Discrimination
After the United States Congress approved the Jones Act of 1917, every Puerto Rican became a citizen of the United States. As citizens Puerto Ricans were eligible for the military draft and as such many were drafted into the armed forces of the United States, which at that time was segregated. Puerto Ricans of African descent were subject to the discrimination which was rampant in the U.S.
Black Puerto Ricans residing in the mainland United States were assigned to all-black units. Rafael Hernández (1892–1965) and his brother Jesus along with 16 more Puerto Ricans were recruited by Jazz bandleader James Reese Europe to join the United States Army's Orchestra Europe. They were assigned to the 369th Infantry Regiment, an African-American regiment which gained fame during World War I and was nicknamed "The Harlem Hell Fighters" by the Germans.
The United States also implemented the policy of military segregated units in Puerto Rico. Pedro Albizu Campos (1891–1965), who later became the leader of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, held the rank of lieutenant. He founded the "Home Guard" unit of Ponce and was later assigned to the 375th Infantry Regiment, an all black Puerto Rican regiment, which was stationed in Puerto Rico and never saw combat action. According to Campos, the discrimination which he witnessed in the Armed Forces, influenced his political beliefs.
Puerto Ricans of African descent were not only subject to the racial discrimination that was common in the military and in everyday life in the U.S., but were also discriminated against in field of sports as well. Puerto Ricans who were dark-skinned and wanted to play Major League Baseball in the United States, were not allowed to do so because of the so-called codification of baseball's color line of 1892, barring not only African-American players, but any player from any country who was dark-skinned. This, however did not keep Puerto Ricans of African descent from participating in the sport. In 1928, Emilio "Millito" Navarro traveled to New York City and became the first Puerto Rican to play baseball in the Negro Leagues when he joined the Cuban Stars. He was later followed by others such as Francisco Coimbre who also played for the Cuban Stars. The persistence of these men paved the way for the likes of Roberto Clemente and Orlando Cepeda who played in the Major Leagues after the colorline was broken by Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and eventually were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Black Puerto Ricans also participated in other sports as international contestants. In 1917, Nero Chen became the first Puerto Rican boxer to gain international recognition when he fought against (Panama) Joe Gan at the "Palace Casino" in New York. In the 1948 Summer Olympics (the XIV Olympics), celebrated in London, Juan Evangelista Venegas made Puerto Rican sports history by becoming Puerto Rico's first Olympic medal winner when he beat Belgium's representative, Callenboat, on points for a unanimous decision. He won the bronze medal in boxing in the Bantamweight division, falling short of the silver medal to Giovanni Zuddas. The event was also historical because it was the first time that the island participated as a nation in an international sporting event. It was common for impoverished Puerto Rican to seek boxing as a way to earn an income and it would not be long before a Puerto Rican of African descent would become a world champion. On March 30, 1965, José "Chegui" Torres defeated Willie Pastrano by technical knockout and won the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association light heavyweight championships. He became the third Puerto Rican and the first one of African descent to win a professional world championship.
Among those who exposed the racism and discrimination which Puerto Ricans, especially Black Puerto Ricans were subject to, in the United States was Jesús Colón. Colón, who is considered by many as the "Father of the Nuyorican movement", told about his experiences in New York as a Black Puerto Rican in his book Lo que el pueblo me dice--: crónicas de la colonia puertorriqueña en Nueva York (What the people tell me---: Chronicles of the Puerto Rican colony in New York).
These critics maintain that a majority of Puerto Ricans are racially mixed, but that they do not feel the need to identify as such. They argue, furthermore, that Puerto Ricans tend to assume that they are of Black African, American Indian, and European ancestry and only identify themselves as mixed if having parents "appearing" to be of separate "races". It should also be noted that Puerto Rico underwent a "whitening" process while under U.S. rule. The census-takers at the turn of the 20th Century recorded a huge disparity in the number of "black" and "white" Puerto Ricans between the 1910 and 1920 censuses. "Black" suddenly began to disappear from one census to another (within 10 years' time), possibly due to redefinition of the term. It also appears that the "black" element within the culture was simply disappearing possibly due to the popular idea that in the U.S. one could only advance economically and socially if one were to pass for "white".
Read more about this topic: African Immigration To Puerto Rico