Jesús Colón
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Jesús Colón (1901-1974) born in Cayey, Puerto Rico is a Puerto Rican writer known as the Father of the Nuyorican Movement.
Colón was born after the Spanish-American War when the American Tobacco Company gained control of most of the tobacco producing land in Puerto Rico. His father was a baker and his family owned the "Colon Hotel". His home was behind the town's cigar factory, which hired "readers" to read stories and current events to the employees whilst they worked. As a child, Colón visited the factory to listen to these stories. He was exposed to the writings of Karl Marx and Émile Zola. From these ideas he formed a personal socialist ideology and also an interest in both the spoken and written word. The family moved to San Juan where he attended and continued his education at the Jose Julian Acosta School. His brother Joaquin attended the Central High School.
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[edit] Overview
In 1917, when he was 16 he boarded the S.S. Carolina as an employee and landed in Brooklyn, New York. There he went to live with his older brother, Joaquin Colon, who was already residing in Brooklyn. He worked in various unskilled jobs and was able to observe the deplorable conditions of the working class of the time.
Colón was discriminated against because of the color of his skin (he was Black) and because of his difficulty speaking the English language. He wrote about his experiences as well as those of other immigrants, however, he was the first Puerto Rican to do so in English. His best known work, A Puerto Rican in New York, set the stage for the literary movement known as the "Nuyorican Movement". Colón inspired other writers such as Piri Thomas, Esmeralda Santiago, Nicholasa Mohr, Pedro Pietri, and others.
Colón began a Spanish language newspaper and in 1955, he wrote a regular column for the Daily Worker, a publication of the Communist Party in New York. Colón was also the president of "Hispanic Publications" which published history books, political pamphlets in Spanish, and literature.
In the 1950's, during the McCarthy period, Colón was called to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee in Washington, D.C. He outraged the Committee when he stated "I will not cooperate with this committee in its aim to destroy the Bill of Rights and other Constitutional rights of the people".
In 1969, Colón ran for the "Office of Comtroller of the City of New York", running with Rasheed Storey, candidate for mayor on the Communist Party ticket. Neither candidate won.
Jesús Colón died in New York City in 1974. In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated, returned to Puerto Rico and scattered over River La Plata, in Cayey; here the river goes to the north of Puerto Rico and into the Atlantic ocean.
Edna Acosta-Belen, professor of Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of Albany and Virginia Sanchez Korrol, associate professor and Chair of the Department of Puerto Rican Studies at Brooklyn College, put together a booklet of Colón's writings called "The Way it was and Other Writings". Jesus Colon's niece (daughter of Joaquin), Olimpia Colón Aponte, is a retired writer who lives in Puerto Rico.
Works:
Posthumous compilations
- Lo que el pueblo me dice--: crónicas de la colonia puertorriqueña en Nueva York, edited and with an introduction by Edwin Karli Padilla Aponte, 2001. Houston, Texas: Arte Público Press. ISBN 1558853308.
- The way it was, and other writings: historical vignettes about the New York Puerto Rican community. edited with an introductory essay by Edna Acosta-Belén and Virginia Sánchez Korrol, 1993. Houston: Arte Público Press. ISBN 1558850570.
Contemporary publications
- A Puerto Rican in New York, and other sketches, 1961. New York: Mainstream Publishers.
[edit] Anthologies
- "Kipling and I" (poem), in Wáchale!: poetry and prose about growing up Latino in America, edited by Ilan Stavans, 2001. Chicago: Cricket Books. ISBN 0812647505.
- "The teacher was surprised", in Riding low on the streets of gold, edited and with an introduction by Judith Ortiz Cofer, 2003. Houston, Texas: Piñata Books; Arte Público Press.
- "For the Color of My Mother", in Hispanic American literature: an anthology, compiled by Rodolfo Cortina, 1998. Lincolnwood, Illinois : NTC Pub. Group. ISBN 0844257303.
- "from A Perfect Silence", in Growing up Puerto Rican: an anthology, edited and with an introduction by Joy L. De Jesʹus; foreword by Ed Vega, 1997. New York: William Morrow. ISBN 0688137407.
- "Island of Lost Causes" and "The Docile Puerto Rican - Literature and Psychological Reality" in Boricuas: influential Puerto Rican writings - an anthology, edited by Roberto Santiago, 1995. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0345395026.
