of Puerto Ricans in Illinois: an island people in a heartland state, native-born citizens living an immigrant’s experience, climate refugees in the Midwest. They live a vaivEn (coming and going). This volume partially exposes these paradoxes through a narrative of common survival and achievement. Along the proud Paseo Boricua (Puerto Rican Promenade) in Chicago and in smaller cities around the state, Puerto Ricans find and create the means to keep their national identity while contributing to the health and wealth of their adopted state.

From the voices of the people, the authors offer readers an opportunity to learn about the history of Puerto Rico, the migration of Puerto Ricans to Illinois, and the cultural, economic, and political contributions of the Puerto Rican women, men, and families that call Illinois home. In Chicago and across the heartland, Puerto Ricans have negotiated the gap between home and country, mobilized state-wide against the federal government’s virtual abandonment in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. A compelling weave of scholarship summary, archival research, and extensive sociological study including interviews conducted across the state, the book documents just how much many fail to know about a growing and transforming community in Illinois. The stories of Puerto Ricans are here.