"No, I'm Puerto Rican": An Exploration of Identity Formation and Anticolonial Resistance in Chicago's Puerto Rican Community

The story of migration from the island of Puerto Rico to and throughout cities such as Chicago is one of serial displacement and resistance to the colonial structure of the United States. Puerto Ricans residing in mainland US cities are pulled between a national identity that characterizes the island and a dualistic racial identity that categorizes American people. Because the values that inform the formation of identity are intertwined with the social context one is raised in, where Puerto Ricans are raised can powerfully shape how they accept or reject various identities. Humboldt Park became known as a nucleus of Puerto Rican culture in Chicago after decades of social and residential discrimination and displacement as Puerto Rican migrants worked to settle and gain access to resources and rights. Initiatives led by Puerto Rican activists in Chicago led to the creation of organizations such as Casa Central Evangelical and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, which were instrumental in the prevalence of a united Puerto Rican community. I am seeking to answer two questions in this research project: 1. How has the creation of Casa Central Evangelical and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center created and upheld a national identity? And 2. How has this sense of national pride impacted the racial identities of Puerto Ricans in Chicago?
My findings show that the creation of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) and Casa Central Evangelical strengthened the presence of Puerto Rican pride in Humboldt park by preserving traditional Puerto Rican culture and providing organized spaces for Puerto Rican identities. More specifically, the PRCC is modeled after principles and societies with anticolonial frameworks. The anticolonial nature embedded in PRCC has strongly shaped the paradigms of Puerto Ricans in Chicago, centering their Puerto Rican identity as an act of resistance to colonialism.