Irish Influence in Puerto Rican and Popular Culture
Besides having distinguished careers in agriculture and the military, Puerto Ricans of Irish descent have made many other contributions to the Puerto Rican way of life. Their contributions can be found, but are not limited to, the fields of education, commerce, politics, science and entertainment.
Kenneth McClintock is the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. Mr. McClintock served as co-chair of Hillary Clinton presidential campaign's National Hispanic Leadership Council in 2008, co-chaired Clinton's successful Puerto Rico primary campaign that year and served as the Thirteenth President of the Senate of Puerto Rico until his term ended on December 31, 2008. In late 2008, he served as President of then-Governor-Elect Luis Fortuño's Transition Committee. He was sworn into office as Secretary of State on January 2, 2009 by Chief Justice Federico Hernández Denton, fulfilling the role of Lieutenant Governor (first-in-line of succession) in the islands.
The Coll family played an important role in shaping Puerto Rico's politics and literature. Dr. Cayetano Coll y Toste was a historian and writer. He was the patriach of a prominent family of Puerto Rican, educators, politicians and writers. Both Coll y Toste's sons were notable politicians. José Coll y Cuchí was the founder of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and Cayetano Coll y Cuchí, was a President of Puerto Rico House of Representatives. His grand daughter, Isabel Cuchí Coll, was a journalist, author and the Director of the "Sociedad de Autores Puertorriqueño" (Society of Puerto Rican Authors), his other grand daughter, Edna Coll, was a notable educator and author. She was one of the founders of the Academy of Fine Arts in Puerto Rico.
Among the members of the O'Neill family whose contributions to Puerto Rican culture are evident today are Hector O'Neill, politician and Mayor Ana María O'Neill an educator, author and advocate of women's rights. and María de Mater O'Neill an artist, lithographer, and professor.
Puerto Rican beauty queens of Irish descent who represented their island in the Miss Universe beauty pageant are the following: Ada Perkins - Miss Puerto Rico (1978); Deborah Carthy Deu - Miss Universe 1985 and Laurie Tamara Simpson - Miss Puerto Rico (1987).
The Irish element of Puerto Rico is very much in evidence. Their contributions in Puerto Rico's agricultural industry and in the field of politics and education are highly notable. In the city of Bayamón, there is an urbanization called Irlanda Heights (Ireland Heights). For the last several years, the town of Luquillo has hosted a day-long Saint Patrick's Day festival which includes a Parada de San Patricio (St. Patrick's Parade) honoring Ireland's patron saint. There are various Irish pubs around the island which also celebrate the holiday and serve the typical green colored beer on the occasion. Amongst them are Shannon's Irish Pub in San Juan, and Logan's Irish Pub in Río Piedras.
Read more about this topic: Irish Immigration To Puerto Rico
Famous quotes containing the words popular culture, irish, influence, popular and/or culture:
“Like other secret lovers, many speak mockingly about popular culture to conceal their passion for it.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“For every nineteenth-century middle-class family that protected its wife and child within the family circle, there was an Irish or a German girl scrubbing floors in that home, a Welsh boy mining coal to keep the home-baked goodies warm, a black girl doing the family laundry, a black mother and child picking cotton to be made into clothes for the family, and a Jewish or an Italian daughter in a sweatshop making “ladies” dresses or artificial flowers for the family to purchase.”
—Stephanie Coontz (20th century)
“The woman who can’t influence her husband to vote the way she wants ought to be ashamed of herself.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“If our entertainment culture seems debased and unsatisfying, the hope is that our children will create something of greater worth. But it is as if we expect them to create out of nothing, like God, for the encouragement of creativity is in the popular mind, opposed to instruction. There is little sense that creativity must grow out of tradition, even when it is critical of that tradition, and children are scarcely being given the materials on which their creativity could work”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“As the end of the century approaches, all our culture is like the culture of flies at the beginning of winter. Having lost their agility, dreamy and demented, they turn slowly about the window in the first icy mists of morning. They give themselves a last wash and brush-up, their ocellated eyes roll, and they fall down the curtains.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)