The story of how your Puerto Rican grandparent came to build a life in Connecticut is a story worth sharing.
That was the message from scholars who spoke on a recent panel at CT State Community College Capital for a traveling exhibition visiting Hartford.
Diasporican: From Dispersion to Integration is an exhibition from the National Puerto Rican Diaspora Museum. It features a series of photographic collections from contemporary artists Joe Conzo Jr., Marisol Díaz and Perla de León.
Through the traveling exhibition, the museum aims to foster conversations around the Puerto Rican community and its migration from Puerto Rico to the mainland of the U.S.
As part of that discussion, the museum and college hosted a scholars panel focusing on the history of Puerto Ricans in Connecticut. Among the panelists was professor Fiona Vernal.
“As a historian, to think about the 75 years of Puerto Rican history in the state of Connecticut, and especially in this part of the state, in Hartford, so many elders are passing away. So many people with the stories that really matter,” Vernal said.
Vernal is the director of the Engaged, Public, Oral and Community Histories (EPOCH) program at the University of Connecticut.
She urged students and faculty in attendance to start collecting stories from their family members before that history is lost.
Vernal said historians know that many Puerto Ricans came to Connecticut to work in the farming and tobacco industries. Many of them settled in Hartford.
“But that's it,” she said. “We don't know the company that they worked for. We don't know how many seasons. We haven't really done a good job of being interested in some of those stories.”
That kind of labor can be seen as unimportant and therefore, the stories behind it can be thought of as uninteresting, Vernal said.
“We shouldn't sweep it under the rug if your father or your grandfather was a tobacco worker, right?” Vernal said. “For all the generations of people who have chosen to make Connecticut home … there is a dignity in coming here working and sticking it out and taking care of your families, and we should tell those parts of the stories, as well as the stories about the second or third generation.”
However, bringing up the idea of recording someone’s story can make some family members hesitant to share. Vernal said that’s because most people do not understand how their story fits into the broader narrative of Puerto Rican migration.
She recommends starting with a family photo. Put your phone to the side as it records and just ask a family member what they remember about the photo, Vernal said.
“When you start with your family's photo album, and you can look through it and look at photographs that you have questions about or that you think is a really interesting story, it can open up your narrator, who's your family member, and really put them at ease,” she said. “And then watch them go.”
Vernal said these are conversations that should be happening across all age groups to capture the stories from different generations before they reach an old age when memories fade.
“You don't have to wait ‘til somebody's 90 or 80 to be interested in their life stories,” she said. “We should be talking to folks and capturing their stories now and then continue to interview them and continue to help them to reflect.”
Capturing Puerto Rican life stories
Joshian Colon is a student at CT State Community College Capital. He is of Saint Lucian and Puerto Rican descent, but said he doesn’t know much about the Puerto Rican side of his family.
“Learning that a lot of people are here and within our community kind of stuck out to me because I am kind of interested in getting to learn more about my Puerto Rican side,” Colon said. “It was kind of cool knowing that it is closer to me than I think it is.”
Colon said he doesn’t know many people from that side of the family, so it’s difficult to get their stories. But he is interested in hearing from other people's families.
In an effort to capture those family stories, Vernal and fellow panelist Dr. Charles Venator-Santiago, director of the Puerto Rican Studies Initiative at UConn, are collaborating on a project that will document the lived experiences of Puerto Ricans in Connecticut.
The Aquí me sembré Oral Histories Project is focusing on documenting the experiences of Puerto Rican leaders in Connecticut.
According to Venator-Santiago, work is underway to start going into the community to collect the oral histories of Puerto Rican Connecticut residents.
For now, both Venator-Santiago and Vernal stressed that it's up to everyone to start recording their family’s life stories while they still can.
Learn more
The Diasporican: From Dispersion to Integration exhibition will be on display at the Mallett Art Gallery at CT State Community College Capital through May 22.
