The 1950s were the most important, productive, and vital years in American history. Many fundamental social and technological changes revolutionized American society during the Golden Age. World War II was over. The American economy exploded. Industrialization reached its peak. There was an expansion of higher education, suburbanization, and government assistance to veterans in the years after World War II. These conditions provided favorable factors for economic advances. Aimed at the urban working class, who generally wanted a better lifestyle for themselves, the intensive construction of thousands of residential homes began. These suburban houses reflected the new domesticity of postwar prosperity. Not only was it a boom year of abundant generosity, but it was also a decade that gave birth to rock and roll, a decade in which young actors like James Dean, Marlon Brando, Sal Mineo, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis became became great favorites and roles. role models among the youth. american icons.

So while significant changes and economic improvements were taking place across the United States, what was happening in the East Harlem, New York area? During the 1940s and 1950s, the East Harlem area was a mix of Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican, and a small percentage of people from the Jewish community. There were also some African American families and some other ethnic groups, but the population was minimal. However, it was enough to create an atmosphere of tension, especially after the years of the Great Depression and World War II. This tension was progressively increasing within the mixed ethnic groups. East Harlem contained the largest established Italian community, a community that grew substantially during the 1920s through the 1930s and 1940s.

As a result of the takeoff of commercial air travel in 1945, a one-way ticket from San Juan to New York suddenly cost less than $50, so the steady stream of Puerto Rican migration that had begun during World War I reached a large number. of people. population; About 70,000 to 250,000 people in the years 1940-1950. As Puerto Ricans continued to move into East Harlem, they invaded already established communities and began to form their own distinctive neighborhoods, establishing their own values, traditions, and cuisine. By the time the 1950s rolled around, Italians and Puerto Ricans numerically dominated the East Harlem area. Puerto Ricans became such a significant and visible presence in East Harlem during the 1950s that the area earned the household name “Spanish Harlem.” At the same time, the Puerto Rican people began to saturate the East Harlem district. Both Italians and Puerto Ricans were in a constant battle, competing for housing, educational and job resources.

Young Puerto Ricans were reluctant to enter the workforce, not only after seeing their parents discriminated against, but also after witnessing their parents’ disappointment. Applicants were required to have some knowledge of the English language, even if it was for unskilled work. Unemployed parents, in turn, would pressure their teenage son to help them. These young men knew from experience that if they followed in their father’s footsteps, it would only encourage more of the same consequences to occur in their own lives. They would end up working in low-paying, unskilled jobs with no chance of promotion.

“Damn man, that’s not for me!” they would say

It was easier to join or organize a gang, which gave them a sense of worth, belonging and respect, something most of them couldn’t get at home. Gang life meant solidarity and toughness in a harsh and discriminatory neighborhood.

Gang violence was a terrifying reality during the 1940s and 1950s. The atmosphere in East Harlem turned explosive. Disputes between the black dragoons, the Italian dukes, the Puerto Rican viceroys, and the Italian redwings broke out daily. Long and endless battles were fought to establish and maintain dominance and honor between Puerto Rican and Italian teenagers. They dominated the already tense area of ​​East Harlem. These rumbles were initiated by any group that was calling for a fight, whether it was over the boundaries of their territory, laying claim to streets, parks, testing their manhood, or, as usual, petty things like rumbles over their ladies.

The girls had the support of the gang, and if any of them were insulted, which in many cases the stories were made up to provoke a war, their honor was defended. Even if the gang knew that she was a whore. The Greasers, ages fourteen to nineteen, strutted around bare-chested, carrying guns, ready to fire just in case, baseball bats and pocket knives at the ready. It made them feel like true machos, smart and tough, bragging about their preparation for a good fight, knowing that no matter how scared they were, they wouldn’t admit it. Racial slurs thrown back and forth lead to fights, often resulting in death or hospitalization, with smashed heads and severe, crippling injuries. Young people cut with automatic knives, beaten with tire chains or shot. Some gang members would accumulate piles of milk bottles filled with gravel, bricks, cinder blocks, scrap iron, and whatever else they could use as missiles and hide them on rooftops before a fight. Anything was fair with no rules.

The familiar sound of blaring Latin rhythmic music blaring through open windows and apartment doors in Spanish Harlem would pierce the ears of residents and reluctant passers-by. Puerto Ricans have always loved their music. For many of the Puerto Ricans in “El Barrio,” dancing was a distraction from the frustrations of their daily lives. No matter how tired they felt or how miserable their lives were, as soon as their bodies reacted to the frantic pace, they would rejuvenate themselves, literally dancing until they fell.

Weekends were his time to go to the local discos. While the musicians played their instruments to the best melodies of Latin music, the partners, their skin reddened by sweat, whirled around the dance floor, spinning around each other. Her hips and shoulders swayed as her feet kept time with the music. Busty young Latinas would heat up the atmosphere as they moved seductively, swaying their curvaceous hips to the beat of the drums. Occasionally, a flirtatious comment from an intoxicated dancer would spark a verbal confrontation between the two men. This would lead to an outright street fight filled with switchblade knives and broken bottles, while others would come running to their defense.

Those who didn’t go to the nightclubs stayed home and had their own wild and rowdy parties. These parties would continue until the wee hours of the morning, much to the annoyance of the neighbors who wanted to sleep.

It was becoming increasingly difficult for Jewish and Italian vendors as Puerto Rican grocery stores, barbershops, religious shops, and restaurants began to proliferate throughout East Harlem. Tensions escalated as frustrated Jews and Italian merchants witnessed their customers turn around, now ordering from their competitors. After several verbal and physical confrontations, including a riot, many of the Jewish merchants decided to keep their stores, but they adapted to the new inhabitants, willingly accepting the Puerto Rican businessmen, even learning Spanish. As a result of the projects, East Harlem changed, with a greater presence of African American and Latino populations. To some extent, the removal of 1,500 retail stores left 4,500 people unemployed. Thus, a steady migration of Italian-Americans began moving away from East Harlem and moving to private estates in suburban New York City.

Despite their fierce antagonisms, and in defense of ethnic identity during those volatile years from 1920 to 1950, these two distinct groups, Italians and Puerto Ricans, remained blended, but in different ways, into the fabric of East Harlem.

By comparison, East Harlem is now a mere shadow of its former self during the 1950s. With the arrival of a host of new and diverse immigrants who have made East Harlem their home, can we safely assume that this territory that once once was turbulent finally reached a plateau of normality and peaceful coexistence? Or will more prejudices replace the old ones? What is your opinion?